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The Selflessness Of Movie Heros

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I was recently reading a book for first time directors. The author was pointing out things to look for in a good script and one of the main points was that the hero must committ a selfless act in order to endear himself to the audience.

Obviously, we see this in a whole lot of films. Either as the nice guy who gives up what he's wanted for the sake of others, or as the selfish jerk who learns how to take care of others etc.

I have been writing screenplays for about 5 years and have been making slow but steady progress towards sellable screenplays and establishing solid connections.

So I am curious about how well it would be received to show the individual as hero for the sake of being an individual and not serving others. I think the whole hero as selfless creature is so ingrained in the process that I'm not sure I'd effectively be able to present a viable alternative, at least not one that a studio would snatch up.

And it's not even the acts so much as the way they are portrayed. Certainly, saving another's life could be a selfish act but it's always shown as being selfless. The hero becomes a real man when he forsakes what he wanted and does what is expected/required/etc.

I would love to see someone who makes decisions for the betterment of his/her life and doesn't apologize for it.

Anyone know of movies that take a more objectivist approach, other than FH of course.

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I am convinced that the "altruistic hero" is a myth. If you consider the movies that really inspire people, they are not movies filled with self-sacrifice, but with a selfish struggle. I'm thinking here of movies such as Shawshank Redemption, Braveheart, Inheret the Wind. The fact is, altruism doesn't really inspire anyone, not even altruists. That's why, even in movies where there is some altruistic element, insofar as the movie is good, it's despite that fact, not because of it.

Now, the question is, how overt can you be about the admirable nature of selfishness? That's a much tougher question. I will say this: you won't get away with it in Hollywood; not with your first script. But I do think there's a large market for Romantic Realism, assuming it's well done.

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I was recently reading a book for first time directors. The author was pointing out things to look for in a good script and one of the main points was that the hero must committ a selfless act in order to endear himself to the audience.

I disagree.

What makes a compelling story is a hero seeking a value. The value can be justice (revenge), knowledge (who dunnit), love, safety (escape from a threat), etc.

What keeps the audience's interest is not knowing whether the hero will get his value or not. That is unknown until the climax of the story at the very end.

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I would love to see someone who makes decisions for the betterment of his/her life and doesn't apologize for it.

Anyone know of movies that take a more objectivist approach, other than FH of course.

A quick list:

1) Dirty Pretty Things.

2) Kate and Leopold.

3) Gattaca.

See these three and let me know what you think.

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The protagonist in Chocolat is as close to an Objectivist character as I've seen.

Well, she used to wait for the wind to blow a certain way and then pack her mother's ashes (if I remember correctly) and her things and then move her daughter and herself on to her next adventure. Not altogether very stable...

Maybe in her benevolence, she could be considered perfectly Objectivist. But I wouldn't go as far as extending this to every aspect of her character.

I would say that the protagonist in "Gattaca" is the closest I've seen onscreen. Matt Damon's Jason Bourne in "The Bourne Supremacy" is also quite close. Liev Schreiber's performance in "Kate and Leopold" is very good too.

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Well, she used to wait for the wind to blow a certain way and then pack her mother's ashes (if I remember correctly) and her things and then move her daughter and herself on to her next adventure.  Not altogether very stable...

Maybe in her benevolence, she could be considered perfectly Objectivist.  But I wouldn't go as far as extending this to every aspect of her character.

I would say that the protagonist in "Gattaca" is the closest I've seen onscreen.  Matt Damon's Jason Bourne in "The Bourne Supremacy" is also quite close.  Liev Schreiber's performance in "Kate and Leopold" is very good too.

I haven't seen those three films. But the protagonist in Chocolat only used to do that; she changes by the end. And I didn't claim she's an Objectivist character; I said she's as close I've seen.

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Anyone know of movies that take a more objectivist approach, other than FH of course.

Hombre, starring Paul Newman. I thought it could have been written by an O'ist when I first saw it. And the ending is good for loads of discussion. Fantastic film. The great thing about it is that all of the wonderful selfishness of the hero is made explicit from incident to incident.

Something will happen, someone criticizes him for not "helping", and he states his reasons. The hypocrasy of all the altruists is laid bare, again explicitly. It's unlike any other film I've seen. If you haven't seen this one, I highly recommend that you put it on your list.

I still have it in my head to try and contact the screenwriter and find out exactly how much the script was influenced by Rand. The film is based on the book by Elmore Leonard, but the two are very different.

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I am convinced that the "altruistic hero" is a myth.  If you consider the movies that really inspire people, they are not movies filled with self-sacrifice, but with a selfish struggle...

I agree. Nearly a year ago I posted an analysis of Cyrano along those lines on my Objectivist club blog. I think I've linked to it on the board before, but it's relevent here as well, so what the hell. You can read it here.

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