What is a larger-than-life character?
I can give you examples, but I can't give you a definition. All I'll try to do here is put some thoughts to paper ... because I believe that the term, larger-than-life, is massively overused.
Larger-than-life?Google it. You'll find things like "Larger-than-life describes a character that is legendary" and "A character is larger-than-life when the persona surpasses the person". You'll find examples with everything from real-life mentions like Winston Churchill to fictional ones like Rambo. I have a feeling that the term's been used and abused any old time anyone felt like hyping a person or character. Any character can be larger-than-life. But it's not who they are, it's what they do and the circumstances they do it in. And those two, action and circumstance, must be so large that we are awed by the scope and humbled by the comparison to our own lives.
I've seen the term used to describe the characters of American Hustle . Those characters are strong, the performances powerful. What they do and how they behave makes perfect sense in the context of who they are and the circumstances they're presented with. Great characters, but larger-than-life? I don't think so. What about the notion that all fictional characters are by definition larger-than-life? It's the idea film is "drama is real life without the boring bits" (I believe Hitchcock said that) and that because of the lack of boring bits everything automatically becomes larger-than-life. Not really, right?! There ARE larger-than-life characters. Let's look at a few examples:
Mahatma Gandhi : His actions, his choices, under those extraordinary circumstances, were beyond what people could fathom. It made him beyond what normal people could do, it made him unique and in story terms that clearly makes his character larger-than-life. T.E. Lawrence : Better known as "Lawrence of Arabia", he was thrown into the well known WWI Middle Eastern circumstances. In the film he makes choices that are beyond what anyone else would do and those around do indeed look at him as something more-than-human. Jeremiah Johnson : The quiet little film by Sidney Pollack starring Robert Redford. The circumstances are extraordinary, his actions and choices beyond what anyone else could or would want to endure - Johnson becomes a legend in his own time, larger-than-life, indeed. Katniss Everdeen : Again, the circumstances are extraordinary and so are her choices in The Hunger Games. The story is in fact very much about her struggle to come to grips with the larger-than-life character she becomes for the world around her.
We could go on and on with characters based on real people, characters in classical drama, characters in pop culture. We'd agree on some and disagree on others.
In the end, as a screenwriter - should you create a story with the intent of writing a "larger-than-life" character? I think it'd be foolish. All you can do is what you're supposed to do with every story anyway - create the most uniquely vivid characters you can think up. Explore their greatest wants and deepest needs - and then confront them with the most terrifying obstacles. In the end, you'll have a story. In the end, your story is hopefully packed with vibrant characters like the ones in American Hustle. And, in the end, you just might discover that others begin to call your characters "larger-than-life".
When that happens, smile politely and move on to the next script.
Larger-than-life?Google it. You'll find things like "Larger-than-life describes a character that is legendary" and "A character is larger-than-life when the persona surpasses the person". You'll find examples with everything from real-life mentions like Winston Churchill to fictional ones like Rambo. I have a feeling that the term's been used and abused any old time anyone felt like hyping a person or character. Any character can be larger-than-life. But it's not who they are, it's what they do and the circumstances they do it in. And those two, action and circumstance, must be so large that we are awed by the scope and humbled by the comparison to our own lives.I've seen the term used to describe the characters of American Hustle . Those characters are strong, the performances powerful. What they do and how they behave makes perfect sense in the context of who they are and the circumstances they're presented with. Great characters, but larger-than-life? I don't think so. What about the notion that all fictional characters are by definition larger-than-life? It's the idea film is "drama is real life without the boring bits" (I believe Hitchcock said that) and that because of the lack of boring bits everything automatically becomes larger-than-life. Not really, right?! There ARE larger-than-life characters. Let's look at a few examples:
Mahatma Gandhi : His actions, his choices, under those extraordinary circumstances, were beyond what people could fathom. It made him beyond what normal people could do, it made him unique and in story terms that clearly makes his character larger-than-life. T.E. Lawrence : Better known as "Lawrence of Arabia", he was thrown into the well known WWI Middle Eastern circumstances. In the film he makes choices that are beyond what anyone else would do and those around do indeed look at him as something more-than-human. Jeremiah Johnson : The quiet little film by Sidney Pollack starring Robert Redford. The circumstances are extraordinary, his actions and choices beyond what anyone else could or would want to endure - Johnson becomes a legend in his own time, larger-than-life, indeed. Katniss Everdeen : Again, the circumstances are extraordinary and so are her choices in The Hunger Games. The story is in fact very much about her struggle to come to grips with the larger-than-life character she becomes for the world around her.
We could go on and on with characters based on real people, characters in classical drama, characters in pop culture. We'd agree on some and disagree on others.
In the end, as a screenwriter - should you create a story with the intent of writing a "larger-than-life" character? I think it'd be foolish. All you can do is what you're supposed to do with every story anyway - create the most uniquely vivid characters you can think up. Explore their greatest wants and deepest needs - and then confront them with the most terrifying obstacles. In the end, you'll have a story. In the end, your story is hopefully packed with vibrant characters like the ones in American Hustle. And, in the end, you just might discover that others begin to call your characters "larger-than-life".
When that happens, smile politely and move on to the next script.
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