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Theodore Mead (The protagonist)
Things about his character!
1.
He
has a bit of a stockier build, wears round glasses, and typically wears dark,
black clothing.
2.
He
lives alone and has a very messy residence.
3.
In
case you forgot, he has depression and is disassociated from many of his
friends and family members. He also has an overreliance on taking pills/medicine
as opposed to actually attending something such as therapy.
Why the
name?
I thought it
would be a very smart way of subtly hinting at the main character’s relationship
with his family if his friends called him something different than what his
family calls him. If his friends refer to him with a nickname (like Theo) while
his parents still call him by his full name, Theodore, it could imply that he
isn’t as comfortable with his family than with his friends, as they still call
him by his full name, which he obviously doesn’t prefer over Theo. I think this
will be a nice way of quickly suggesting a difference in how Theodore’s relationships
differ without taking a lot of time of my allotted two minutes to outright say
it.
I could’ve
given Theo a regular last name, but I felt as though that would be pretty
boring, and I wanted to reference an external piece of media that tied in with
Theo’s character. It was at this time that I looked to one of my favorite
authors, Ray Bradbury. In one of his short stories, The Pedestrian, a
story about a world where television is the dominant form of media, and no one
ever takes walks or leaves their residence at night. The only person to oppose
this is the main character, Mr. Leonard Mead. In the story, Leonard feels as
though he’s the only normal person on Earth left as he actually dislikes television,
and doesn’t have a toxic relationship with technology. It is implied that Mr.
Mead feels distant from everyone else, as he is different and doesn’t comply
with the norm. Although I don’t want to write in a plotline of Theo despising
technology, both characters share the same name as they are both incredibly
distanced from everyone else. Theo feels detached from everyone around him,
just like how Mr. Mead feels as though separated from his community. It is for
this reason that I decided to name my character Theodore Mead.
In case you wanted to read the story, it's only two pages and a great read! Click here to check it out.
·
Bakari Durden
Things about his character!
4.
He
is Theo’s best friend, and as far as the film opening, Theo’s only remaining
friend in general.
5.
He
is relatively tall, and has long, wavy hair.
6.
He
has a very outgoing personality and is always encouraging Theo to get out of
the house.
Although I did put in some thought into Bakari Durden’s name, it was nowhere near close to the amount I placed into Theodore’s name. The first name, Bakari, was selected due to its meaning. It has African roots, and roughly translates to “hope”, or “hopeful” in Swahili. I thought this was poetic, as in the original script seen in the last post, Bakari is the hope in Theo’s life. He doesn’t have much left, but he does have Bakari, who is a beacon of light for Theo. The last name, Durden, is an homage to a film that I love, Fight Club. Although they have very different plots, the main character of the film is very detached from society, like how Theo is. A character named Tyler Durden is always pushing the main character from that film, and constantly encourages him to go out in the world. In the film, Tyler is a bad influence on the narrator, yet he still encourages the protagonist, so Bakari’s last name is also Durden as he also pushes Theo to be better.
I really
love these character ideas, but you might notice that this is barely reflected
in the script seen in my last post. I’ll be revising it soon to add in these details!
Before that however, I’ll be doing some more film research, as I want to have
the most ideas possible before I write a second version of my script. I’ll be
seeing you all then!
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