BRAIN: but my earlier question is more about what I think the harder part is: writing the guy
NIKK: Isn’t he supposed to be a one-dimensional shell of a person?
PJ: I was about to say, it depends on the goal
PJ: is the guy the male version of the “mary sue” thing, or do you actually *want* an interesting character
BRAIN: the goal is: write a script that you can sell starring one male actor and one female actor who are both in their early 20s
BRAIN: even mary sue wants to go do something
PJ: true
BRAIN: so what does brooding guy want?
BRAIN: why are they on a road odyssey?
PJ: I was about to say they’re going to comic con, but then we essentially have fallen into the script of ‘Paul‘
BRAIN: ha
BRAIN: so you said something about getting dumped in the beginning, and I think that is a good point- these guys usually have some failure or loss just before the start of the story
BRAIN: Garden State – his dad died
BRAIN: Elizabethtown – he’s destroyed Nike
PJ: right
PJ: given the loss, the reason for the trip is they’re going some place to re-start, re-charge
BRAIN: ah, and the MPDG is symbolic of that new, carefree direction
BRAIN: full of potential
PJ: but returning home is pretty played out, weather it’s to do the funeral, go to a high school class reunion (grosse pointe blank…?) etc are all pretty played out
NIKK: Could always reverse it…
NIKK: MPDG instead of making him ‘better’ drags him down from success and happiness into complete and total life destruction.
NIKK: The entire movie is just a downward spiral…
BRAIN: that sort of has been done – the one with ben stiller and jen aniston
BRAIN: also “Harold and Maude”
BRAIN: (the downward spiral)
MATT: Harold and Maude is unfortunately the Ur-MPDG movie, but it also is good, unlike pretty much all the rest of them.
BRAIN: Breakfast at Tiffany’s has a pretty destructive MPDG
NIKK: … huh … Does that mean that Going Postal is MPDG…?