Scriptwriting for Web Series by Marie Drennan Yuri Baranovsky Vlad Baranovsky & Yuri Baranovsky & Vlad Baranovsky

Author:Marie Drennan,Yuri Baranovsky,Vlad Baranovsky & Yuri Baranovsky & Vlad Baranovsky
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Taylor & Francis (CAM)

Mirror

In many sitcoms and dramas that you’ve seen, there are characters who were clearly designed as opposites of the main character. It’s the classic “odd couple” dynamic: two people who couldn’t be more different, constantly annoying each other. Not only will the friction between these characters keep things lively, but the mirror character will illuminate the main character by acting the opposite and providing a contrast.

For example, in Brooklyn Sound, Lucy and Pam mirror each other; even in her overwhelmed state, Lucy is super-competent, ingenious, multi-tasking and tireless, while Pam seems to stumble through life in a kind of confused fog, struggling with basic tasks. She has her own kind of ingenuity (for example, vacuuming the furniture by lifting the entire vacuum cleaner, not just the upholstery attachment), but it’s not actually productive, unlike Lucy’s. Pam’s clumsiness and lack of wherewithal contrast dramatically against Lucy’s laser like focus on solving her problem, which not only highlights each character’s personality through contrast, but also intensifies the drama: Pam isn’t just a space cadet who isn’t really helpful (though she wants to be); she’s actually prone to getting in the way, which is the last thing Lucy needs, and a great way to ratchet up tension in the story.

Another dramatic function of the mirror character is to teach main characters about themselves. The main character might see their own behavior, attitudes, values, etc., in the mirror character and learn an important lesson. Or the main character might remain oblivious to the similarity, while the audience fully grasps the significance. David is a good example of a mirror character opening a main character’s eyes to their own nature or behavior. In fact, that’s exactly his plan: to show Chris how absurd and unproductive his obsession with emo is by becoming the epitome of emo and embodying its silliest aspects. And Chris is a good example of a main character who, at least for a time, fails to grasp the ways in which he is acting as absurdly as his dad; his dad sees it (which is the reason for the whole charade), and the audience sees it, but Chris doesn’t – and he can’t, because as soon as he does, the story is over (in fact, the first season ends with Chris’ epiphany and self-liberation from emo).

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