DZ-20: Writing Strong Secondary Characters - Trinity, Bechdel and a Bamboo Killer
Draft Zero: a screenwriting podcast - A podcast by Chas Fisher and Stuart Willis
How can the Trinity Syndrome help you write better secondary characters?
Chas & Stu are joined by Bamboo Killer (aka Emily Blake) - one of the co-hosts of the Chicks Who Script podcast. They take a critical look at secondary female characters in mainstream movies through the lens of the oft-cited Bechdel test and the new, less-cited, Trinity Syndrome. The Trinity Syndrome berates movies for creating a "Strong Female Character With Nothing To Do" (like Trinity in the Matrix sequels) and raises a list of questions for filmmakers to ask themselves about their (female) characters.
Chas, Stu & Emily take these questions and use them to analyse the use of female characters in MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: GHOST PROTOCOL, EDGE OF TOMORROW, DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES and HOW TO TRAIN YOU DRAGON 2. They also cover the awesomeness of the awesomeness that is Rose Tyler (Doctor Who), Katniss Everdeen (Hunger Games), and Kira Nerys (Deep Space Nine).
Funnily enough, turns out writing better female characters is really about writing better characters... who happen to be female.
EPISODE LINKS
- Chicks Who Script Podcast. They are @cwspodcast on Twitter.
- Emily Blake is @bambookiller on twitter. She also has a blog at http://bambookillers.blogspot.com.au
- The Dissolve: We're losing all our Strong Female Characters to the Trinity Syndrome
- DailyDot: An illustrated guide to superhero movies that pass the Bechdel Test
- YouTube: EDGE OF TOMORROW - Emily Blunt Is Rita Vrataski [They gush about Rita in this - c.f. the DAWN video below]
- YouTube:- DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES - "Ellie" [in which Keri Russell struggles to explain her character at all]
- YouTube: Everything wrong with DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES
- YouTube: MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: GHOST PROTOCOL - Girl Fight
- YouTube: HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2 - Hiccup and Valka
- Youtube: CATCHING FIRE - Katniss & Gale
- Asking the Wrong Questions: Ode to Kira
Please send feedback to ask at draft-zero.com, via our web form or twitter @draft_zero We are @chasffisher and @stuwillis on twitter.
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