DZ-92: Insightful Recognition in Powerful Endings

Listen if you want to write endings that make audiences pause and ponder (in a good way, obvs)

Stu & Chas set out to explore what makes certain endings powerful, in particular those of LA LA LAND, INCEPTION, NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN and TURNING RED. The lens they bring to those endings is Aristotle’s moment of “anagnorisis” (don’t worry - we can’t pronounce it either), traditionally when a character moves from ignorance to knowledge (particularly of self).

But in analysing these films, Chas and Stu discover that endings can be particularly powerful when the characters experience insightful recognition in others, or in the world, or - perhaps most powerfully - when the anagnorisis is aimed at the audience. In other words, are there craft tools for your ending to prompt an audience to ask itself the question “What was that all about?”? Turns out, we think there are.

Thanks to Chris Walker for editing this episode.

As always: SPOILERS ABOUND and all copyright material used under fair use for educational purposes.

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CHAPTERS

00:00:00 – Intro

00:00:48 – Insightful recognition in endings

00:03:39 – What the hell is "anagnorisis"?

00:12:04 – LA LA LAND

00:30:45 – INCEPTION

00:35:14 – NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN

01:00:04 – TURNING RED

01:18:18 – Wrap up & Key Learnings

01:24:26 – Thanks patreons!

FILMS

LA LA LAND (2016) — (w) Damien Chazelle

INCEPTION (2010) — (w) Christopher Nolan

NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN (2007) — (w) Cormac Mccarthy, Ethan Coen, Joel Coen (d) Joel Coen, Ethan Coen

TURNING RED (2022) — (w) Domee Shi, Domee Shi, Julia Cho, Julia Cho, Sarah Streicher (d) Domee Shi

SCRIPTS

Study the script: LA LA LAND (2016) — Damien Chazelle

Study the script: INCEPTION (2010) — Christopher Nolan

Study the script: NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN (2007) — Cormac Mccarthy, Ethan Coen, Joel Coen

LINKS

Read: HULK PRESENTS THE MYTH OF THE THREE ACT STRUCTURE

Read: Lindsay Doran on the psychology of story-telling

Sponsor: ScriptUp use promo code DZ10 to get 10% off

RELATED EPISODES

DZ-04: Catharsis and the Post-Coital Cigarette

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Full show notes at: https://draft-zero.com/2022/dz-92/