Tag: story structure. StoryGrid

Greetings, fellow story craft nerds! Last post, I did a macro analysis of the 1997 movie Contact, applying the 5 Commandments to the entire story arc. This time, I'll apply them to a single scene. (If you're new to Story Grid, check out my initial post on the topic. )

https://youtu.be/GZDT-FsO9Uc

I'm sticking with the scene I mentioned last time as a front-runner for my choice today. It's a great example of an Inciting Incident, and I haven't covered an II in this series of posts yet.

The Inciting Incident for this film, in my opinion, is the ten minute scene that catapults the main character out of what is known in Joseph Campbell/Hero's Journey lingo as their Ordinary World. It occurs about 34 minutes in. That works out to about 25% into the film, which is a little over two hours long.

There are a few different ways an Inciting Incident can occur. It can be an accident/coincidence. It can be the result of deliberate actions. Or, it can be nebulous, mysterious, unexplained until the end of the story (if at all). In this story, the II is a direct result of the main character's training, combined with her grit.

Dr. Ellie Arroway's Ordinary World is something many of us can identify with. She is passionate about her career goal (finding proof of alien life) and resents the time wasted by bureaucratic nonsense. But she hasn't made any progress on finding extraterrestrial life. In fact, her boss is threatening to pull the plug on her project.

However, Dr. Arroway is one tough cookie. She is not a quitter. One day she has her listening equipment set up away from her main lab, at a location that offers some welcome solitude. Externally, this helps her listen because it is quiet out there among the radar dishes. Internally, I think she's just a big ol' introvert and enjoys the time alone. In any case, she's out there alone with her headphones on, and she hears something other than the seemingly never-ending radio static she's used to hearing. She's a pro. She realizes immediately this is significant. She races back to her lab and gets her two staffers involved.

Fun detail: back at the lab, her coworkers have overlooked the red alert on some of their computer screens indicating a signal from outer space because they are watching a television interview with a trendy lifestyle guru (who also happens to be the same guy Dr. A had a brief hookup with a few years back) talking about how despite all the great new science and technology at our disposal, humans feel more alone than ever. Classic! I love it!

Once Ellie jerks their attention back to the signal, the three work feverishly to reject or confirm that this signal a) is not a natural phenomenon; and b) it is not coming from Earth or any Earthly technology in orbit such as satellites, space stations, and so forth. The film sets up a sense of urgency beautifully here with a couple of progressive complications. The signal stops. We wait breathlessly for it to start up again. This plants the seed of doubt that it could vanish at any time. The three astrophysicists also discuss briefly why they will need to rely on partners on the other side of the earth when the signal is no longer audible because of the orbital paths of the various celestial bodies involved.

As the three frantically discuss this incredible new development, they are deeply troubled by the many unanswerable questions that arise. Specifically, the apparent origin of the signal doesn't make sense to them. The pattern is clearly recognizable (all prime numbers) which makes them wonder if it's some kind of Earth-bound hoax. The Crisis in this scene is whether or not to report this event immediately, and risk even further discredit and disdain from their peers if they're wrong, or wait until they have fully validated their findings, and risk not being the first to report.

The Climax is Dr. Arroway's decision to announce their discovery, even though there are many unanswered questions. She feels she and her staff have done their due diligence. If they are going to be first, and validate their years of unappreciated work with this historic discovery, they must act immediately.

The Resolution unfolds in the following scene with government officials rushing to Dr. Arroway's lab to join in the heretofore ignored project to make contact with extraterrestrial life.

This is a very condensed ten minutes of film. The discovery of the signal changes everything, not only for Dr. Arroway but for her staff, her bosses, the government, the country, and yes, the world. It ushers us into the Middle Build of the story, which is a good mix of internal and external story progressions. If you haven't seen the film, I highly recommend. And I really need to read the book, just based on this article I stumbled across today while researching this post. Dr. Sagan, you are missed.

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Previously I blogged about the Story Grid method of analyzing and understanding story structure. I plan on applying this method to some of my favorite books and films and posting them here about once a month. I'll do a macro first, and follow up by applying the same method to a single scene.

Have I mentioned that as a child of the 1960s, I'm a huge space nerd? This month's pick for a Story Grid analysis is the 1997 film Contact, one of my favorites. It's based on Carl Sagan's book by the same name. I haven't read the book, but I understand the film is a very close representation. Contact (the film) has been on my mind because our local book club recently read another of Sagan's books, Cosmos.

Spoiler alert: if you haven't seen the film, I will be spoiling the main reveal in the paragraphs below. You have been warned.

Contact has two very strong story arcs. The external arc is a quest arc IMO. Dr. Eleanor Arroway is a brilliant astrophysicist. But because she has chosen to devote her career to the search for life on other planets, the science community largely dismisses her as a crank. When she discovers an intriguing signal emerging from deep in the cosmos, the narrative drive for the external arc is all about will she find something, or won't she?

The internal arc is more about Ellie's worldview. Although she is very book-smart, her interpersonal relationship skills could use some improvement. She's a classic left brain personality - just the facts, please. She's definitely not into what she thinks of as metaphysical mumbo jumbo, and she doesn't understand why so many people are. But after she makes contact with alien life forms, she finds herself struggling to convince others what exactly it is that she has experienced.

The film begins by showing us Dr. Arroway's Ordinary World. She's a brilliant scientist, but she's in a much-derided fringe specialty (SETI) with her merry band of SETI nerds, constantly struggling for funding to keep their project alive. We also learn through flashbacks that Ellie's mom died early and she had a very close relationship with her dad until he also passed away when she was young. Her father inspired her love of science and space. An underlying theme is her childhood wish to somehow use their family ham radio set to make contact with the spirit of her dead mother.

(I know what you're thinking, but this aspect of contacting her mother is very subtle, brief, and believable in the film, so that we don't stray off into a path of adult Ellie appearing as too much of a nut job.)

Flash forward to adult Ellie bouncing around from one research facility to another, splitting her time between listening for distant signals from space and soliciting funding from the private sector, neither of which have much success.

A romantic subplot is introduced. She has a one night stand (her choice) with a charming stranger. She enjoys his company, but when he brings up the topic of her dad, she freezes up and heads off to a new posting without leaving him any way to contact her. (See what I did there?)

Just when she thinks she's at the end of her rope career-wise, we arrive at what in my opinion is the Inciting Incident: she hears a clear, repeating signal originating from outer space. This signal is confirmed by fellow researchers. Suddenly the nutty professor now has some agency. Mentors who previously ignored her now want to get on board with her efforts. Funding appears. The press gets involved. If this film were set in present day, Dr. Arroway would be trending.

As the information from the alien signal is analyzed, Dr. Arroway and her much larger and better funded staff soon realize this is not just some random signal. Whoever is sending it is sending information to help whoever receives it create the machine to allow them to physically meet; to make contact. But there's only room for one.

It has to be Dr. Arroway, doesn't it? I mean, after all these years, and all her efforts, the lone voice crying out in the space wilderness? Who else could they possibly choose?

I'm waffling on what I've identified as the Turning Point/Progressive Complication. As you can see in my infographic, I've identified the scene where she learns someone else has been selected as the person to attempt to make initial contact with the aliens sending this signal. Ellie is crushed. And to add insult to injury, it's made clear the person they've chosen is just better connected, and has had the sense to pander to the interview committee's strong preference for someone with some religious beliefs; something Ellie is clearly lacking, and refuses to pretend otherwise.

My waffling is due to the very tempting choice of the scene when the very expensive, very complicated device built according to the alien specs is destroyed by an uber-religious terrorist. The scientist wonk that was chosen for the mission is killed. Although she is extremely disappointed to have been passed over, she still supports the mission. Ellie is devastated at this turn of events.

I would not push back much if you feel this should be the TP/PC. I just felt like the choice of a man, a former mentor, who did little to support Ellie's efforts until they showed some results and benefited him personally, was more of a gut punch.

But wait! There's another choice for our Turning Point! If you consider both the choice of representative and the terrorist attack Progressive Complications, one might argue this third option is the true Turning Point: Ellie learns all hope is NOT in fact lost. A second, backup device has been under construction. It is funded privately, by a quirky Howard Hughes-type billionaire she met previously while trying to drum up money for her research. He was impressed with her then, and remains so. He wants her to take a ride in his secret alien space thingy.

I will not push back much on this choice, either. But I like it better for the Crisis. When Dr. Arroway learns about this second machine, that sets up her Crisis: should she trust her life to this project that has gone on behind the scenes? Who knows who was involved building it? After all, this rich guy is a little nutty. She knows very little about him. Definitely not part of the government space in-crowd. This could get her killed.

As with so many Crisis points, though, there is really not much of a decision to be made. We know she will go.

As an aside, my SHEG (Super Hardcore Editing Group - inspired by this Story Grid blog post) writing group was discussing this aspect of the Crisis recently. How important is it that we wonder/are unsure what choice the character will make? Or do we okay with pretty much knowing what they will do, and want to get on with the action we know will follow the main character's choice? Something to ponder.

Anyway - back to our 5 C's. The Climax of this film occurs when Ellie survives the surreal transport to the alien meeting place, interacts with the alien(s), and returns home safely. Suffice to say, her mind is officially blown.

Which brings us to our Resolution. It's one of the best examples of a Win, But Lose ending I've ever seen. Ellie achieves her life goal of proving there is life on other planets. She is chosen to make first contact with them. She survives the very dangerous journey, and lives to tell about it.

But what does she tell? And who will believe her? Turns out the alien device which transported her to the confab did some wonky stuff with time. To the scientists monitoring her progress on Earth, Ellie did not appear to have traveled anywhere. The machine seemed to have failed. When Ellie tries to explain what she experienced, yet again she is written off as a kook.

Thankfully we are shown enough of a conversation among the government wonks that indicates they know full well SOMETHING happened to support Ellie's claims. But for the usual government conspiracy reasons, they choose to stay mum about it.

Also in prime Story Grid fashion, even though the external arc is something of a downer, Ellie's internal arc ends more positively. Earlier in the story, her paths cross again with the charismatic stranger from her one night stand. He is now a well-known spiritual adviser and becomes involved in the project to make contact. Although she doesn't share his religious beliefs, she now better understands why people choose to believe in something that is difficult, if not impossible, to quantify. He supports her; believes her. She's had a rough go, so this means the world.

If you haven't seen Contact, I highly recommend. Next time we will apply the 5Cs to a specific scene in the film. Top consideration now is the scene where Ellie discovers the alien signal. Stay tuned to see if that's the one I stick with. There are so many good ones to choose from.

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