What do you like, or follow more in movies out of plot or characters?
I’d say, by quite a large margin (based on my favourite movies), it would have to be characters, or character driven what ever you want to call it. As some of my favourite movies of all time have appealed to me more so with the characters as opposed to the plot. Like Grease, Toy Story, One Flew over the Cuckoo’s nest, Wall E etc.
Even though one without the other ain’t very good, a story can make a character and develop them, whereas there is no effective plot without the characters bringing it to life.
Character driven, of course you could say all plots are driven by characters per say. While a little chance can be thrown in, ultimately stories are created by the decisions characters make and how they interact with one another. Of course, in the end, a lot of effort must be expended in keeping characters ‘in-character’ and not say pull a 180 on their personality out of the blue with no explanation for it just to make it easy for the author to drive the plot forward.
Characters should not generally feel merely like passive ‘puppets’ along for the ride with no discernable personality and are only say angry or unreasonable when it’s convenient for them to be so for instance. They should feel like real people and that they have histories and pasts to them as well. We as viewers see a lot of angles, but ultimately it should be like we’re seeing a section of life or simply a part of their lives which is when things get particulary interesting. Character A (say he’s a knight) wasn’t always the guy waving a sword. He was once a squire. He probably has a family and a master somewhere and he has a history which got him to that place and point of time we are seeing. This is also true in books, not just on the screen. Many authors right backtories and histories to the characters and sometimes cultures they create but don’t produce an ‘info-dump’ of information (I’ve made this mistake in the past myself). Instead they may leave little hints here and there of them and if it’s important it’ll eventually be revealed or will just be ultimately something interesting about the character which sets them a part.
Character-driven. It’s an easy decision for me to make because I’m not big on high-concept stuff if it has weak characters, and I enjoy a lot of films that essentially have no major plot but are instead a character study.
I’d say character. I need something to hold onto(emotionally. Get your mind out of the gutter!). I love complex plots, and prefer them, but plot doesn’t make me cry. I can’t sympathize with a plot. I don’t admire a plot. See what I mean?
