Saving Cats?

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  • Saving Cats?

    I presume that most everyone here is familiar with Blake Snyder's screenwriting theory of having the protagonist 'save the cat' to elicit audience affinity. Well, I've recently spotted two literal examples: Superman (1978) and Alien (1979). Has anyone else seen a movie in which the protagonist quite literally saves a cat?

    But, more seriously, what's the best example of the 'save the cat' principle that you have seen? Or that you have written?

    [I'm currently wondering whether or not to make my protagonist 'likeable' by using some version of the old 'cat' trick.]
    Know this: I'm a lazy amateur, so trust not a word what I write.
    "The ugly can be beautiful. The pretty, never." ~ Oscar Wilde

  • #2
    Re: Saving Cats?

    Doesn't Will Smith 'save a cat' in iRobot...literally. If I'm remembering it correctly. I felt like it was a nod to that, an inside joke.

    A fave of mine [my story] is maybe:

    A hitman gives a panting, mangy dog, under broiling sun in the desert -- a cup of ice that he probably needed more [Fits the story. Not contrived. I actually believed my character would have done that. i.e. HE told me to write the scene that way. So I said "fine, as you wish Mr. Character."]

    I don't believe many people saw it as a 'save the cat' beat, but it surely played that way on the psyche. I prefer to tuck in my seams.
    DOPE CITY

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    • #3
      Re: Saving Cats?

      Originally posted by surftatboy View Post
      Doesn't Will Smith 'save a cat' in iRobot...literally. If I'm remembering it correctly. I felt like it was a nod to that, an inside joke.

      A fave of mine [my story] is maybe:

      A hitman gives a panting, mangy dog, under broiling sun in the desert -- a cup of ice that he probably needed more [Fits the story. Not contrived. I actually believed my character would have done that. i.e. HE told me to write the scene that way. So I said "fine, as you wish Mr. Character."]

      I don't believe many people saw it as a 'save the cat' beat, but it surely played that way on the psyche. I prefer to tuck in my seams.
      Will Smith's knows what people like (usually).


      http://www.topix.com/forum/who/will-...PCIOH49ELVTUI1

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      • #4
        Re: Saving Cats?

        SPOILER!!!! The demon possesses a cat in Fallen

        UNSPOILER!!!!
        I heard the starting gun


        sigpic

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        • #5
          Re: Saving Cats?

          Link didn't work for me. FWIW.
          DOPE CITY

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          • #6
            Re: Saving Cats?

            seems like a majority of people scoff at STC at this point... also, the concept of saving the cat has been stretched to the point where if you make your main character nod in appreciation to someone it's basically a "save the cat" moment. "Oh, he nodded, he's likable, i shall root for him."

            at least that's what i've noticed. I'm often (seems like always) wrong on my analysis of screenwriting... and I still loosely follow the Blake Snyder beat sheet, but I try to mask it a little.

            ... i didn't answer your question. Just watch any movie. if the main character helps someone, or does something that can be deemed "nice" in the first 10 minutes, that's basically a save the cat moment.

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            • #7
              Re: Saving Cats?

              First scene of As Good As It Gets!!

              FWIW Snyder gave me literally nothing. I found McKee's book and Pixar's Michael Arndt online mini-seminar much more helpful.

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              • #8
                Re: Saving Cats?

                WHAT is this MICHAEL ARNDT online SEMINAR? (raving fangrrl). Are you talking about the little cartoon on beginnings? Or his insanely great endings thing? Or does he talk about the whole nine yards somewhere on the internets??

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                • #9
                  Re: Saving Cats?

                  Haha, yes, only those two things you've mentioned -- so short and so essential!

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                  • #10
                    Re: Saving Cats?

                    Originally posted by Crayon View Post
                    I presume that most everyone here is familiar with Blake Snyder's screenwriting theory of having the protagonist 'save the cat' to elicit audience affinity. Well, I've recently spotted two literal examples: Superman (1978) and Alien (1979). Has anyone else seen a movie in which the protagonist quite literally saves a cat?

                    But, more seriously, what's the best example of the 'save the cat' principle that you have seen? Or that you have written?

                    [I'm currently wondering whether or not to make my protagonist 'likeable' by using some version of the old 'cat' trick.]
                    The cat in ALIEN is actually where the phrase came from.

                    The Coen Brothers play with the idea brilliantly in their film Inside Llewyn Davis. In that, he also literally does save a cat, and later in the film the optional second half of the expression comes to fruition as well. ("If you don't save the cat, you may as well...")
                    Write, rite, wright... until you get it RIGHT.

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                    • #11
                      Re: Saving Cats?

                      Originally posted by surftatboy View Post
                      Link didn't work for me. FWIW.
                      Link seems to be working now. Secret of W.S. success?

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                      • #12
                        Re: Saving Cats?

                        Fcuk the cat

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                        • #13
                          Re: Saving Cats?

                          Originally posted by cvolante View Post
                          WHAT is this MICHAEL ARNDT online SEMINAR? (raving fangrrl). Are you talking about the little cartoon on beginnings? Or his insanely great endings thing? Or does he talk about the whole nine yards somewhere on the internets??
                          The blog Go into the Story has featured a number of articles by Michael Arndt and interviews with him, you can do a search; here's one to start with:

                          http://gointothestory.blcklst.com/20...on-part-1.html

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                          • #14
                            Re: Saving Cats?

                            Yeah, I've seen those, but thanks.

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                            • #15
                              Re: Saving Cats?

                              I'm more prone to pay attention to Mike Arndt's take than Snyder's, because Mike is not talking about 'rules' but about story mechanisms, that can be adaptable.

                              I think 'save the cat' is really a bogus rule construed to sound like new wisdom from its more common old school opposite, i.e., the bad guy 'kicking the dog' (George Lucas also called it 'throwing a puppy on the freeway')

                              I'm not saying those books are useless. They are if you think they'll teach you how to write. They're the equivalent of learning auto mechanics from a car dealer.

                              They can be useful if you pick up on details that can help you in specific ways. But for that matter watching movies with an audience is a much better teacher.

                              The quick stereotypes applied more to baddies, because baddies were introduced more expeditiously, and more premium was placed on (and it's easier) hating the villain than in loving the hero.

                              Bad guys used to literally kick the dog in many westerns, but these tricks are vaudeville-old. When they are played today they're done as a meta-joke that is kind of silly because it has little or no effect on audiences who don't know the reference (unless you saw old movies or read 'save the cat'), in the same way Disney channel sitcoms make jokes about 80s or 70s references that fly over the heads of their teen audience.

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