Sometimes I imagine that I'm in a movie. I have the voiceover and background music in my head as I open my door, put the dishes away, and begin to make tuna salad. Great opening for a movie, right? It would probably have some peppy music in the background, like "Unwritten" by Natasha Beddingfield, or whatever the popular equivalent of the day happens to be. Of course I'd have to put in some random kicky dance moves to make myself appealing to the audience and let them know that this is a happy movie. Alternately, "Right as Rain" by Adele could play to show that this is an empowering movie and I'm a little less naive than I would be with the previous song. In fact, if this blog entry were the voiceover for the opening scene in my movie, I'd switch right there, and then probably switch back to show that yes, I'm strong, but mostly upbeat.
And then there would be a lot of scenes with no music at all. These would be hilariously mundane, like when I was in the library and discovered I was too short for the books on the shelf. I found the little stool thing and kicked it in short bursts across the aisle until I could reach and get them.
Random scenes like that. Like at church were I'm sitting next to the new guy and trying not to look interested. Or when I come in to the toddler room and they all yell "KAAAAATE!!!" Penny would probably be in a lot of them, probably for comedic relief or to serve as an outside observer making commentary on my actions through her eye rolls.
These are all scenes that build appreciation and understanding of the main character. These are all scenes that take place before something big happens, before the plot line starts turning up. Before the main character is swept up on some adventure or meets that special/interesting/horrible person who makes life wonderful/a new experience/just awful, leading the character to live life differently.
I haven't exactly had that yet in my movie. My initial incident hasn't happened, there is no rising action or subplot. Just a lot of exposition right now.
Or is it all 'initial incidents'? Is it all rising actions, a series of climaxes and subplots and denouements. Will I only know the story of the movie of my life when it's all over, in like 65, 70 years? I'd like to know at least what genre it is.
5 comments:
This should be the opening monologue to a movie.
P.S. Ask him out.
It's too soon to tell. Maybe next week. He was really nice.
And I totally want to make a movie someday. And make this the opening monologue.
Can I also point out that I've been thinking about similar things while writing in my (relatively) new journal? I've never journal written before, so if anyone reads it/them when I die, this one will be where the story starts. That kind of thing leads me to wonder whether it's starting in media res (that is, the important strands have begun and I just don't realize it yet) or far before most good storytellers would start (too much exposition) or exactly on time.
Sooo true. I guess it depends upon what the real plot of your life is, or if it's all a series of plots. I've been journaling since I was ten, and in those I've had a number of what seemed like crises, plot twists, and subplots, but I think this is one case where life doesn't imitate art (HOORAY! WE'RE MORE COMPLEX THAN CHARACTERS IN A BOOK!!!).
If the point of your life is that you lived (which I think should be the point of everyone's life, I LIVED!) then of course you're starting in media res, however if the point of your life makes your childhood exposition then you're probably good. I started journaling so that my children could read them someday, though now I'm not so sure that I want anyone to read them ever! I was a very silly ten year old, an even sillier 19 year old, and many of my journal entries are rife with a ton of pathos.
P.S. He wasn't at church yesterday.
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