THE 2024 ELECTION AS A MOVIE

I am not a politician, I don’t want to engage in the current political discourse about why Democrats won or why the country is seemingly shifting red. There are a ton of great think pieces that already exist on that. What I’m interested in, are the lessons that we can take from something very real that happened, and explore how we can apply those lessons to our writing.

I know it can seem like an oversimplification or a diminishing of people's incredibly strong and warranted emotions when I say something as diminutive as 'Let's look at the election as a movie', but in this particular case, I find it useful, to understand how powerful the words we use are and as a tool to understanding our own characters.

If you haven't read the latest edition of Psychology for Screenwriters by William Indick, Ph.D or haven't listened to the latest episode of the Screenwriting Life podcast -- I would encourage you to check those out. They don't talk about the election, but they do talk a lot about a character's drive, desire, and temperament and what makes them go after the things they go after, even when they are scared, even when we think it doesn't make sense.

On paper, it would seem like Kamala Harris was a Cinderella story due for victory. She took over a seemingly dying campaign, she rallied the soul of the Democratic party, she got Beyonce and Taylor Swift, and every other celebrity that meant anything to endorse her. For those of us who were of voting age during the Obama first term election -- it was easy to be transported back to that time and notice the similarity in the language of hope that was fresh on everyone's tongue. You would be forgiven for thinking this was in the bag for her. The story we are constantly told in Hollywood is that there are good guys and there are bad guys and she was the good guy, fighting for the little guy and he was the bad guy fighting the big elite guys and, misogynist language aside, this is an incredible oversimplification of what happened. Those beliefs were reinforced on Twitter (I refuse to call it X) Instagram, and Facebook. You would be forgiven for thinking that you should go to bed early because you knew the outcome of this story.

But if Kamala Harris was telling the story of Cinderella, or better yet, we were telling the story of Kamala Harris as Cinderella to everyone else -- Trump was out there telling you that YOU are Rocky Balboa. As much as his incoherent ramblings about himself and his crowd size and immigrants being rapists were incredibly offensive and jarring -- in a weird way, he told people that THEY were Rocky and the story that the PRESS told about Kamala Harris was that she was the princess who we should be rooting for to get her dream because she is the obvious hero of the story. In an age of anti-heroes -- we should have known better. Even Taylor Swift told us it must be "exhausting rooting for the anti-hero", but apparently not. One of the reasons I think that is, is because we love Gangster movies, we love the misunderstood Tony Soprano and Walter White. We love the "hooker with the heart of gold". And we look for confirmation of our own biases in these stories.

I was not so calm the night of the election of 2024. For me, the end of the campaign had all the notes of 2016 and while I was blindsided then, I was wide-eyed now. Before the results started coming in, I had a very strong sense of what would happen, because Trump told us the better story. I kept watching in horror as people were laughing about the ridiculous stunt of him working at Mcdonald's for thirty minutes -- because I knew as a storyteller, that he was doing a better job of reinforcing his chosen narrative. While the Harris Campaign was telling us a story that would be used against her -- a story of elitism while telling us she was a washington outsider. Her campaign was telling us a story about her being a middle class kid, while her final campaign closing message was in front of the whitehouse in a great show of symbolism and power. What she was saying -- the many many different issues she was tackling -- weren't matching up to the visuals, weren't matchign up a simple message. He wanted you to know at every turn that he was the man of the working people and he understood your kitchen table issues, because even if he had money -- you and he have the same enemies. It’s a powerful unifier. And instead of letting Kamala Harris tell us how she saw the future of the country -- she was not as disciplined with her singular message. Let me explain what I mean --

I know what you're thinking. If you're a liberal, you've probably stopped reading and wondering how on earth I could say that. I mean, he was talking about offensive things like immigrants eating people's pets and she was talking about helping you buy your first home. He’s appointing a whose who of the world’s wackiest cabinet, so believe me, I understand and in many cases probably share your disbelief.

BUT --

To that I would say, more important than policy, or what you're going to do, than even what you have done, is the story you are telling people with your singular message, with your actions and words. And the story Trump was telling people was this --

"You have a right to be angry. Your anger is justified. You're not crazy, you are paying more money for eggs, and you are paying a higher rate on your mortgage if you're lucky to have a home. You don't need handouts, you can be self-made, and to help you do that -- I'm gonna get rid of everyone who is at fault for your current plight." To simplify that -- “You’re right, ‘They’ are wrong. I’m gonna fix it”.

Again, it feels oversimplified and as someone who cares about policy, about making people's lives better, it was frankly infuriating. As a storyteller it was... impressive. And look, my sister is Trans, I am not, full disclosure, a Donald Trump supporter and never will be. We fundamentally see the world differently. I did not vote for him, but from a storytelling perspective, when you boil it down, his was just a clear, precise, consistent message. It was, "You're not crazy, something is wrong, and I'm gonna tell you who to blame for that". That is a very clear message that you don't have to be politically savvy to understand. I'm not saying it's right and I'm not suggesting a way to combat that. What I am saying is that he told a very clear story, that you don't have to participate in any civic involvement to get. You can be a beet picker, a waitress, a police officer, a small business owner, a musician, a corporate lawyer, or a billionaire, and get it. And many of us may disagree with the message, or more than that, the messenger, but we cannot deny that he told a shorter, clearer, more succinct story. "you are right, they are wrong, lets fix it for you". That's it. And if Democrats want to start winning elections, they need to take a page out of his book and find a better, moral, smart way to be better storytellers.

Kamala on the other hand, did not boil it down to the short succinct story. She told us many very real, very different stories, many emotionally disparate stories. She talked about abortion, she talked about buying your first home, she talked about the CHIPS Act, and the incredible achievements of the administration that will not be felt during the Biden administration because of the length of time that it takes the bureaucracy to disperse funds and credits. It was easy for the audience to interpret that as “She doesn’t get me” or “She has no idea how to fix it” or “She can’t help me with my grocery bill.” And what other people heard, people who don't live on Twitter, was "You're crazy and not very educated if you think that inflation is bad or that you're paying more money for eggs. If you're a decent person you should be voting with me, and if you're not doing very well, I can help you explore options to buy your first home. We all agree in this tent (even though we don't) and any dissent means you're not a good enough person". Because people interpret messages and stories based on their own life story -- the more complex, the elements the story you are telling, the more people are going to feel like they don’t know who you are. And worse, they think -- you don’t know who they are. 

That is not a winning message. More precisely -- MANY messages -- is not a singular, clear message. Now, I'm not making a moral claim here. I'm not saying Democrats need to change their message of equality, hope or humanity. I'm saying they need to change the clarity of their message. Because right now, it’s not clear.  What makes a democrat these days? It's unclear. What makes a republican? The willingness to bend to Trump even if you don't like him personally. That's so powerful. One group has a singular, unifying attribute and the other has many, multiple views without a singular unifying message. We gotta figure that out. And in your stories, you gotta figure that out if you want people to rally behind your character -- hero or villain.

If you want to win an election, or you want to get people to read your material, you need to give people the clear cut logline. Not because they aren't smart, not because they aren't capable of understanding the whole book, but because many people don't have time to do the research required to understand a more convoluted message. Because executives are deciding what they will read based on your short logline. And that is a powerful corrollary between the electorate and our business. Many people in our country work multiple jobs, aren't on Twitter, and have more complicated views than just ONE SINGLE party affiliation. Most of us, are just trying to get by and get that next job. Even when you work in the business, how often do you get to see a movie on opening night? I'm guessing rarely. So if you. want people to see it -- you have to have a very clear message about what it is. IT's the same for your characters. It's the same in real life.

If you notice, Trump stayed simple and on message. He didn't tell people that it's okay to have different views or that it's even preferable to have the same views. He didn't talk about complex legal theory or big ideas about how to govern. He kept his message simple and the same. "You are right to be angry. I'm gonna punish the people who are hurting you." The beauty for him lies in the interpretation. The interpretation of who the "people who are hurting you" is, can vary from individual to individual, group to group. Do you hate trans people? Great, they are the bad guys. You hate immigrants great, they are the enemy. You can’t get a job and it's probably because you’re a white man -- yup, that’s DEI for you. The power of his message lies in letting YOU apply the simplicity of the message to your complex life. Under this microscope -- everyone agrees with you and you agree with everyone. He is probably not even aware of this but from a storytelling perspective, it’s kind of brilliant. 

If you think about this, books like Fight Club or movies like The Matrix live the complicated tightrope of having a simple message that appeals to so many people. Let me explain -- Regardless of the original intent of the author or filmmaker, the audience is interpreting their words and wildly, even though Fight Club's author is a gay man -- some of the right has adopted terms like "snowflake" to describe their political enemies, and even to describe what some of them might consider effeminate men. The whole message of that movie is objectively that being too weak or being an extreme bully are both wrong. Tyler Durden is the villain of that book and movie and yet, some people read that book and said, “That’s the guy I want to be like”. The simplicity of the message of the book, “We’ve become monotonous and need to break free of it in order to live,” is so easy to understand that you can use it to justify your own feelings. 

The Matrix also didn't escape, despite the very politically left writers and filmmakers, the right co-opting their message of what it might mean to be "red-pilled". The message is in the eye of the receiver. The Wachowski’s were very clear in the film that it is about accepting your own greatness, of overcoming the expectations of you and becoming the person you’re meant to be. In many ways, you can see the trans allegory there; the beauty of becoming your real self. But many ultra-conservatives think Trans people are exactly what is wrong with society, they saw that movie and understood that the government is trying to tell you how to behave, how to believe, how to live within an acceptable society, and once you take the red pill - once you see the truth -- you can be your own hero and fight against it. It’s so scary - it almost makes you think, “Should I even write anything if it can be weaponized as a tool against what I believe in?”  And this incredible paradox happens where the simpler your message, the clearer it is, the more people will take it as proof that their worldview is RIGHT. And here is another knife to the heart -- your intention is ultimately, irrelevant because if your work speaks to someone, it’s because they can apply what you wrote to their own beliefs about the world. 

A takeaway that we can utilize as writers, is that regardless of whether our character is "good" or "bad", the clarity and simplicity of what they want, of what they say they want, is more important than the complexities of the plot, or any cool "twists" that might happen. An audience member will cling to the clarity of your statement and process quickly how that message, "You're not crazy, things are bad! I can punish the people whose fault that is" is applicable to you. It creates sympathy with our characters -- though not always in real life.

We must take a page from this book of CLARITY. The more CLEAR we are with what we SAY our characters want. The more we reiterate the same message -- the same battle cry for them, the more easily we'll track the changes -- especially after the midpoint. The more easily we'll experience catharsis. We need the power of clarity, of a SINGULAR message.

We think that our characters, in order to be complex, have to talk about a bunch of different things at all times and really it just clouds their uniqueness and singular desires that make us root for them. You don't have to like the villain, but you do need to understand them. If you don't, you have no reason to root for your main character, for your hero, for your protagonist. You need to know, CLEARLY, concisely -- what their worldview is, and distill their message down to a line or two of dialogue that we can keep coming back to -- that we can reference -- that we can apply to our own worldview.