Creating Characters A-List Actors Want to Play by Script Magazine Editors

Author:Script Magazine Editors
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: F+W Media
Published: 2016-11-16T00:00:00+00:00

Characters Under Stress

by Hayley McKenzie

We all know that in screenwriting our inciting incident causes a crisis of some kind, regardless of what genre we're working in, but do you really understand the psychology of what follows? Here's a handy guide to the psychology of stress to help you really put your characters through the ringer.

What is a crisis? A crisis occurs when events of an extraordinary nature trigger extreme tension and stress within an individual, which require major decisions or actions to resolve. In storytelling, that threat could be big or small. It could be a threat to our marriage (drama: Hope Springs), a threat to our own survival (horror: You're Next, or thriller: Gravity), a threat to a group of others (action: Die Hard), or a threat to the world (action: Independence Day). The crisis must be unexpected, but that surprise may come from the character being in denial. In Brokeback Mountain, Ennis (Heath Ledger) falling in love with Jack (Jake Gyllenhaal) wouldn't be a crisis (or unexpected) if he weren’t in denial about his sexuality.

The need to take action. A crisis may threaten important goals or simply threaten the status quo, but unless the character acts to make a change, the crisis cannot be averted. If Kay (Meryl Streep) and Arnold (Tommy Lee Jones) don't act to save their marriage in Hope Springs, it will be over. If John McClane (Bruce Willis) doesn't act, people will die. An immediate decision or action is needed to stop things from getting worse.

Life is stressful. Psychiatrists Holmes and Rahe created a list of forty-three events that can cause stress. Here are the top ten: death of a spouse, divorce, separation, imprisonment, death of close family, injury or illness, marriage, dismissal from work, reconciliation, retirement.

Stress causes biological changes. Our physical reactions to stress are determined by our biological history and the need to respond to sudden dangers that threatened us when we were still hunters and gatherers. In this situation, the response to danger was “fight or flight.” Our bodies still respond in this way, releasing the hormones adrenaline and cortisol.

Stress can be a good thing. A certain level of stress may be necessary to help you prepare for something or to actually do it. The stress itself will keep you alert and focused. The hormones released by stress can give you a quick burst of energy, decreased sensitivity to pain, increase in immunity, and a heightened memory.

Stress can bring out the best in us. The stress of the crisis can force you to face the problem head-on, turn to friends or family for help and support, make you more altruistic, and become more self-aware.

Stress can bring out the worst in us. We might go into denial, repressing the perceived threat or attempting to remove all thoughts and feelings associated with the trigger. We might project our fears and anxieties onto those closest to us. We might try to displace or redirect the feelings about a threatening situation onto a different, less threatening one.

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