CHARACTER ARCHETYPES: The Moral Compass

Short films can be really good character studies, about unique people doing individual things. Sometimes the character changes and grows (which is often referred to as a character-based story); sometimes they don't (which is often referred to as a character snapshot). Along the course of their story, they usually meet other unique people doing individual things, and they are all beautiful individual snowflakes.

Those kinds of short films can be brilliant examinations of human nature. Those kinds of short films can be stupifyingly dull. Those are the kinds of short films that typically win Oscars.

For the purpose of this series of posts, I'm not going to talk about those kinds of short films. Maybe one of the other SoCallers will talk about them - but me? I want to talk about short films where things happen.

I'm going to talk about short films in which a person has a concrete goal, and encounters obstacles to achieving that goal (which is often referred to as a plot-based story), and eventually either achieves the goal or fails. The person who is trying to achieve the goal almost always has to interact with other characters, and in a short film you typically don't have a lot of time to fully establish those characters as the living, breathing, three-dimensional beautiful snowflakes that they are.

You gotta use archetypes.

(What's the definition of "archetype"? It's "a stereotype that doesn't suck.")

Some of the archetypes I want to talk about are Moral Compass Guy, Enabler Guy, Authority Figure, Comic Sidekick, Evil Genius, Mentor Man, Love Interest, and Super Exposition Man (with his sidekick Technolo-Guy).

Today, we're on Moral Compass Guy.

Here are some examples of Moral Compasses --

Pinocchio's friend Jiminy Cricket;
Yogi the Bear's friend Boo Boo;
Roger Murtaugh in Lethal Weapon;
Morgan Freeman's character in ... well, just about every movie he does;
Tim's wife on Home Improvement;
Ray's wife on Everbody Love Raymond;
Doug's wife on King of Queens...

(Actually, now that I think about it, The Wife on pretty much every domestic sitcom ever is a Moral Compass Gal. And they say men run Hollywood.)

The primary archetype of Moral Compass Guy characters is that little angel who perches on people's shoulders and argues with the little Devil on the other side.

Moral Compass characters exist to be the voice of reason, the voice of caution, the voice of the moral high ground ... and they ALWAYS get ignored. But they need to be there to establish the "norm," which can then be trashed in favor of more exciting stuff.

Some of their best lines: "If you go out there, they'll kill you!" "Why don't we just give them the money?" "Make sure to wear a warm coat." "I don't think [Authority Figure] is gonna like that..." "Maybe we can just TALK to them." "It's only a game." "Is this really worth dying for?" and "Maybe we should think about this."

These sort of lines are usually followed by the Reckless Hero dashing out of the room to do exactly the opposite of what the Moral Compass suggested.

It's like Pavlovian reaction - "Don't be foolish" [DING!] and the hero does something foolish [drool].

There you go: The Moral Compass Guy.

So, okay, let's say you've pulled your WISE GRANDMA or FUNNY IRISH PRIEST or GAY BEST FRIEND out of your toolbox -- now, with any archetype, how do make sure the character doesn't become an annoying stereotype?

I think the key to using an archetype without in becoming a stereotype is in contradictions.

Pull the archtype out of your toolbox, dust him or her off ... and then twist them until they don't seem like the stereotype but can still do the job they need to do.

And that shit can be tough. But it's worth it when it works.

Remember, you don't have time to fully explore every character in a short film (hell, you don't have time to do it in a feature or a miniseries!), so archtypes can be your friend. Just make sure they don't suck.