The first thing they teach you in "real" film school is that "Conflict is the essence of drama." It's true. Without conflict, movies and TV would fall out of the screen and drip lifelessly onto the floor, as this photo of my cat, Charlie (Figure 2-2), looks about to do. (The white blur is actually a second cat leaping by, but Charlie didn't catch it. She's too catatonic.)
All movies and all TV shows incorporate story, with characters clashing with one another (see Figure 2-3), having various types of crises of conscience, and then resolving the conflict, tying it all up in a nice neat package near the end of the show. These types of crises of conscience might be called confrontation—in act one, the characters are introduced, the problem is defined, the story set up; in act two, it evolves, it gets worse, the conflict grows; and finally in act three, it gets resolved somehow. The same is true of most books, plays, and even songs, especially hip-hop and country music, the two most story-driven music genres in existence. The fans of the two genres may not get along, but they have more in common than any other genres (except country music probably has more guns and drugs and booze and sex).
Figure 2-3. Conflict is the essence of drama. (Models: Fuzzbucket "Fuzzy" McFluffernutter and Charlie Squitten Jr.)
This method of conflict/drama/resolution is called the three-act format. A common way this is expressed in Hollywood films is what is known as the hero's journey. Almost all Hollywood movies follow this journey—to the point that it becomes cliché. To the point that, if it's not there, the audience feels cheated, even if they can't describe what's missing. To the point that, if certain types of events don't happen at almost exactly 10 minutes, 18 minutes, 29 minutes, 46 minutes, 101 minutes…, people feel uneasy when they leave the theater. (My wife and I once had a very long discussion about whether this is because people are used to seeing it or because people need it because there's something inherent in the human experience that makes people want to organize stories into this format. The conclusion we've both come to is "It's a bit of both.")
Most hero's journeys are in three-act format, and in movies, most three-act formats contain the hero's journey, but they do exist independently of each other.
When a hero's journey is not in three-act format, it's usually a cyclical story, with parallel stories that occasionally intersect and the beginning of the film being part of the same scene that ends the film. A good example of this is Pulp Fiction, which still contains a hero's journey, where there is a battle in the innermost chamber and enemies become friends.
The evil baby, Stewie, on Family Guy (one of the only TV shows I'll watch…most TV sucks) summed up three-act format perfectly, while sarcastically deriding Brian the dog for not working on his novel:
"How you, uh, how you comin' on that novel you're working on? Huh? Gotta a big, uh, big stack of papers there? Gotta, gotta nice little story you're working on there? Your big novel you've been working on for three years? Huh? Gotta, gotta compelling protagonist? Yeah? Got a' obstacle for him to overcome? Huh? Got a story brewing there? Working on, working on that for quite some time? Huh? Yea, talking about that three years ago. Been working on that the whole time? Nice little narrative? Beginning, middle, and end? Some friends become enemies; some enemies become friends? At the end, your main character is richer from the experience? Yeah? Yeah?"
So, yeah, the three-act format is a cliché but one worth understanding. And by the way, once I explain it to you, you'll never look at Hollywood movies quite the same way. You'll feel like you're being lied to. Because you are. Life is not that neat, things are not always completely resolved, and every situation does not have a lesson or a silver lining. Many do, though. I have a pretty positive outlook on life, but I hate sugar coating. In any case, here you go…