must face a deadly adversary. Most narrative relies
on this character motivation. If the viewer doesn’t
believe or understand a character’s actions, the
story’s verisimilitude, and thus the audience’s iden-
tification with the protagonist’s efforts, will be com-
promised. We believe and connect with Mattie
Ross’s quest to track down Tom Chaney in the
Coen brothers’ True Grit (2010; written and
directed by Joel and Ethan Coen) because we know
that he killed her father. Sonny Wortzik (Al Pacino),
the protagonist of Sidney Lumet’s Dog Day After-
noon(1975; screenwriter: Frank Pierson), robs a
bank (or tries to) because he needs money to pay
for his lover’s sex-change operation. We might not
agree with Sonny’s goal or his methods, but under-
standing the impulse behind his actions allows us
to engage in his story.
Some storytellers use expectations of clear
character motivation against their audience in
order to create a specific experience of the narra-
tive. In David Lynch’s Blue Velvet(1986; screen-
writer: Lynch), Frank Booth’s heinous behavior
includes huffing a strange gas, stroking a swatch of
velvet, and blurting “mommy” before assaulting his
sex slave. Frank’s bizarre behavior isn’t motivated
in a way that we can easily identify, but his bizarre
actions only deepen our fascination with this dis-
turbing movie’s vivid mystery.
Characters are frequently motivated by basic
psychological needs that can profoundly influence
the narrative—even when the character is oblivious
of the interior motivation directing his or her behav-
ior. This character need often supports the pursuit
of the goal. In John G. Avildson’s classic boxing pic-
ture Rocky(1976, screenwriter: Sylvester Stallone),
the title character wantsto win the big fight, but it
is his needfor self respect that compels him to train
hard and endure extraordinary physical punish-
ment on his difficult road to the final bell of the
championship bout. The narrative goes to great
lengths to establish Rocky’s need to regain his self
respect. The movie spends 54 minutes detailing
Rocky’s pathetic existence and degraded social sta-
tus before he is offered a goal in the form of a
serendipitous shot at a title fight. In the end, Rocky
loses the big fight, but the audience still feels
rewarded because his gutsy performance proves
that he has fulfilled his need.
Sometimes, a story may gain a level of complex-
ity by endowing a character with a need that is, in
fact, in direct conflict with his goal. C. C. Baxter
(Jack Lemmon), the protagonist of Billy Wilder’s
The Apartment(1960; screenwriters: Wilder, I. A. L.
Diamond), is a lonely man who works crunching
numbers at a huge insurance company. C. C. needs
love, but he wantsto be a big shot. Sick of being a
lowly cog in the company machine, C. C. does
everything possible to achieve his goal of being pro-
moted to an executive position, including letting his
supervisors use his apartment as a base for their
illicit affairs. C. C. is disheartened when he discov-
ers that Fran (Shirley MacLaine), the office eleva-
tor operator he very much likes, is the mistress his
boss Mr. Sheldrake (Fred MacMurray) has been
entertaining in C. C.’s apartment. But C. C. contin-
ues to pursue his goal, even after he discovers the130 CHAPTER 4 ELEMENTS OF NARRATIVE
Character development in District 9Progression is an
essential narrative element, and the changes a character
undergoes, especially when those changes involve some level
of personal growth, are one of the most satisfying
progressions movies have to offer. Neill Blomkamp’s
dystopian science-fiction thriller District 9(2009,
screenwriters: Blomcamp and Terri Tachell) explores
the themes of racism and xenophobia with a story about the
forced relocation of unwanted alien squatters. The posturing
protagonist Wikus (Sharlto Copley) gets what’s coming to him
when his meddling results in his own inexorable
transformation into one of the very aliens he persecuted. But
it is the interior changes Wikus experiences that give his
story meaning. The more he looks like a monster, the more
human he becomes.