One of the classes I have taught at Krannert is Persuasion & Communications, a class for Masters of Marketing students. One lens I use as I teach these students is the Story Wars by Jonah Sachs. He uses the mythological construct of the Hero’s Journey for marketing purposes. You can watch a short video on it here.

Then I transition to talking about how great stories have great characters. Usually I can connect with my students, no matter where they are from, by talking about superhero movies. There is so much we can learn, good and bad, from those movies.

Why mention this here? Because characters matter deeply in novels. We have to give our readers a reason to connect and want to know what happens to our hero and heroine.

So what can we learn from movies that will help us build great, richly layered characters?

• Always layer darkness with light. No one is 100% evil, just like no one is 100% good.

Why do we love Marvel over DC? Because the movies on whole aren’t as dark. There’s a good v. evil that is clear…most of the time. Last summer we watched the Marvel movies in order, and the kids teased me because I had a notebook where I jotted details about how the characters developed over time. In the Marvel universe they managed to take a character I really didn’t like…I almost despised him in the first couple of movies, and turn him into a hero who has me sobbing each time I watch End Game. Have you guessed who I mean? Yep, Tony Stark and Iron Man. At the same time they can take a character I adore (Captain America) because he represents everything that is good…justice, self-sacrifice, truth, etc.…and make him much more multi-layered and complicated as he confronts the realities of a world that has changed so much while he was on ice.

• Character arc and transformation is key. How will your character grow?

Think about the last movie you watched that gripped your heart. One that had a character you rooted for and cared about. What was it about that character that gripped you?

One I come back to over and over is Wonder Woman. The No Man’s Land scene is at the halfway point, and it is a scene I can literally watch over and over. It is the point where Diana has to choose who she is going to be in this new world she finds herself in. You watch her transform from something of an ingenue, into the Amazon warrior. She chooses to step into that identity and it is powerful. So powerful, that when I need to be inspired, I will turn on just that scene and watch it to be reminded of how gripping that character transformation can be. Sidenote, I didn’t like DC movies until they added Wonder Woman. Interesting, no?

• The most touching characters may battle aliens, but they are about relationships and the complexity that resides there.

Over the weekend we watched The Mitchells v. the Machines. It was a powerful story about family and challenges we can go through to understand each other. We all laughed and then I may have teared up with some of the scenes between the father and teenage daughter. It was relatable and touching, and the characterization rolled back in a slow fashion adding layers as the movie progressed. It touched on deep themes on multiple levels. How can we add those layers of depth to our characters?

Then we could talk about some of my favorite classic movies. The Thin Man. You Can’t Take it With You. It Happened One Night. Or some of the more recent classics like Titanic. But the next time you watch a movie have a notebook nearby to jot thoughts in as you watch the characterization.