Writing Subtext. Linda Seger
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out in the mail, and continued to wait for the check, which he thought would come any day to cover his debts. Out of angst over the checks that would surely bounce within a week, he decided to rob a bank and ask for exactly the amount of money he needed to pay his bills – no more, no less. The bank was on the second floor of a building, which gave the manager and police enough time to prevent his exit. He was quickly arrested and served a year in prison.
No one ever explained the subtext to him, but it would have helped if he had understood it.
On the other hand, he went on to get several writing assignments and even got a movie made – which was what he wanted in the first place. Cultural subtext can be confusing, because we don’t know what something means, and often don’t know enough about the culture to know whether the subtext even exists. We see how this clash of cultures can lead to misinterpretation and confusion in such films as Dances with Wolves (1990), Witness (1985), and Whale Rider (2002). Sometimes people living in a culture don’t even recognize their own subtext and don’t understand your inappropriate actions. Sometimes there is subtext, and sometimes there isn’t.
Norms relate not only to international cultures and the film culture, but also to socioeconomics and class cultures. For instance, someone might not be aware that it is inappropriate to curl up in a chair or lie down on a sofa in a corporate lounge, or to wear tattered jeans or short skirts to most job interviews. The reactions, and the fact you didn’t get the job, might give you a clue.
An attorney recounted the story of a young woman who came to a job interview in a very short skirt. They sat at a glass table and he found it was difficult to concentrate on her qualifications, considering the circumstances. He realized that someone who didn’t understand appropriate attire for a job interview may not understand other aspects of corporate culture. Perhaps she was turned down for the job for other reasons as well, but this reason certainly came into play. She may not know why she didn’t get the job, and it may be that the attorney would not find it appropriate to discuss this detail, but the result was the same – she didn’t get the subtext and didn’t get the job!
TRUSTING YOUR INTERPRETATION OF SUBTEXT
You might feel butterflies but don’t know why you’re nervous in a particular situation, or around a particular person. You might feel distrust. Sometimes we’re told “everything is fine,” but our gut tells us it isn’t. And we often don’t know whether to believe our gut or not.
We might feel this twinge in the presence of something really rotten, perhaps even some kind of evil, even though the person we meet seems perfectly fine. But something alerts us. Usually we simply feel that something is wrong.
In The Fugitive (1993), when Sam Gerard leaves the apartment of the One-Armed Man, he turns to his deputy and says, “This guy’s dirty.” Nothing was said in the text indicating that assessment, but Gerard senses that the guy isn’t straight – and he is right.
I’ve experienced this feeling twice. I’m usually not a good judge of people because I figure everyone is “really nice” and “just fine.” I have been wrong a number of times. But twice I met a person who made me feel there was something really wrong even though I could find no evidence for my feelings. In both cases, I had a brief interaction with the person and was more of an observer than a participant in the encounter. The first case was a very quick introduction to someone my colleague was talking to, someone whom she obviously had known for some time. I didn’t understand why I had this feeling, or how I could get this feeling from a simple introduction. I watched the person conversing with my colleague and everything looked just fine. Later, I was told the person was very untrustworthy and manipulative – even described as a “bad person.” I don’t think my colleague knew it at the time, but discovered soon after. But I felt it and, trusting my feelings and instincts, sensed the truth behind the person’s mask.
Another time I met a minister and had the same feeling, which again made little sense to me. I did notice that he didn’t make eye contact and seemed distracted, but he was organizing an event, so I figured that was the reason. I still couldn’t understand why I had this strange and uneasy feeling. Later, I learned he was having an affair with someone in his congregation and he was fired soon after that.
We have probably all had these intuitions about people and situations – times we have felt uneasy or have picked up on something subtle. We may have had a thought flit through our head, or a flash of insight, or a subtle feeling that alerted us.
Some people experience this sensation as a warning. Or, hey, this person seems to want something from you, but he’s not saying it. Or, this person seems too attentive. It could come from an emotion, such as fear or discomfort, or from an intuition you don’t understand. You might wonder why you had that thought, or shrug it off, but something is probably going on that is not being clearly seen or understood. Just as you can learn to trust your intuition in real life, you can learn to trust your interpretation of a character’s behavior in film.
LOOK TO THE PAUSES FOR SUBTEXT
Sometimes subtext is communicated in the pauses. We have probably all had the experience of asking for directions. I’ve always figured that the longer the pause before you get an answer, the farther you will end up from where you want to go. “Do you know where St. James Plaza is?” Count: one, two, three seconds as you wait, and you know you’re really far, or the person giving directions isn’t sure. Well, that’s the way it works in dialogue. You ask someone something – “Are you angry at your mother?” and if the pause is a long one, that’s subtextually telling you something wrong here. Finally the answer comes, “Oh no, not in the least bit.” But the pause told it all.
NOTICE THE SWERVES IN CONVERSATION
You can express subtext through swerves in the conversation. It may be that a character asks a direct question but does not get a direct answer. If we ask someone, “Why are you late?” and the person replies, “Have you any idea how hard it’s raining out there?” we might notice the question was not answered.
If someone changes the conversation topic, we might figure there’s subtext somewhere. Maybe someone unexpectedly enters the room and the two people talking suddenly start talking about something else. Sometimes characters speak at cross-purposes. In Ordinary People (1980, by Alvin Sargent from the novel by Judith Guest), the conversation between Beth and Conrad shows how very disconnected they are. Conrad unwittingly surprises Beth, who is sitting in Buck’s bedroom.
BETH
I didn’t think you were here.
CONRAD
… I just got in. I didn’t know you were here.
BETH
I didn’t play golf, today. It was cold.
CONRAD
How’s your golf game?
BETH
I didn’t play.
CONRAD
Oh… It did get colder today.
BETH
No, I mean… for the year it got colder.
CONRAD
Yeah.
WRITING THE SUBTEXT
Given all the possible interpretations, we might think the writer lets the audience figure out the subtext. But the point is not to confuse or merely to suggest, but rather to direct the audience to the interpretation that eventually leads to a fairly clear understanding of what’s going on. The pieces may not all form the interpretation immediately. It might take the entire film, helped by the actor, director, and everyone else in the production before all the pieces fit together to form a cohesive, unified film. This work takes a careful selection of words, scenes, and characters. The writer must try to avoid detours and misinterpretations that result in arbitrary scenes and dialogue.
Many writers write the text in the first draft and then start shading in the subtext in future drafts. They keep moving away from on-the-nose dialogue to layer the script.