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Creating Mythic Characters
Notes on Notes on Guardians of the Galaxy
by Bill Johnson
Creating large than life characters in part means giving characters larger than life goals. Guardians of the Galaxy became hugely successful in part because of the spectacle and humor, but also because it's a well told story with clearly dramatically defined characters.
The film starts with a boy, Peter Quill, in a hospital
waiting room nervously holding a cassette player playing some early 70's music.
His grandfather comes out and wants him to see his dying mother; he is clearly
reluctant. When she asks him to take her hand, he refuses, and she dies.
This will haunt Peter for the rest of the film. The audience
is allowed to share and experience this moment.
The scene shifts to 26 years later and the now young man
sets down on a mysterious moon with a scanner that shows him the inhabitants in
the past. He plays some music from his 70's mix tape. He tracks down an orb and
manages to escape with it while being chased and fired on.
He tells his pursuers his name is Star Lord.
It's a visually exciting scene, but it comes after
introducing Peter and his central issue.
Peter gets a call from his criminal boss who kidnapped him
from earth as a boy, who now wants the orb.
This raises a question that plays out through the film, will
the boss get the orb? And another question, why did the boss kidnap a young
Peter from earth and protect him?
Ronan, a brutal, crazed religious leader of a race called
the Kree, wants the orb and sends out Gamora to retrieve it; she's a
green-skinned young woman assassin.
The scene shifts to a planet called Xander, where a
bounty-hunting raccoon named Rocket and an intelligent tree-like character
named Groot have spotted Peter and want to collect on his bounty. Peter tries to
cash in the orb, but when he mentions it's going to Ronan, he's turned away.
What follows is everyone trying to get their hands on the
orb and everyone finally being arrested and sent to prison.
The question now, who will survive (the assassin Gamora is
hated by many prisoners), and how will they escape?
These questions give shape to the next section of the story.
When a muscle-bound brute named the Destroyer tries to kill Gamora,
Peter intervenes and saves her life.
Ronan, in turn, seeks the orb for another brutal leader,
Thantos.
The wise-cracking Rocket plans and kinda executes a prison
escape with Groot's help.
Peter realizes his mix-tape is not with his belongings, so
he prolongs the escape to retrieve it.
It turns out Peter still has the unopened present from his
mother on his space ship.
This helps the audience to stay in touch with Peter's wound.
Ronan and his followers are on their trail.
Gamora asks Peter why he would risk his life for his mix
tape. It turns out his mother gave it to him, and it has her favorite songs.
The group meets with the Collector. He explains that the orb
contains an infinity stone, which can be used to destroy an entire world.
A slave girl tries to hold the stone, setting off an
explosion. The group now needs to get the orb to some aliens who can contain
its power and not allow it to be used by Ronan to destroy the planet Xander.
Now the film has another simple question, can they get this
orb to a place of safe keeping?
Possibly, until the Destroyer has called Ronan to the scene
just as Peter's boss arrives. The Destroyer wants to kill Ronan to avenge the
death of his wife and child
Mayhem ensure.
Ronan gets the orb, and Peter allows himself to be captured
by his old boss to save Gamora.
Once in captivity, Peter appeals to his group as losers,
those who have all lost family and normal lives, to "not run away" as
Peter did as a child and help others.
Again, the audience knows what Peter is speaking about.
Rocket states the obvious, that Peter is asking them to die
to help others.
The question of whether they can regain the stone now gives
structure to this part of the film.
The group come up with a plan to attack Ronan and regain the
infinity stone. They gain access to Ronan's ship.
Someone finally refers to Peter as Star Lord.
The audience knows what this means for Peter. It's another
small point carefully fulfilled.
On the ship, mayhem ensues.
The group reaches Ronan, but their main weapon fails to
defeat Ronan as long as he holds the infinity stone.
Rocket, the seemingly self-centered raccoon, appears to
sacrifice himself to defeat Ronan.
As Ronan's ship is crashing, Groot envelopes the others in a
protective ball of limbs, but this will kill Groot.
All the movie, Groot has had one line, "I am Groot."
Now he says, "We are Groot."
We hear music play from Peter's mix tape.
And it turns out that Ronan survives and if he touches the
planet with the infinity stone, it will destroy this world.
Now the question becomes, can Ronan be stopped?
Note that every section of the film has a simple plot
question that allows the audience to assign meaning to the action.
Peter gets his hand on the stone and as he is being
destroyed, Gamora asks that he take her hand. Peter sees his mother holding out
her hand. As Peter takes Gamora's hand they are joined by the Destroyer and
Rocket, and by joining together they are able to destroy Ronan.
Peter's boss then shows up and demands the orb, and Peter
gives him a fake orb.
Peter mentions to Gamora that the boss was the only family
he had left, but she answers that is not true. He has a new family now.
The Destroyer sits with Rocket, who mourns over a small twig
of Groot.
It turns out Peter could hold the infinity stone because
he's only half human, that his father was not.
This raises a major question that can be resolved in a
sequel.
Peter returns to his shop and the unopened present and card
from his mother. She wrote that he is
the 'light of her life' and "my little Star Lord."
Which, considering who Peter's father might be, has a new
meaning.
Her final gift to him was another mix tape, Awesome Songs
volume 2, which he immediately plugs in and listens to with Gamora.
With Peter piloting his ship and Rocket with a newly coming
to life baby Groot, the ship lifts off into the sky for a new adventure.
For all the action and spectacle and humor, this is a
heart-felt story about family. It was hugely successful for a reason.
Copyright 2017-2023 Bill Johnson
Copyright 2017-2023 Bill Johnson