Do the Right Thing (eBook)

Five Screenplays that Embrace Diversity

Karla R. Fuller (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2022
Michael Wiese Productions (Verlag)
978-1-61593-351-8 (ISBN)

Infos

No screenwriter wants to discover after the fact that their script leans on stereotypes or normalizes expressions of systemic racism. Fuller provides writers with tools they can use to hold themselves to a higher standard. Outdated tropes can sneak in at any point in the writing process, from adaptation to plot, to characterization, setting, symbolism, and genre. Fuller shows writers how to diagnose and address those problems in their own writing, creating stronger scripts in the process.

---

Do The Right Thing! offers screenwriting strategies that focus on diversity, equity and inclusion.

These are the five film that are discussed:
Moonlight,
Get Out,
Mudbound,
Roma, and
Always be My Maybe.
The goal is to teach an already challenging writing mode that requires screenwriters to create complex human experiences through visual storytelling. We are in a critical historical moment where the importance of screenwriting can be of the utmost usefulness in the observation of racism, inequity and inclusion in all media.
The screen representations of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality or class are not often explicitly addressed at the “front end” of the film production process, specifically, during the creation of the screenplay (whether original or adapted from outside source material). The idea is to introduce and reinforce the importance of accountability for what you write for the screen. This is not to limit the screenwriter’s creative impulses, but rather to create and engage them in consistent ways that reveal unconscious biases and instances of systemic racism. We will use five case studies of commercially successful and award-winning screenplays that resist stereotypes to present multidimensional depictions of historically underrepresented groups, such as LGBTQ, African American, Latino and Asian American. In the discussions of each individual screenplay issues such as the adaptation process, plot structure and devices, characterization, setting, symbolism, and genre conventions are introduced and analyzed in depth.

Inhalt

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

CHAPTER ONE – MOONLIGHT (2016)

Getting to the universal from the specific

Adaptation of an unproduced play

Foregrounded three-part structure

Upends urban stereotypes

Effective use of symbolism

CHAPTER TWO – GET OUT (2017)

Conventions of the thriller/horror genre

Possibilities of a four-act structure

Premise and set up

Use of symbols from slavery

Critique of societal politics

CHAPTER THREE – MUDBOUND (2017)

Revisiting and Revising a historical moment

Dual protagonists – one black, one white

Two takes on World War II and its aftermath

Creative process resisted identity politics – embraced inclusive collaboration

CHAPTER FOUR – ROMA (2018)

Structured similar to a short story

Class, gender and systemic racism issues

Making a usually supporting role of a servant, the lead

Setting in the Colonia Roma neighborhood of Mexico City

Use of symbolism

CHAPTER FIVE – ALWAYS BE MY MAYBE (2019)

Conventions of the romantic comedy

Playing with Structure

Breaking free of racial stereotypes

Asian Americans are Americans not foreigners

Quirky and multidimensional characters

Inclusion of tragedy and resilience

True love in the final scene rather than just romance – twist on the typical rom com

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 6.9.2022
• Zusatzinfo: Black and white
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Kunst / Musik / Theater ► Theater / Ballett
• Schlagworte: Screenwriting, Diversity, Inclusion
• ISBN-10: 1-61593-351-4 / 1615933514
• ISBN-13: 978-1-61593-351-8 / 9781615933518