Instead of a straight review, this series of posts looks at what can be learned from watching with a critical, writing-focused perspective. First up, the fantastic web series, HIGH MAINTENANCE, created by Ben Sinclair and Katja Blichfeld. It also happens to be one of the Top Five Things I Watched in 2013.
Using objects for character development:
For the last episode, I focused on brief shots in the opening montage and how they built character development. We had that lovely stack of books. We had some retro SLR cameras. This episode takes the idea of using objects to build character and pushes it further by implementing those objects into the action. Rather than quick static shots.
This episode still uses this technique by flashing to a framed Occupy Wall street handbill, but it folds the rest of objects into the storytelling in a more organic way.
“Jamie” is located in the kitchen of a couple–two spare-time gourmets who complain about the price of kombucha, then defend its “alkalizing” powers, then complain about hating themselves for spending so much on it, then plan to make it themselves like “bootleggers”–all in almost the same breath. There is probably some kimchi fermenting in their refrigerator next to a stack of tofus in varying levels of firmness.
What I love about this episode is that it briefly reaches a moment of madcap farce when the women are trying to figure out how to dispatch or free or inadvertently torture the eponymous mouse. They read about freeing the mouse from the glue trap using vegetable oil and Molly reaches for a bottle of oil…
“No no no no no! Sarah Greenfield brought that back from the vineyard in South Africa! You are not using that.”
Then she reaches for a different bottle of oil…
“NO! It’s chili-infused! It’ll hurt Jamie!”
Then she finds a can of Pam…
“What?! Why do we even have Pam?”
Then, when Our Dealer FINALLY kills the mouse with a cast iron skillet, their only response is…
“I just seasoned that pan.”
Not only is the frantic search for an appropriate lubricant to free the mouse funny, it also highlights a kinda complex attribute of these characters. They don’t view objects practically, with an eye toward utility, they see them as either representing a sentimental or ideological viewpoint. We see what the objects MEAN to them, why they’re important, and that develops their character in kinda subtle ways.
And their hypocrisy is awesome. Brenna claims that their apartment is “a place where things live … we do not torture and we do not kill.” Yet they laid down a glue trap. And freeing the mouse isn’t worth using a tablespoon of the special South African oil. All life is precious! Just not as precious as this cooking oil…
Then they agree that the mouse should die but instead of just doing it themselves, they ask Our Dealer to do it. Then they critique his methods.
It’s funny and it’s clever and it’s these tangible objects the characters handle that launch these little character developments.
So that’s something to remember for future writing. Not just having very specific objects in a script, but also spending time noting both what those objects mean to the character AND how they use them.
Bonus objects that are not commented on in the episode but are either telling or intriguing:
1) This is the first time I noticed Our Dealer’s wedding band. It has nothing to do with the episode (or any other episode that I’ve seen) but it intrigues me.
2) The tote bag they hotbox Jamie in is for New York Public Radio. They donated to an NPR fundraising campaign!
Catch up with Lessons Learned reviews of the first two episodes, “Stevie” and “Heidi”.
FADE OUT 