The Kilted Writer

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...

One story plot you see many times in the movies is the bad (insert authority figure) who is transformed into a good (insert authority figure), usually through his or her interactions with mind, body, and spirit characters. In Real Steel , Hugh Jackman plays Charlie Benton, a bad father who is transformed into a good father through his interactions with mind, body, and spirit characters. The Mind Character: Max Benton (Dakota Goyo) Max is Charlie Benton's son, but has been living with his mother his entire life. When Max's mother dies, he goes to spend the summer with Charlie. When he discovers Charlie is a robot boxer, Max is excited and starts talking about various robot fights he's seen or read about. When Charlie's new robot seems to be malfunctioning, Max speaks to it in Japanese and the robot responds. When Charlie takes his new robot to fight, Max argues they should play it safe, take an undercard, and win a little money rather than taking the ...

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...

In a previous post , I talked about using pilots as spirit characters. 'Sky Captain' Joe Sullivan is yet another example. In fact, all the characters in this film are in roles that fit their character types. This film also includes a very limited use of the body character. She only shows up when 'muscle' is needed to break into the antagonist's lair. The Body Character: Francesca/Franky (Angelina Jolie) Franky gets very little screen time, but the time she has is all about military might. She is the commander of a floating outpost providing squadrons of fighting vessels that ultimately allow Sky Captain to break into the island fortress of the antagonist, 'Totenkopf.' Military leaders are often depicted as body characters. Franky was also the object of an affair Joe had at some point in the past. This affair, which Joe denies through most of the movie, happened while he was  dating a reporter named Polly Perkins. The Mind Character: P...