Brooklyn

via GIPHY

I saw Brooklyn. I enjoyed Brooklyn. Saoirse Ronan is fantastic. 

This film can do terrible damage to new screenwriters!

Of course, the new screenwriter doesn't see it this way. They see a movie that's getting near-unanimous love on Rotten Tomatoes, and say, "See! You CAN do a movie with a passive protagonist!"

Wow, is the protagonist, Eilis Lacey, passive in this movie! I don't think she makes a proactive choice in the whole film. 

Standard movie structure would have Eilis enter a new world that overwhelms and confuses her. But her drive for her big-want fuels her to eventually take on this new world on her own terms. The world changes her. She changes it back.

Brooklyn ain't having it.

So why does Brooklyn get away with dissing standard movie structure? Let's count the ways! With spoilers, you were warned!

1. It's based on a novel. In fact, not just a novel: A historical novel. That means your protagonist is coming to you double pre-baked as more passive. Novel protagonists are often more passive as they "report" the story more than live it. Historical protagonists are often more passive as they're composites of real human beings. 

2. In the original novel, Eilis does more proactive things, but those things are kind of awful, and had to be massaged for the film version! In the movie, she's thrown by the death of her sister back to Ireland, where everyone conspires to keep her there by giving her her sister's old job and setting her up with a rich guy. The life that wasn't there for her before presents itself, and she's torn by conflicting duty to her mother and her secret husband back in the states. It's all very relatable and understandable. But in the novel, it's not a rich guy who can help take care of her mother; it's the guy she wanted before she went to America! And she goes a lot further with him, driven by passion, not duty! She's a two-timer! And when her secret marriage is exposed, she returns to the states in a much more emotionally ambiguous place, rather than embracing the choice. You can square that circle in a big ol' book full of history. You can't make that Eilis in the movie. So the second half of the movie keeps Eilis reactive/passive in order to make her...ugh...likable.

3. There's historical baggage. With every choice Eilis makes, she's choosing by proxy America or Ireland. You can't have a GLOBAL film make those kind of choices! Better Eilis is unable to choose! They're both great! Global box office, step right up!

Please don't misunderstand me. I'm not saying Brooklyn is a bad film with a flawed story. I'm saying that a new screenwriter is extremely unlikely to duplicate this success with such a passive protagonist without optioning a bestselling historical novel, and attaching heavy hitters like Saoirse Ronan. Look at those eyes. Her tears are a better special effect than all of the Transformers films combined.

Go see Brooklyn! 


via GIPHY