Back to the Future with the Devil, our Resident Evil.
In my experience, the best writers are those who are able to draw upon a wealth of media in order to better their work; the idiom I've been repeatedly told is that "good writers read". I don't think this goes far enough. I try to engage myself with as many types of media as I can; I've got a growing library of novels and graphic novels and an extensive DVD collection. From these I can learn from those that have gone before me; I can see how masters of their craft develop their capabilities and understand the tricks and styles that they utilise.
This week I've had the opportunity to watch a variety of films on the big screen; on Wednesday I saw Resident Evil: Afterlife, Friday saw the return of Back to the Future, celebrating its 25th anniversary, and yesterday I watched the latest film from prolific director M. Night Shyamalan: Devil. These are very different films, both in style and intent, but all three have taught me lessons that can be applied to my own writing.
Starting with Resident Evil, this fourth film in the franchise was disappointing for me; it felt like there was twenty minutes worth of plot that was stretched out to fill two hours – it deviated away from its base ground and zombies featured almost as an afterthought. It did however show how not to write a film, and that when continuing a saga you need to ensure that all parts work as stand-alone pieces instead of merely filler between more plot-focused segments.
Next is Devil; Shyamalan is known for his shock twists and artful misdirection. In this film about five apparently unconnected individuals who become trapped in an elevator, the same rule applies. Having seen many of his previous works I found myself calling the twists and second-guessing the plot points before they occurred. Because his style has been emulated and refined over years of directing films it has become known and thus predictable. Even if you cannot guess the exact nature of the twist, you will be aware that they are coming. As a writer this provides a really good lesson to me: vary your writing! Shyamalan has made a career from his predictability, but in recent years his critical appeal has declined as more and more people become aware of his techniques. By changing the way in which we devise stories, plots and structure in our works we can avoid this.
My favourite film of the three was Back to the Future; it has its flaws, to be sure – the early characterisation of Marty's family being one. In my opinion the depiction of them as failures and losers is taken too far, but some humour is derived from that too. In almost all other aspects this film is a classic. From dialogue to resolution it never feels forced, it never seems out of balance and twenty-five years after its first release, the plot twists are still as fresh as they ever were. I think the strongest point about the film is its characters; Doc Brown, Marty, George McFly and Biff are all excellently written – they are all believable within the confines of their universe, and for me that is the greatest praise that you can heap on a creator.
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