“This is a small film. It’s narrative-driven. There are no deep meanings in any of the characters.” ~Yasmin AhmadRegardless of the medium in which you are working, you must know your characters thoroughly. And you must know them not only as they are today, but as they will be tomorrow or years from now.
Everything in nature changes – human beings along with the rest. A man who was brave ten years ago may be a coward now, for any number of reasons: age, physical deterioration, changed financial status, to name a few.
You may think you know someone who never has changed, and never will. But no such person has ever existed. A man may keep his religious and political views apparently intact through the years, but close scrutiny will show that his convictions have either deepened or become superficial. They have gone through many stages, many conflicts, and will continue to go through them as long as the man lives. So he does change, after all.
Even stone changes, although its disintegration is imperceptible; the earth goes through a slow but persistent transformation; the sun, too, the solar system, the universe. Nations are born, pass through adolescence, achieve manhood, grow old, and then die, either violently or by gradual dissolution.
Why should man, then, be the only thing in nature which never changes? Preposterous!
There is only one realm in which characters defy natural laws and remain the same – the realm of bad writing! And it is the fixed nature of the characters which makes the writing bad! If a character in a short story, novel, or play (and film) occupies the same position at the end as the one he did at the beginning, that story, novel, or play (and film) is bad!
A character stands revealed through conflict; conflict begins with a decision; a decision is made because of the premise of your play (screenplay). The character’s decision necessarily sets in motion another decision, from his adversary. And it is these decisions, one resulting from the other, which propel the play (screenplay) to its ultimate destination: the proving of the premise.
No man ever lived who could remain the same through a series of conflicts which affected his way of living. Of necessity he must change, and alter his attitude toward life.
Even a corpse is in a state of change: disintegration. And while a man is arguing with you, attempting to prove his changelessness, he is changing: growing old.
So we can safely say that any character, in any type of literature, which does not undergo a basic change, is a badly drawn character. We can go further and say that if a character cannot change, any situation in which he is placed will be an unreal situation.Growth is a character’s reaction to a conflict in which he is involved. A character can grow through making the correct move, as well as the incorrect one – but he must grow, if he is a real character.
Although Yasmin Ahmad’s Mukhsin tells the age-old story of the human condition in the face of young love and friendship, it is also peopled with remarkable characters that make the film warm and real. There is Orked’s family whom Mukhsin gets acquainted with. There is Orked’s doting and playful father Pak Atan, her affectionate and sharp mother Mak Inom, and the funny, sweet family maid Mak Som. They add true colour to the neighbourhood with their odd, amusing but always endearing ways which sometimes do not adhere to the norms of the community.
Pendapat saya:Sekiranya anda ingin melihat hasil karya seorg penulis skrip yg bagus utk dicontohi ialah Mukhsin oleh Yasmin Ahmad. Mukhsin bermula dgn kenaifan dan berakhir dgn kedewasaan setiap watak2 yg menjadi teraju utama; Mukhsin & Orked juga watak2 latar; abang Mukhsin & jiran Orked. *sorry, saya lupa nama watak2 diaorg tu?
updated 4:56AM (Sat Feb 03 2007)
BERITA TERKINI dari Yasmin Ahmad
yasmin said...
TAN CHUI MUI'S "LOVE CONQUERS ALL" JUST WON VPRO TIGERS AWARD IN ROTTERDAM!!!Sat Feb 03, 02:49:00 AM 2007
ajami said...
actually "LOVE CONQUERS ALL" menang bersama 3 lagi filem iaitu:
The Unpolished (Die Unerzogenen), directed by Pia Marais (Germany, 2007)
Bog of Beasts (Baixio das bestas), directed by Claudio Assis (Brazil, 2006)
AFR, directed by Morten Hartz Kaplers (Denmark, 2006)
btw TAHNIAH to Tan Chui Mui! w/pun aku pernah 'kecewa' dgn filem itu! ops! "LOVE CONQUERS ALL" juga sedang ditayangkan di ASTRO-BOXOFFICE MOVIE CH.49 sepanjang FEB'07
3 comments:
TAN CHUI MUI'S "LOVE CONQUERS ALL" JUST WON A TIGER AWARD IN ROTTERDAM!!!
saya suka membaca catatan dalam blog saudara ini. teruskan catatan saudara dengan fikiran yang terbuka berkenaan industri filem tempatan.
http://sinemaswara.blogspot.com
Aku pernah kecewa dgn Love Conquers All dan akan tetap kecewa walaupun menang kat Rotterdam. Tapi tahniah utk Tan Chui Mui. Majulah filem utk negara!
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