The Kilted Writer

Mind, body, and spirit characters are often used in " based on a true story " movies and stories. Apollo 13 is no different. In fact, this movie includes two sets of mind, body, and spirit characters - one set in space and one on the ground.  I've covered why mind, body, and spirit characters show up in "true story" movies in previous posts (see above). In this post, I want to focus on "motivation." On the surface, each character seems like a mind character. They all have knowledge and share information freely and they all react to conflict, especially the explosion, with knowledge, information, and procedure. Even when the procedures no longer apply because of the disaster, they start to build new procedures. All of this is mind-related behavior. In order to see the character's true natures, you have to look a little bit deeper at the characters' motivations. For this analysis, I will focus on one key motivation for each cha...

In the last post , I discussed the "parent" level of the family model of mind, body, and spirit as it relates to the popular science show, Mythbusters . Now, I will take a look at the "children" level of the model.  What's interesting about this show is that it's been on the air long enough to see the "children" mature into an independent team. In the beginning, the team did a lot of "behind-the-scenes" work, but were rarely in front of the camera. Their responsibilities were simply to build whatever was necessary. Somewhere around season four, the team moved to the front of the camera, but their responsibilities were still limited. Now, they share almost equal on-screen time and develop tests for their own myths, independent of their "parents," Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage. The Mind Character: Grant Imahara Grant has a background in robotics. On the show, he is often responsible for calculations and scientific...

(Note: This post was originally written in October 2013) First, I want to thank all of you for keeping the blog's stats up while I was away. If you follow me (Kilted Writer) on Facebook, you know I was traveling for my 25th high school reunion. It was a great time, more so than I would have ever expected. Now, though, it's back to work. I want to be as prepared and up to date as possible for my presentation at the Castle Rock Writers Conference on November 23rd. Unlike previous posts, which have focused on "film and fiction" this one will look at the popular series, Mythbusters . This is not a fiction series, but it is produced for entertainment value. Now in its 14th season, I think they've succeeded. Part of that success can be seen in the interactions of the cast members as they set out to confirm or bust various "myths" from all parts of society. The chemistry between the cast members can be partially explained in terms of mind, body...

I grew up on Star Wars, Buck Rogers, and Battlestar Galactica. My friends and I would fight over who got to be Starbuck and who got to be Apollo in our recreations of battles against the Cylon "tin cans." Which is why I was absolutely appalled to find out the recent remake of the Battlestar Galactica television series featured a female Starbuck. What's worse is the sexual tension depicted between Apollo and Starbuck. That whole situation is so far removed from the original characters that it changes the whole dynamic of the series. I recently started re-watching the original series and, given the sex change, was surprised by how much of the original carried over into the remake, right down to the use of "frak." I actually gained a little more respect for the new series. As I watched the pilot episode, I immediately became aware of the mind, body, and spirit symbolism in the characters. The dynamic may be different in the remake, but here is wha...

Stargate SG-1 ran for 10 seasons and over 200 episodes, which gave the writers a lot of different mind, body, and spirit opportunities. In addition to the main characters and the " uber races " of aliens, SG-1 has one other another prominent mind, body, and spirit set. In the war with their primary enemy, the Goa'uld, the humans of earth ally themselves with the Jaffa and the Tok'ra. The Body Race: Jaffa The Jaffa are the enslaved warriors of the Goa'uld, who pretend to be gods in order to exert their power. They are the measure of any particular Goa'uld's military strength. In the pilot episode, Teal'c, a Jaffa serving as the "First Prime" (top ranking Jaffa) of the Goa'uld Apophis, rebels against his false god and starts a movement within the Jaffa to create a free nation. These free Jaffa fight against the Goa'uld to help their brothers and sisters gain the same freedom they enjoy. The Jaffa are imbued with lon...

A while back, I introduced the concept of mind, body, and spirit societies . I illustrated the concept in my discussion of the book, Divergent , by Veronica Roth, and in the Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher. The TV series, Stargate SG-1 , contains three separate "uber-races" of aliens the team from Earth encounter at various times throughout the series. These three races make up a complete mind, body, and spirit set. The Mind Race: The Nox The Nox appear to be a very primitive race when the team first meets them. They even seem to have difficulty with basic communication. Within the span of a brief conversation, however, the Nox pick up the language and patterns of communication the team is using and are able to communicate quite easily. The Nox use the power of the mind for everything from healing their sick to escaping detection by unwanted intruders. They can even resurrect someone who has died under the right  conditions. To the Nox, humans are a...

In a way, Joan of Arcadia is similar to The Mentalist when it comes to mind, body, and spirit.  In The Mentalist , you have a mind character, a spirit character, and then a team that collectively makes up the body character. When you examine the team members individually, though, you see another layer of mind, body, and spirit. In Joan of Arcadia , Will Girardi (Joe Mantegna) is a mind character, Helen Girardi (Mary Steenburgen) is a spirit character, and their three kids collectively make up a body character. When the three kids are examined individually, you can see another layer of mind, body and spirit. The Spirit Character: Joan Girardi (Amber Tamblyn) Joan sees and interacts with God. She will do whatever God asks her to do, but often reluctantly. She often asks "why," but continues forward despite never getting an answer to her questions. God explains that she can see him because she is open to more possibilities than most people. This is undersco...

In case you haven't picked up on it, I like romantic comedies with Drew Barrymore ( Music & Lyrics , 50 First Dates , The Wedding Singer , Fever Pitch , etc.). For this post, though, I will not be focusing on her character. Instead, I will be focused on the male lead, Ben, played by Jimmy Fallon. Usually, I look at all three character types, but Ben is such a strong spirit character, I thought I would devote the entire post to him. Drew Barrymore plays Lindsey, a mind character with three friends. Two of her friends are spirit characters and one is a body character, creating the 'Lindsey' set of mind, body, and spirit. Ben is a spirit character with three friends. One of his friends does not interact enough to really nail down his character type, another is a mind character, and the third is a body character, making up the 'Ben' set of mind, body, and spirit. If you haven't seen the movie, beware of spoilers. As is my usual advice, see the mov...

In the last post , I took a look at Lucy Whitmore, her father, Marlin, and brother, Doug. They make up one mind-body-spirit triad in the movie 50 First Dates . Today, I will look at the male lead, Henry Roth (Adam Sandler) and the characters who surround him. It's been a while since I explained this, so I will review it here - I do not intend for these posts to be a review of the film or book about which I am writing. I will not, generally, go deep into the plot of the story, except where it helps in the character analysis. I will assume the reader has some familiarity with the book or film being analyzed. If you feel like you need a little more info, then please leave a comment. I'll be glad to fill in any gaps I might leave in my effort to keep these posts relatively short. The Spirit Character: Henry (Adam Sandler) Henry is a veterinarian at a local aquarium, but he has a dream to sail to Alaska where he plans to study the underwater habits of walruses. H...

50 First Dates is a romantic comedy starring Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore. In a previous post , I talked about two types of mind, body, and spirit use when it comes to romantic comedies. This one is the type with two sets of mind, body, and spirit characters - one on the side of the male lead and the other on the side of the female lead characters. For this portion of the analysis, I will focus on the female lead's side of the mirror. The Spirit Character: Lucy (Drew Barrymore) Lucy is an artist, a fact that should already have you thinking 'spirit character.' She comes into the same cafe every day and has waffles for breakfast. Instead of eating the waffles right away, though, she makes little cabins or tepees with them. When she meets Henry (Adam Sandler), who is a veterinarian at a local aquarium, one of the first things she notices is that is hands smell like fish. Normally this would be off-putting (Henry even says, 'Fish don't even like...

In the previous post about The Mentalist , I described how the 'team,' collectively, was the body character in one layer of mind, body and spirit. In this post, I will discuss how the 'team,' individually, make up a second layer of mind, body, and spirit. This form of layering is fairly common in depictions of families in film and fiction. Shows like Family Ties or Joan of Arcadia have the same kind of construct, with the mother and father as mind and spirit and the children as the body in the first layer. The children, individually, then make up the second layer of mind, body, and spirit. The Mind Character: Kimball Cho (Tim Kang) One of the classic cop mind characters is Joe Friday. His famous line, 'Just the facts, ma'am,' defines the mind character mentality. Kimball Cho is Joe Friday with a comic twist, but even then, the comic lines are delivered with an air of seriousness. Cho doesn't like to get involved in side issues when...

In the television series, 'The Mentalist,' Simon Baker plays former 'psychic' Patrick Jane. When a serial killer named Red John kills his family, he joins a special crimes unit with the California Bureau of Investigations where he uses his special talents of observation to help solve cases, all the while keeping Red John on his mind. The investigative team illustrates mind, body, and spirit very well. There are two layers that I will discuss in two separate posts. The same friend who lent us The Big Bang Theory lent us the first season of The Mentalist , so these posts will be based on the first season. The Mind Character: Agent Theresa Lisbon (Robin Tunney) Agent Lisbon is a typical cop mind character. Things like 'chain-of-command' and 'rule of law' are important to her when they are investigating a crime. A lot of conflict within the unit comes between Lisbon, who expects her orders to be obeyed, and Jane, who plays by his own rul...

Steven Spelberg's 1985 movie, The Goonies , is full of mind, body, and spirit symbolism. I will only address the three main characters here, but I recommend you watch the film and see the various layers of mind, body, and spirit at play. Even if you are not into that kind of analysis, you should watch it, anyway, just to see the on-screen debut of Josh Brolin. The Body Character: Chunk (Jeff Cohen) The movie opens with a police chase through town. Various characters are shown reacting (or not reacting) to the scene as it passes them by. Chunk is in a pizza joint/arcade and sprints to the window to see what's happening. He presses his hands to the window, forgetting he has a slice of pizza in one hand and a milkshake in the other. Chunk is very distracted by food. As the group approaches the bad guys' hideout, he frets over the danger until he sees an old soft drink cooler. All of the danger he might be feeling is wiped away by, 'Soda Pop!' Later,...

Here's another romantic comedy that relies heavily on mind, body, and spirit interactions. This movie actually has three layers of mind, body, and spirit - the main characters, Peter Colt's family, and...well, see if you can find the third. The Mind Character: Peter Colt (Paul Bettany) Peter Colt introduces himself as the 119th-ranked tennis player in the world. To him, this only means there are 118 players who are younger, stronger, and faster. As a result, he doesn't dream about being better. Instead, he plans on a happy retirement and a cushy job as a pro at a tennis club. As he prepares for his first match at Wimbledon, he goes over everything that got him there: 1000 balls/day, 365 days/year - 6 million balls and "it all comes done to this." After he serves an ace, he says, "Another 71 like it and you've got it in the bag." In a later round, when he is injured, he doesn't dig deep into his soul to find the will to win. He...

(Note: This post was originally written in January 2013) I am back from the holidays and will try to get back onto my regular Tuesday/Friday posting schedule. I have a three-part post I will be doing covering Veronica Roth's Divergent , but before I get into it, I want to introduce the idea of mind, body, and spirit societies. I will use J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth as my example, here. The Hobbit is a well-known story, so I have no qualms including 'spoiler' information here. In a mind-body-spirit society, one race or class of individuals is defined by its overall characteristic traits. One race or class is known to all as the keepers of knowledge, for example. They bring reason to the corporate discussion and their input is often the source of conflict in a story. In SF or Fantasy, they are usually long-lived and maybe even immortal. In Middle Earth, the mind race is the race of elves, and in The Hobbit , it is the elves who advise against retaking the...

(Note: This posted was originally written in November 2012) For those who are unaware or too young to remember, the '80s have been making a resurgence. Fashions have drifted to the colorful layers of that decade, including the off-the-shoulder sweatshirt and tights and/or leggings made famous in the movie, 'Flashdance,' among others. Speaking of movies, iconic '80s movies are being released or filmed even as I type this post. Movies like 'Footloose' have been 'updated,' as they say, and rumor has it there will soon be a remake of 'Dirty Dancing,' which starred Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey. Swayze and Grey also starred together in 'Red Dawn,' which has also been 'updated.' 'Red Dawn' marked a lot of firsts in cinema. It was the first credited role for Charlie Sheen. It was said to be the most violent movie ever made up until that time. It was also the first movie to be released with the then brand-new ...

No, not the Chaucer version, though Chaucer does come into the mix. This post covers the film, "A Knight's Tale," starring Heath Ledger. In this movie, the different character types are crystal clear. The primary characters can be identified within a couple of minutes of the film's opening. This movie actually has two layers of mind, body, and spirit characters, but I will address both layers together rather than doing separate posts. The Spirit Characters: William (Heath Ledger) and Jocelyn ( Shannyn Sossamon) William, a squire who masquerades as Sir Ulrich to compete in jousts, is the lead protagonist and Jocelyn is the object of his affections. William begins the film by leaping into the joust after his lord dies mid-competition, despite the fact he has no noble lineage or training. If discovered, he could be imprisoned or executed. The theme for his character throughout the film is the desire to 'change his stars,' and this is the fir...

Nine characters. Three sets of three character types, all working together to create a compelling cast of characters. This is the final installment, the final layer of body, mind and spirit in Joss Whedon's 'Firefly' series. The Body Character: Inara Serra ( Morena Baccarin) Inara is a 'registered companion.' In the world of Firefly, prostitutes have a social hierarchy, and registered companions are at the top of the heap. They only accept the highest of society as clients and are revered by much of society. The fact that Mal has a registered companion operating on his ship gives him access to some of the more reputable ports in the galaxy. Mal, however, sees no distinction between a common whore and a registered companion. They both represent loveless and purely physical relationships to him. Inara never sweats, never gets dirty, and always looks her finest. While this may not be a universally true statement, it's clear enough in the series ...

The primary mind, body, and spirit characters in Joss Whedon's "Firefly" television series. The second layer characters will be described in this post. The Mind Character: Simon Tam (Sean Maher) Many times, people in medical professions, like doctor, coroner, etc., operate as body characters, but not in "Firefly." He shows this in the pilot episode when Kaylee is shot by a bounty hunter. Rather than immediately moving into action to save her life, as a body character would, he bargains with Mal for protection for himself and his sister, River. Like Zoe, Simon often acts as a devil's advocate, questioning the logic of actions taken by other characters. He also brings a different perspective on core planets (planets controlled by the Alliance), knowledge that lets the crew get away with a hospital heist. Simon is not just a doctor, he is one of the best. He was top of his class and brilliant in everything he attempted. He engineered River...

"Firefly" was a television series that only lasted one season, but developed such a large cult following that a major motion picture, "Serenity," was produced to close out the story. Joss Whedon wrote both the series and the motion picture screenplays and expertly applied mind, body, and spirit characters throughout, just as he has done in other works, such as "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," and "Dollhouse." In Firefly, Whedon uses three layers of mind, body and spirit. In this post, I will only address the first, or top, layer. The Spirit Character: Captain Malcolm Reynolds (Nathan Fillion) The pilot episode of Firefly began with Mal Reynolds and Zoe Washburne in the middle of a battle with the Alliance. Their rebel forces (the Browncoats) were pinned down and in dire need of air support that wasn't coming any time soon. Mal was the one running around trying to encourage the fighters, saying things like, "We are just too pr...