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The Day After
Tommorow
Key Creative Decisions That Went Wrong
By
Laurie H. Hutzler  Disaster
Often Creates “Horror”
THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW is a so-called “Disaster” Film.
This category of films is often identical to horror films. The “monsters” in
these kinds of movies are usually natural phenomena—Wind, fire,
water, weather, earthquakes, volcanoes or plague. Whether the “horror” comes
from outer space, the supernatural world or the natural world, reason is none-the-less overrun by chaos.
The main character in this film is reason-driven, similar in type
to the protagonists in the film examples in Newsletter # 1. CLICK
HERE to go back to the newsletter. Unlike THE EXORCIST and IN THE
BEDROOM, discussed in the newsletter, THE DAY AFTER TOMMOROW fails
to create a satisfying emotional journey.
Let’s consider this recent release in detail
and analyze how this failure impacted its critical and box office
results.
The Destructive Force of Nature
Denis Quaid plays Dr. Jack Hall in the film. Dr. Hall is a world-renown
expert, a climatologist studying the Ice Age, and an international
science symposium speaker on global warming. At the beginning of
the film Dr. Hall theorizes that the world is experiencing a gradual
climate change. This shift will, over centuries, result in a second
Ice Age.
He is wrong. The climate shift happens incredibly fast, within a
matter of weeks. Immense storms rage all over the world until half
the Northern Hemisphere is covered in ice. Dr. Hall is confronted
with a set of circumstances so unexpected and so dramatic that there
is no scientific model for or possible logical solution to the world-wide
catastrophe.
The “monster” that he (and the rest
of mankind) battles is Mother Nature. Wind, rain, hail, ice, snow,
flooding and freezing
are absolutely unstoppable and unbeatable. There is no way to reason
with or defeat a storm. The monstrous physical threat in the film
is unrelenting and overwhelming. Hall and everyone else are powerless
against it.
The film was universally praised for its awe-inspiring
special effects and spectacular set pieces depicting the destruction
of Tokyo, Los
Angles and New York by weather disasters of Biblical proportion.
The film got this crucial aspect absolutely right. The gigantic storms
are believable and visually realistic. Are such impressive settings
and amazing effects enough to assure a film’s commercial and
critical success?
A Flat Emotional Journey
THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW was criticized for cardboard characters,
silly dialogue and emotional emptiness. The public agreed with the
negative emotional assessment. There was a flurry of ticket-buying
excitement on the opening weekend but then the film dropped in weekly
box office grosses about as fast as the temperature drops in the
film.
Despite a massive advertising campaign, support
from various political and environmental groups and enough controversy
to fuel numerous
editorials, op-ed pieces and other news commentary, the word-of-mouth
simply wasn’t good enough to build a wider audience for the
film.
What Went Wrong
When the film opens Dr. Jack Hall (Dennis Quaid) is divorced. He
has a genial if a bit exasperated relationship with his ex-wife,
Dr Lucy Hall (Sela Ward). Jack generally is a nice guy. We know this
because he has loyal devoted co-workers and colleagues, one of whom
has been with him for about 20 years. This co-worker is even willing
to sacrifice his life for Jack’s.
Like most modern parents, Jack is harried, distracted and overworked.
He is often absent on long field research trips. Even though Jack
is physically distant, he is emotionally available to his son, Sam
Hall (Jake Gyllenhall). When Jack quizzes Sam about a recent run-in
with a teacher over a bad grade his son tells him the truth. Jack
is able to express his concern about Sam’s welfare and his
son is able to respond. Jack believes his son is smarter than the
teacher.
Jack Hall’s emotional journey is from a concerned loving parent
to a more concerned loving parent. His character is a flat line.
There is no emotional drama, no emotional suspense and little opportunity
for emotional transformation. The character never learns or discovers
anything emotionally significant that he didn’t already know
at the beginning of the film. Neither Jack nor Sam doubts that things
will turn out all right. Why should we? And why should we care about
an emotional journey that is so unexciting and so predictable?
What to Change
In a film about a devastating cataclysmic temperature
change—the
main character’s emotional temperature barely shifts or even
wavers. As New York freezes, we don’t see Dr. Jack Hall’s
heart dramatically thaw. Although we see him struggle mightily against
biting cold and blinding snow, we never witness an equally heroic
struggle to engage or connect emotionally. We never see the price
or the consequences of such an emotional struggle. We never see an
emotional struggle, period.
Dr. Hall’s inner and outer worlds should off-set and parallel
each other. As his physical world plunges into frozen chaos, Hall
should confront an equally dramatic emotional meltdown. His emotional
turmoil should be as terrifying (to him) and realistic (to us) as
the physical turmoil on the screen. Ideally, the bigger and more
dramatic the physical journey—the bigger and more dramatic
the emotional journey should be.
Hall never takes any significant emotional risks.
He’s never
in any real emotional danger. When he loses a dear friend it barely
registers—He just keeps pressing onward. We never fear for
the safety of his heart because his heart is never in danger. This
empty emotional journey makes all the angst and turmoil of his physical
journey look increasingly silly. It is just “sound and fury
signifying nothing.”
Emotional Risk
The creative decision-makers may have wanted Dr. Jack Hall to be
as sympathetic and likeable a character as possible. Hall certainly
is likeable but he’s also simplistic. Audiences love complex,
deeply flawed characters. Flaws are more interesting to watch because
they are the essence of being human. Flaws feel real because everyone
in the audience knows how it feels to wrestle mightily with their
own weaknesses, failures and shortcomings.
Creating likeable one-dimensional roles robs the audience of the
emotional satisfaction of real character transformation. It cheats
the audience of the agonizing suspense of a treacherous emotional
journey unfolding. If human flaws aren’t at the core of the
film, the story feels hollow—like a fraud or a fake. The struggle
is too easy. The audience wants to fear for the protagonist’s
heart as desperately as they fear for their own.
Emotional Reward
In films with big action set pieces and lots of physical drama there
is probably time for about 15 to 20 minutes of character development.
Every single minute of the emotional journey in a big effects movie
is crucial. Each and every second must count.
There is no time to waste and little room for error. It’s critical
that the character’s transformation be clear, focused and true
to type. The reason-driven character must fight his or her way along
the path from alienation to connection in a way that feels honest
and requires real sacrifice and suffering. Effects without heart
simply don’t matter. And, ultimately, they don’t sell
tickets.
The leap of faith required on the part of writers, producers and
studios is to create flawed characters that struggle and fail and
are forced to find the courage to put their hearts on the line. Audiences
go to the movies to discover the humanity of others because, in doing
so, they rediscover the humanity in themselves. They go to the movies
to feel because it is human feeling that unites us all.
Consulting Services
If you need help finding your story’s emotional focus let
Laurie Hutzler’s unique interactive problem-solving sessions
center the power of your story and clarify your character’s
inner truth. Whether working on a television program or feature film
production, Laurie helps writers, producers, story editors, and creative
teams get to the heart of a story. She offers a set of practical
methods to create the emotionally satisfying programs audiences love.
Contact: Laurie@EmotionalToolbox.com
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