The Cute Meet by Paul Penczner - Essay Example

? The Cute Meet by Synopsis This script takes a look at the concept of the ‘cute meet’ through the eyes of twenty-somethings who are hooked ontechnology, coffee, and on that strange phenomenon of spotting someone in the middle of an event, and locking onto them in the beginning of a farce, a romp, or calamity of circumstances that leads to love. The Cute Meet FADE IN: EXT: SIDEWALK – SUNNY DAY ROMEO, a twenty-something male - is walking down the street. He wears very modern clothes, is listening to music on his phone through ear buds, and is working on his tablet. As he is walking along the street, he glances up and sees a beautiful woman, OPHELIA, a twenty something attractive woman - through the window of a coffee shop. She is working on her laptop. She glances up and their eyes meet. Romeo (Dramatically) What beauty is this? Ophelia (Mouths the word ‘hi’) Romeo (His fingertips touch the glass) (he continues talking dramatically and exaggerated, even though he is serious) In my life, I have never seen a beauty such as this. I don’t know what to do: whether to go in, or to stay here on this sidewalk. It is like a dream to see such a vision as this. But soft, what light through yonder window breaks? It is the East and Juliet is the sun – INTERCUT BETWEEN INT. AND EXT. Ophelia (Grimaces, looks at camera) My name is Ophelia Romeo (Not hearing her, but thinks he reads her lips) Yes! Yes! I do feel you, I feel every breath you take, every move you make. My heart beats with the rhythm of your soul! My body – It begins to rain, a big dropped, emotional rain like one would see in any other romantic comedy. Romeo stops for a few minutes then a look of anger and horror crosses over his face. He looks down to his tablet as it begins to flash and fizzle out. Romeo Unfreaking believable! Romeo throws the tablet and begins to pump his fist at it in big exaggerated circles. No way! No way! INT: COFFEE SHOP - DAY Ophelia watches through the window, her eyes are wide and she appears to be shocked and confused as she sees Romeo act out and throw his tablet. She lowers her eyes to her laptop and ignores him. We see her writing on her laptop as she composes an e-mail. OPHELIA VOICOVER (Typing) Ok, he is too violent for me. Thought that one was a keeper too. He was really cute and we did this whole eye lock thing. It was like in a movie or something, but no way. No way will I be with some guy who loses his temper over a little rain! You remember the last guy I met and when the rain started? Yeah, that was done right, all Hollywood. His eyes met mine and I was hooked. He stood there for about five minutes just looking at me! Too bad he couldn’t seem to come in out of the rain. Yeah. LoL. Men are just strange. Ophelia (Her phone rings and she laughs and answers the phone) You never could stand typing. Didn’t I teach you how to short hand it? Uh huh. Uh huh. I know, you would think it would be easy. INTERCUT PHONE CONVERSATION INT: BEDROOM - DAY GASTON, a twenty-something male with traits that suggest he is gay, talks to Ophelia on the phone. Gaston Well maybe you are just too picky. Maybe that boy had something really important on that tablet? You do know, maybe he was in the middle of curing cancer! Ophelia I hardly think so. No one who is going to cure cancer takes the time to shop at Hugo Boss. Besides, if he is curing cancer he isn’t going to have any time for me, now is he. Gaston You just keep thinking that way and you are going to have less and less of these things happening, Miss Cynical. Ophelia Oh no, I am destined to live the dream. Uh huh. Uh huh. No, it is going to happen just like you see in the movies. I promise. Why don’t you come to the coffee shop so we can lose the tech? Gaston walks in through the door and hangs up his phone, sitting down next to Ophelia and pulling out an e-reader. Gaston (His eyes on the reader) Good thing you finally got around to that invite, I was tired of holding on to that thing. I gotsta get me a smaller phone! Ophelia (not raising her eyes but continuing to type on the laptop) Mhmm, like you needed an invitation. What are you reading this week? Gaston ( he looks at her with wide excited eyes) OMG, you would so love this book. It’s called Zoo by Robert Pattinson… Ophelia James Patterson, maybe? Gaston Yeah, whatever, anyway – it’s all about how the mix of tech in this world makes the animals go all Hannibal on us. I believe it! I do, mhmm. It’s going to happen. Ophelia (Laughs and shakes her head) Ok, if you say so. I need another latte. Ophelia walks up to the counter and leans on it a little. MAC, a twenty-something barista walks up to take her order. SLOW MOTION Her eyes go wide and she is visibly attracted to him. Background music swells. He looks up into her eyes and smiles a slow, wide smile. At that moment she tries to set her cup down and hits the edge. It drops and she leans down and hits her head on the counter Ophelia Wow, that was smooth Mac Can I take your order? Ophelia Well, yeah. I need a vente half-caff no-foam non-fat vanilla soy latte Mac Ok, got it (He pauses for a few minutes, then awkwardly walks off) Ophelia (looks back to Gaston and shrugs – after a moment Mac hands her the coffee) Um, thanks Gaston (As Ophelia walks back to sit down) Now see there? That was a perfectly good boy you intimidated Ophelia Intimidated!? Gaston Yes, you intimidate men by putting too much pressure on them. No boy wants all the pressure of Gaston (con’t) the meeting of the souls in the first few minutes of meeting you. They mostly just want to see if you are up for it! Ophelia Up for it?! Gaston Yes, up for it! You make eyes at men as if they are the only one in the room. That is just too much drama for your average bloke. Ophelia (Rolls her eyes) Ok, whatever. Did you not see me bump my head? Um, injured here! I’m traumatized! Gaston Umph, more like dramatized. Now listen. That boy behind the bar looks like a right nice boy and you just scared him to his death. You go back up there and ask him if he wants to meet you for coffee later. And yes, I mean the irony of it. I’ve seen him looking at you before. He likes you, he just don’t know what to do with your intense self. Ophelia Oh, I don’t want to be that forward. I’m a girl, I should be wooed. Gaston (Puts his hands in the air) I’m telling you, but if you don’t want to listen there’s nothing I can do. Ophelia (Pauses a moment, then closes her laptop) Ok. I will go see if he wants coffee, irony intended, after his shift. Satisfied? Gaston Immensely, dear, immensely, but oh, that would make me happy too. Ophelia (Makes a face at him, then stops) He’s leaving. The camera pans to Mac who is taking off his apron and grabbing his coat before heading out to the back. He pauses and picks up a bag of garbage and opens the back door. Gaston (Shrugs) Well, there isn’t much more to do I suppose. You know, he might be here tomorrow. You might want to swing around again and see if he is still interested. Ophelia (Stands and puts on her coat) I’m going to head out. I’ll catch up with you later? Gaston You keep working on that Hollywood romance, darling. Nothing is more real than the cute meet. Ophelia (Calls back to him as she reaches the door) See you later, love? Gaston Mhmm EXT: THE SIDEWALK - DAY Ophelia walks out the door and it is still raining with big plump drops. She stands in the doorway, laptop held in one hand as she opens an umbrella, the kind that opens automatically with only one hand. As she shakes it open, she looks in both directions but then registers shock as she is splashed and fully drenched by a passing vehicle, her laptop dripping along with her hair, face and clothing. Dark mascara is running down her face as she shakes her arms Ophelia Unbelievable. UNBELIEVABLE!! She opens her laptop and sees it flickering, then fizzling out. She begins to rant, yelling and shaking the laptop, trying to get it to work. The rain begins to come down harder. Suddenly she pauses and looks over to her right. Mac is standing there, a look of shock on his face. Ophelia Um. Hi? Mac looks at her for a few beats, the rain drenching him as he stands without an umbrella. Tilting back on one heal and pivoting, he begins to walk the other way. Ophelia (From behind him at a distance) Are you kidding! Seriously! (Continues to rant) Mac (Looks into the camera) No way, man. No way “The Cute Meet”: Analysis One of the more popular traditions of the romantic comedy is the idea of the ‘cute meet’. The cute meet is the circumstances under which the male and female lead characters meet each other. It is traditional for the genre of the romantic comedy that the way in which the destined lovers meet will be set under unusual and extraordinary circumstances. It usually involves a central deceit as well through which the conflict in the story will emerge. The screenplay that has been presented in this paper is called “The Cute Meet” as it explores this idea through a series of events that eventually does lead to what would be the traditional beginning of a romantic comedy. Through exaggeration and a tie in with modern technology “The Cute Meet” is a script for a short film that makes comedic commentary on the genre of the romantic comedy. Mernit (2002, p. 5) quotes director Jean Luc Goddard who said that “every movie needs a beginning, a middle and an end – but not necessarily in that order”. This film had a beginning long before the action of the film begins. Ophelia has been seeking her own version of the ‘cute meet’ in a belief that this is how romance is intended to begin. She believes in seeing the stranger across the room and falling hopelessly in love with them. She believes in love at first sight. She understands that a series of events will allow for her character to come to a point of the actual beginning of the relationship, and she knows this because she has been informed by the countless films with that very plot that she has seen. The intertwining themes of film and technology are revealed subtly within the film. When Gaston talks about the James Patterson novel, he is really stating that technology is creating an unreal world that will be the death of humanity. The moment is a metaphor for the impact of technology on the human condition. Technology in itself can be seen as a metaphor for the fantasy world that humans are ever striving to reach (Beardon & Malmborg 2002, p. 30). It reveals a theme in the film which is defined by how expectations are now formed on the basis of how entertainment is shaping culture towards the belief that life imitates the genre’s and plots of film. The concept of technology and its fragile nature in the face of a natural occurrence, such as the rain, is a metaphor for the fragile nature of attraction and ultimately love. The reaction to rejection that human beings would like to express is that exaggerated pumping of the fist or ranting about the issue that can be seen in both Romeo’s reaction to the tablet fizzling out and to Ophelia’s rant and raving when her laptop is damaged by the water being sprayed on her from the passing vehicle. The story is being told through the combination of the casual nature of the current generation and the formality of the history of cinematic love. The use of cultural language to exaggerate the first meeting of Romeo and Ophelia provides context for the contrasts between what is real and what is cinematic fantasy. Beach (2002, p. 3) discusses the idea of the reflection in a film that lightens the harsh nature of reality. In a romantic comedy, the serious subject of love becomes defined through humorous means in order to lighten the pain or ambiguity that often is the result in life. Love in film becomes utopian, even though the couple goes through trials to get to the point where they finally come together, beginning their relationship. Film tends to express the idea that once love is established, the rest of life is bliss. In telling this story it is important for the facial expressions to tell a great deal more than the limited, short sentenced dialogue can tell. These choices will mostly be left to the actors, but without good choices in that regard the scenes could fall flat. Davis (2004, p. 25) discusses the importance of the face in telling story. The face, since the time of the performance of drama in Ancient Greece, has been the window to the soul. She claims that the face was considered the mirror to the soul because it was the host of the emotions a person would feel. Whatever was intended could be seen on the face, so even in deceit, the face would supposedly mirror the truth. That is essential when this script is filmed because the story can be expressed more deeply if the faces of the actors express how they are feeling about what they are expressing (Jones & Jolliffe 2006, p. 243). Mernit (2002, p. 15) writes that “the seed of romantic comedy conflict resides in the ‘meet”. The romantic comedy genre is character driven. Therefore, the plot is dependent upon how the characters will meet and the sub plots are more often dependent upon whether or not the relationship begins. Without the resolution of the relationship, the sub plots cannot be resolved (Beach 2002, p. 110). The ‘cute meet’ is the influence of fate or an outside deity in ensuring that if society does not arrange an marriage for you, that the universe will respond in some way to make sure it happens (Suber 2006, p. 105). This film ends because the relationship will not begin. The ‘cute meet’ is subverted by the reality of love in that it more often does not thrive in chaos. Ophelia is chaos incarnate and Mac recognizes this about her because of the small amount of drama he has seen in her life. This short film is finite in that once the cute meet is not accomplished; the central core of the conflict has nowhere to go from that point forward. Although it seems as if the film will be told from Romeo’s point of view, it is soon clear that he is a short lived character and the film will be seen through the point of view of Ophelia. At this point in the film, Ophelia is discussing the idea of meeting someone with Gaston who sees that she is not responding to the world, but trying to force some sort of resolution onto her dilemma based on literary structures of romance. The point of view is often the moral centre of the story and the character from whose perspective the story is told will hold the key to the moral discussion that is taking place (Livingston 2012, p. 116). Ophelia does not have a realistic grasp on how interpersonal relationships are developed. She presents the issues involved in trying to find love in that expectations may not lie within reasonable boundaries. As Ophelia cannot resolve her moral deficit, she does not gain the relationship that she is looking for and this ends the film. Despite failing to resolve the meet, thus failing to create that conflict, the film does have a central conflict through which the plot develops. Grindon (2011) cites that one of the oldest conflicts in the world revolves around the concept of attraction. The central conflict in this short film is that of the idea of attraction and how it manifests in films in contrast to how it manifests in real life. Although the short does not discuss the ways in which attraction is developed in real life, it clearly makes a commentary on the dramatic license taken in film on the subject. If the film were to be expanded into full length, the point of view would switch to Mac, following his story. As Mac would work to stay out of the drama of the romantic comedy, the core of the film would be in the meeting that he has with a woman under extreme circumstances that define the idea of the ‘cute meet’ as it involves drama and comedic fodder. Following Mac’s story as he works to be real in a world in which reality is not a possibility, because it is a film, would make for a very interesting way to continue this story and to comment on the differences between reality and literary frameworks of love. “The Cute Meet” is a short film in which film writing is criticized for its use of conventional devices in order to develop common and repeated storylines. The device of the ‘cute meet’ is examined for the intensity with which it occurs through the understanding of it that Ophelia has gained through watching romantic comedy films. The subplot that might have been developed for Gaston never emerges as the core of the conflict, the meet, is never achieved. Modern concepts that have been influenced by film are presented as a metaphor through the development of the idea of technology and its influence on modern life. The reactions of the characters to the ruin of their technology are a metaphor for the reaction that can be the result of a bad relationship. Through telling the story in such a manner as to build an expectation and then show why that expectation will never be reached, the film provides a surprise ending while wrapping up the criticism of romantic comedy relationships as they compare to real life turmoil over love. Bibliography Beach, C. (2002). Class, language, and American film comedy. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Pr. Beardon, C. & Malmborg, L. (2002). Digital creativity: reader. East Sussex: Taylor and Francis, Inc. Davis, T. (2004). The face on the screen: Death, recognition and spectatorship. Bristol: Intellect. Grindon, L. (2011). The Hollywood romantic comedy: Conventions, history, controversies. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. Jones, C., & Jolliffe, G. (2006). The guerilla film makers handbook. London: Continuum. Klein, A. A. (2011). American film cycles: Reframing genres, screening social problems, & defining subcultures. Austin: University of Texas Press. Livingston, P. (2012). The Routledge companion to philosophy and film. London: Routledge. McDonald, T. J. (2007). Romantic comedy: Boy meets girl meets genre. London: Wallflower. Mernit, B. (2002). Writing the romantic comedy: From "cute meet" to "joyous defeat" : how to write screenplays that sell. New York: HarperCollins World. Suber, H. (2006). The power of film. Studio City, CA: Michael Wiese Productions. Read More