Depth of Feeling

The Problem

I watched the sci-fi movie "Fifth Wave" recently.  It bothered me.  It's not that it was a shallow popcorn flick with invading aliens causing lots of destruction.  That was no big surprise.  It was kind of like the dreadful Tom Cruise vehicle, "War of the Worlds" for teens.  I didn't hate this movie like I hated that one.

What bothered me is the writers did what I often recommend writers do:  1. Start in the middle of the story to get the reader/audience into the action and excited about the plotline.  2. Spend some quality time with the protagonist early in the story, showing her/him bonding with other characters, so we understand the protagonist's character.  3. Give the protagonist someone important to him or her like a puppy or a child to take care of, so we see the character's heart.  4.  If possible, have the character suffer or remember a great tragedy in their life that helped shape who they are.  5.  Give the protagonist a companion on the journey, so there is a reason for dialogue, which helps enlighten both characters and situation.  Solo characters are hard to make interesting, though it can be done.  6.  If there is an antagonist, make his motivation clear, which leads to more clarity in the protagonist's motivation.  All of this should, theoretically, deepen the story and make the character more compelling.

So why didn't it work with "Fifth Wave"?  This question bothered me.  Then I looked closer.  I realized there is no depth of feeling to any of this.  The main character of the movie starts in the middle of the action then we go back to the beginning.  The scene is no more compelling the second time than it was the first.  We still don't care about her character.  Why is that?  Well, it's because during the time she spends bonding with other characters, most of whom die quickly, the script emphasizes she's a totally normal teenager.  There is nothing unique or interesting about her.  She's a normal teenage girl with a normal crush on a normal guy, and she has a normal family.  Their supposedly meaningful bonding scenes could have been taken from any other teen flick.  She's not compelling because she's too generic.  She spends a very brief scene looking lovingly at her little brother, but that scene gives us nothing to care about, no words to make either character memorable.  When her normal parents [spoiler alert] die one at a time in front of her, the audience has a hard time caring because, other than a brief sort of emotional reaction, she doesn't seem to care.  There is no great sense of tragedy.  The companion she gets is a generic attractive guy with nothing really special about him.  Even the big reveal of the secrets behind the companion and the whole story is not big or very revealing because it's predictable.  The characters, in fact, predicted it earlier in the story.  The reveal basically repeats what one of the characters already said.  It does not deepen the understanding of the antagonists' motivation because they don't seem to have one.

The Heart

What this says to me is that the five suggestions above are good but can't be turned into a formula.  Once they get turned into a simple formula [do x, y, and z, and you get yourself a killer plot line] the humanity and depth of feeling they're supposed to convey go out the window.  There has to be a real sense of tragedy, an actual character with quirks and dialogue to care about.

Above all, we have to get the sense that the character cares.  If there is nothing convincing about her tragedy or character-building scenes, all the action and excitement in the world can't save the movie or the novel.  It all falls as flat as a cardboard cut out.   Start with a character who actually cares about someone or something.  All events in the story should build on that caring.  We should never lose the sense that she cares, just because we've moved on to another scene.  If we don't cry when she cries or laugh when she laughs, chances are, there is no depth of feeling to our scenes.  If the story isn't based first and foremost on humanity, on some aspect of the human condition, why tell it?  If there's no meaning, it's all a waste of time.  Find the meaning, the real heart of the character, and you'll find your story.