One of the many challenges of writing for film, novel, or stage play is remembering the mantra, “Show, don’t tell.” A visual statement requires a great deal of thought and imagination on the part of the writer. Underlying this challenge is a reminder that action in story should have a moral impact.
In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, without moral impact, a Hero who throws a heavy object to break a window in a mental institution could be construed as a man wishing to escape or cause damage.
But if the head nurse is a sociopath who has been attempting to kill the souls of the patients with increasingly suffocating abuse, then the act of throwing the heavy object to break the window takes on the meaning of plowing through adverse circumstances to achieve freedom at any cost. The cost to the “inmate” patient is to be given a lobotomy and then mercifully suffocated by a fellow “inmate” patient.
In Europa, Europa, a challenge for the writer was: How to show the Jewish Hero, who finds the will to survive in Nazi Germany during a time when Jews were being liquidated.
Challenge: Through the use of the symbol of circumcision, the recurring theme of the covenant between God and the Jewish people is freedom.
Community Opening scene of the film: Brit mila with family and a baby is getting circumcised. Singing, prayer.
Closing scene of the film: The Hero relieves himself in an open field. A Jew who hid his circumcision when he was a member of Hitler’s Youth finally is free, in the modern Jewish State of Israel!
Key point: As the writer, it is important to decide on your Main Character’s psychological and moral values before you write one word or show one action or reveal. This comes into play with the mantra of “show, don’t tell” because you’ll be dealing with moral values when you write scenes and dialog.