Character flaw - are they conscious of this?

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  • Character flaw - are they conscious of this?

    Hi guys,

    I've done some reading on this (still a little confused) and gather that a character may or may not be conscious of their flaw depending on the character and story. Am I correct?

    For e.g. if my character's flaw is that he is selfish (which blocks his intenral need of power through selflessness in order to achieve his want/story goal) - is my character aware of the fact that he is selfish? This selfishness was brought on by an event in the backstory that traumatised him, and in my development of this character I've determined that he feels like "the world owes him" - and as a result, he's out for himself - which would make it a conscious thing that the plot would then force him to overcome.

    Am I on the right track?

  • #2
    Re: Character flaw - are they conscious of this?

    In a great many cases, the "flaw" is the hero's "coping" mechanism. The don't see it as a flaw, they see it as the way to get through life, the only way. And they usually have let this flaw dictate who they are and where they are in life ("enabling circumstances"). For them to have gone anywhere or become anything else, they would have had to abandon that flaw, which to them is almost unthinkable.

    A famous example is Rocky. Rocky states that his father told him when he was growing up that he'd better be a good fighter, since he was too stupid and too ugly to become anything else. Meaning, he's a loser. So Rocky believes he a loser, and when we meet him, IS a loser. He's low rent muscle for a loan shark. But he starts glimpsing that he can do better (through Adrian's belief in him, through watching Adrian herself abandon her own "loser" position that was thrust upon her in the beginning...) and when he's ready for the big fight, he no longer believes he a loser, so therefor has a real chance of winning.

    Most charaters with flaws believe that acting according to their own self definition is the ONLY way to survive (the world is dog eat dog place, anyone that trusts anyone is a fool; men can't be trusted, if you open up to them, you'll only get your heart broken; etc.)
    Hope this helps.

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    • #3
      Re: Character flaw - are they conscious of this?

      is my character aware of the fact that he is selfish?
      Have the character become more aware of himself right before mid-point. Fill him up with self doubt. Make him scratch his head and question wheter or not he's been thinking it all wrong, all this time. Stakes go up. He's faced with new dilemnas that will surely expose his flaws. The flaws become more aparent to the audience at the same time to the character. And when everything fails because of his flaws, then he becomes conscious of it. Fixing it will become his mission. At this point, he will need to do one last thing to justify his epiphany and decide to go after one thing he will struggle in doing... Change.

      I've determined that he feels like "the world owes him" - and as a result, he's out for himself - which would make it a conscious thing that the plot would then force him to overcome.
      The plot can only force him to overcome his flaw when he becomes aware of it.

      After that, you get the studio to buy the damn script because you can tell them that you have a great character arc involving a guy who is selfish. They should be able to connect to the character right away and make that check out to you in no time.

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      • #4
        Re: Character flaw - are they conscious of this?

        If a character realizes he has a flaw, then he must have his own way of rationalizing so that he doesn't see this trait as a flaw.

        It's only after the character realizes the flaw is a detriment to himself that he takes action to correct it.

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        • #5
          Re: Character flaw - are they conscious of this?

          Thanks everyone, big help.

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          • #6
            Re: Character flaw - are they conscious of this?

            Coming in to this thread quite late but think of yourself - think hard, be merciless. What is your flaw? Is it easy to admit? Can you even see it clearly? Can you trace its genesis? For most of us it takes deep reflection and honesty to even admit what our flaws are. But we are generally too busy coping with life and/or rationalizing it away to really do anything about it. Many people will never have the courage to be honest with themselves about their shortcomings.

            A character is forced into a situation that will make them face that flaw unwittingly and unwillingly. It is a slow awareness for the character that they must change but if you asked them what is up, they probably couldn't really articulate it. Characters are a lot like real people. Complicated and loathe to admit anything is wrong with them; fearful of change and always seeking that stop-gap to make things work in the short run. "Selfish" is not a flaw. It is a symptom of a deeper flaw. Thinking of a symptom is great because it connotes activity ergo conflict but as a writer you must know where this selfishness springs from because that source of the flaw is what must be dealt with for the character to change.

            Julie Gray



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            • #7
              Re: Character flaw - are they conscious of this?

              Joyeux is on the money.

              Also consider most if not all flaws are a form of fear. Ultimately the flaw is a method the character uses to keep that fear at bay.

              The cause of that fear is the root issue which created the law as Joyeux has said.

              Advice from writer, Kelly Sue DeConnick. "Try this: if you can replace your female character with a sexy lamp and the story still basically works, maybe you need another draft.-

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              • #8
                Re: Character flaw - are they conscious of this?

                Thanks to your replies everyone.

                Joyeux and sc111 - thanks for bringing this stuff to my awareness but this is the first I've heard of the concept of "symptoms" being thrown about. You're right about it and all but I'm just annoyed at the fact that the countless books/articles I've read have not mentioned this. For instance, in my "Screenwriter's Bible" book, the author, Trottier, says that "pride, selfishness and greed" are common character flaws. While I understand that there is an underlying cause to this and all flaws, I thought that having a character deal with the, what I now know as "symptom," to be them dealing with the flaw.

                In my theme and character analysis for my upcoming project I gave all these emotional aspects a strong consideration to the point that I knew what motivated the flaw but all my brainstorming took the form of trying to find ways to have that character's selfish nature tested. To give you an idea, for the project, an event in the backstory left the character feeling powerless and the resulting "symptom" (which is character's coping mechanism) is to be selfish so that he can be in charge/powerful out of fear of not having power. This is fine, but, in my brainstorming I concentrated on exposing the "selfish" side but also focused on bringing this event from the backstory into the character's conscious mind so that he can understand the motivations for this "symptom."

                I really hope I'm not wrong. But yeah - very annoyed that this somehow wasn't brought to my attention sooner. How wrong am I?

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                • #9
                  Re: Character flaw - are they conscious of this?

                  Character work has to go deeper than identifying the flaw and the symptoms of it. Your character (like us, again - best research, look in the mirror) will show the world who they are in everything from the clothes they choose to wear to the way they take their coffee and how they might deal with road rage or suddenly winning the lottery. Is a greedy character going to let you take some french fries off his plate at lunch? Actually - maybe. Because it depends what they are greedy about. A greedy person actually might poop on anyone else's success because there's not enough success in the world (they think) and anyone else's happiness means possibly less for them. A selfish person might be most tested by needing to take care of a child. But that's just one permutation of selfish. A selfish person would have a hard time on a soccer team, too.

                  The trick is to make your character so specific - so real - and so your creation that their flaws are not textbook or cliche but unique to that character. Do some character work and also, you know, write. My partner and I have a script in development with a major studio producer and we've been working on it forever but we just added a little character embellishment to a controlling character and it's so subtle but it really nails her more than ever before. Her character map (so to speak) is that she's controlling. She lost a loved one and couldn't stop it from happening so she's grieving and she's pissed off at her failure. Her response is to be super-charismatic-in-control-woman and pretend it never happened. When she meets you, she steps forward first, she holds out her hand first, she already knows your name and she subtly dominates every single conversation - the way a movie star or similarly outsized ego would. You are just bowled over by her, she's a force of nature. Now how she'll act out on that need for control and that deep grief would be giving away our story but it took us a long time and many iterations to really find the 3-dimensional specificity that makes her both unique and completely familiar.

                  So bottom line, you are totally on the right track to be asking these questions and no one can give you an easy way to nail a character. We humans tend to dislike acknowledging what is really bothering us. Some of us work a lifetime to develop ways to cover it up in fact. So we compensate. With cars, sarcasm, manicures and Ann Klein purses. Spend time with your characters and really look around you, at your friends, at strangers in restaurants, and become aware of how people act versus how you suspect they really feel.

                  Julie Gray



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                  • #10
                    Re: Character flaw - are they conscious of this?

                    Hazeem: I don't think you're too far off at all. Let's example of the 'selfish" flaw, vis-vis root cause/root fear.

                    Selfish:

                    (1) Character's parents were taken from him/her at a young age. Character bounced around from foster home to foster home, had very few material things, sometimes very little food and no parental love, no sibling connections. To survive they had to look out for themselves and cling to anything they got their hands on. Always in survival mode as a kid, they are not predisposed to sharing anything.

                    (2) Another scenario - research shows sexually abused kids can often grow up to be self centered and selfish. So, charcater was sexually molested as a young child. Had no control over their body, their innocence was taken away in the process.

                    In both (1) & (2) above the "fear" is having something "taken away."

                    In the foster kid's case it's fear of their shelter, food, material things (or parental love) being "taken away."

                    In the sexually abused kid's case it's a fear of their power over their own body being "taken away."

                    It would break down like -

                    Flaw: Selfish. Root fear: having something taken away. Root cause: Lost parents in childhood, bounced from foster home to foster home.

                    Flaw: Selfish. Root fear: having something taken away. Root cause: sexually abused as a small child.

                    Of course, you can come up with many other backstories for a selfish character which support both the root cause and root fear. I was just adding a point to Joyeux's excellent explanation about why character flaws go deeper than just the surface behavior like "selfish."

                    I also think her post brings up a great exercise for the brave - analyze our own flaws and the root fear and root cause for each.

                    Hope that helps.

                    Just realized I posted and didn't see Joyeux's recent post. And hers is a great one.
                    Advice from writer, Kelly Sue DeConnick. "Try this: if you can replace your female character with a sexy lamp and the story still basically works, maybe you need another draft.-

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                    • #11
                      Re: Character flaw - are they conscious of this?

                      I've spent the day going over my story and found that I had already considered a lot of what was mentioned but the posts in the thread gave me a new perspective on my existing material. I'm glad I went through it now rather than finding that I had not done it correctly AFTER I finished the first-draft. I'm not even at treatment stage so it's been good.

                      sc111 - my character is selfish because of a childhood event, much like number 2 in your example.

                      I took what everyone said and did some work, thought I'd check with you all anyway.

                      ***

                      This is how the stuff covered in the thread relates to my story:
                      Flaw: selfish. Root fear: being powerless. Root cause: take advantage of/abused as a child. Unconscious need: power.


                      His fear and flaw are motivated by backstory. He must overcome his fear of being powerless in order to survive. Being selfish is something that he does in response to this fear. If being selfish is something that he does in response (in order to protect himself), then he’ll be afraid of being unselfish because this will make him, by his view, powerless.


                      The story teaches him that he does not need to be selfish in order to be powerful and that instead, power comes from being selfless (theme). He must learn that there is nothing major to fear from being selfless. Scenes force him to choose between the powerful approach (being selfless) and powerless approach (selfishness). Selfishness blocks his need. He can’t have power (over his body, over his life – his external want here) until he overcomes selfishness. This “block” is the basis to the horror scenes and provides much of the conflict.


                      The root cause is also dealt with. The character must stop suppressing this traumatic event, let go and accept that it happened. Once he does this, he uses it to understand his fear and his symptom. He then also understands his need. The story forces this childhood event to the surface by the actions of the antagonist and the results of the choices protagonist makes during the story. Once he is fully aware of this event, he goes about making positive changes.

                      What I've done is find a way to expose his root cause through his smyptom. This way, the scenes still deal with his root cause and are economical.


                      *Crosses his fingers*. Any comments appreciated.

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                      • #12
                        Re: Character flaw - are they conscious of this?

                        It sounds to me like you're going for a situation in which the character's consciousness of his flaw commits him to a sort of therapy that cleanses him of whatever that flaw is.

                        You can't argue with that. Good Will Hunting, and tons of other films have gone that route and cleaned up.

                        But it's not the tragic flaw, or the ironic flaw in a classical sense. Travis Bickle, in my mind, has a tragic/ironic flaw - he lives in a world he can't possibly cleanse. And his attempt at cleansing it results in an insanse bloodbath.

                        Hamlet as well. Hamlet can't "get well". He's far too flawed. And the key is he knows it, as well as Travis. Even in Bridge on the River Kwai Alec Guiness' character realizes his tragic flaw at a moment too late in the story to redeem it - it's the realization that makes the movie tragic.

                        My point here is simply I personally prefer stories where the flaw provides insight but not total redeamption - that in fact *just the insight into the flaw* is part of the redemption.

                        When Guiness says in the Kwai movie "My God, what have I done." It's pure drama.

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                        • #13
                          Re: Character flaw - are they conscious of this?

                          Thanks for the thoughts, Prosaics.

                          Any other thoughts, anybody? Need I make adjustments?

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