Sparkle
Sarah Boucher, a friend of mine, asked me to write a blog post she could feature on her blog here. I imagine it won't appear for a bit, but this is what I came up with, with some added since I have more space on my own blog.
My husband and I have watched many movies over the years and have determined what makes a good movie vs what makes a truly stellar movie worth watching repeatedly. A good story requires great characterization with clear motivation, and a meaningful plot. A stellar story requires all that plus humor.
I love Lloyd Alexander’s Taran the Wanderer series, Anne McCaffrey’s Harper Hall trilogy, and Brandon Mull’s more recent Fablehaven series. They’re good books. They have great plotting and characterization. All of them have a smattering of humor here and there. But my kids and I read the beginning of each of them to decide which book to read next, back to back with the snarky, tongue-in-cheek Percy Jackson series, written by Rick Riordan. Percy won for all of us, hands down. Why? One could say it’s because the Percy Jackson has a fresh, exciting voice. That is true. But for me, the biggest reason is because of the humor. Humor appears not just in one or two comic relief characters but in the chapter titles, the first person narration, around every corner, and in every confrontation. A lot of authors don’t bother with chapter titles, but Riordan’s chapter titles include such titles as “I learn how to Grow Zombies,” “I Break a Few Rocket Ships,”” “I Go Snowboarding with a Pig,” “I Wrestle Santa’s Evil Twin,” and “We Meet the Dragon of Eternal Bad Breath.” My kids plead with me to keep reading one more chapter, even after bedtime, because the titles amuse and tantalize at the same time. Each chapter is fresh, funny, and well worth a few minutes of sleep. The narrative isn’t all funny. There are serious events, solemn moments, and emotionally potent times. But they are counterbalanced by laughs. The humor pulls us through the book like a force of gravity, making the experience of reading it truly pleasurable. What makes the narrative magical is entirely lacking in the movies, of which even Riordan is severely critical.
Unfunny vs Funny
Let’s look at the Star Wars series. Movies 1-3 flop in part because all humor is produced by Jar Jar Binks, a buffoonish character who frustrates because he is a cheap shot for the kids and because he’s not funny to many adults. Meanwhile, dialogue and banter are often absent throughout the rest of the trilogy. Therefore, the only humor distracts from rather than enhances the storyline. Lacking their comedy relief, the other two movies don’t try to be funny. The lack of humor makes them fall flat and feel untrue to the original trilogy. As with many movies, we watch them once and walk away.
A lot of movies and stories are like this for my family and others, flat not because the characters aren’t good or the story isn’t interesting but because they are like the description of the FBI in the movie “Men in Black”: “[They] have no sense of humor that [they] are aware of.” We may watch them once, but they’re not worth revisiting because they’re not much fun. Entertainment should be fun. It should not feel like work to read a novel or watch a movie unless you’re writing papers on them. Even serious stories can be made more likable and engaging through a touch of humor.
What works in the Star Wars series? Movies 4-7 work because of humor. The Ewoks and the comedy duo straight man and chubby funny man, C3PO and R2D2, provide comic relief, but others also provide humor as well. Anyone can be funny, whether intentionally or not. Even the simple, ubiquitous line, “I’ve got a bad feeling about this” becomes humorous when handled right. Han Solo and Leia are both serious throughout the series, but they exchange banter and zingers on a regular basis that carry the movies with their humor and charm. Audiences still chuckle over, “You stuck up, half-witted, scruffy-looking nerf herder!” and Han’s winning response, “Who’s scruffy-looking?” Luke, too, seems to take himself seriously, yet I went to a screening in the nineties of the original Star Wars movie, and some of the loudest laughs from an audience of seasoned Star Warriors came from Luke’s teenagerly whine, “Ah! I was going to go to the Tashi Station to pick up some power converters!” These are not lines with comic intent. These lines are funny because they’re a combination of familiar and unexpected.
Dialogue with humor provides magic for the original trilogy, and Force Awakens recaptures that, both with BB8, the quirky droid, and others. [Spoiler alert]. Audiences see an entire village massacred then we get Poe Dameron’s line, “You speak first or I speak first?” to relieve the tension. One of the funnier scenes is the one in which Rey rescues herself using the force for the first time on a storm trooper played by James Bond’s Daniel Craig. Two serious characters make a funny scene while being serious because what happens there is so unexpected and straight-faced. Humor comes from fresh dialogue between intriguing characters with no “comedy relief” characters required.
Your Turn
In most writing, humor is critical to the enjoyment of the reader. Humor doesn’t have to be constant or laugh-out-loud, but it should be present. It adds sparkle and fun. Entertainment is why most writers write and most readers read. Adding humor to a situation can make an otherwise serious story more enjoyable. Humor makes a reader care and helps carry the message and story into the reader’s mind and heart. Everyone’s brand of humor is different. Find yours, and your story will take on more magic and charm.
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