Today we began work on a possible story for our screenplays using the structure from "The Moon and the Son."
The structure of "The Moon and the Son" is what I call a Hegelian structure. Which means that two competing stories come into conflict with each other, and both are valid. Remember that in the animation life with dad really WAS hard. But Dad's life was also hard, and he was doing his best.
This makes for great conflict, if both people are right but their stories come into conflict.
Here's an idea we came up with as a class for this structure:
Teacher vs. Student
Set Up: The student doesn't bring her homework in to class.
Teacher: "You know, you're going downhill fast. Here I give you a bunch of second chances and extra credit work, but you never do any of it. I'm bending over backwards for you! But you come in a wreck, you never have your homework, you sleep through class. Do you have no motivation? Do you want to be on welfare all your life? 'Cause I'm about to give up on you! Get your act together, sister!
Student: "My mom disappeared a month ago. I don't know where she is. There's not much food left in the house. I try to get money by washing dishes all night at the T and A, but that's just not cutting it. My little brother is always hungry and I'm worried about him. But I'm afraid to tell anyone. What if they send us off to foster homes?"
You can see how this story set up works. The teacher is right. She has done her utmost to help this student get a good grade, and the student seems to be shunning it all. But the student is also right. Her life is in chaos right now. She could no more do her homework than fly to the moon. And she can't let anyone know.
We officially have conflict here.
The next step, which we will be working on during the week, is to take these conflicting stories and find a way to make something new between them the same way the Son was able to in "The Moon and the Son."
