So, over the weekend I went to Goodwill with Kyle Wilson and got a bunch of clothes for Florence (and some for myself. I don’t know why I don’t do all my shopping at Goodwill. I got three shirts, three ties, and a nice blazer for under $25). The best find for Florence was the nice pink dress shirt, which, when combined with tight black jeans, the tan blazer, and a flashy tie, served nicely to create the look of a colorful but well-fashioned young man.
We were also asked to look for a possible activity for our character, and I wanted to find something that went along with the fact that flamingos spend 15-30% of their time preening. In addition to the idea of just futzing with his clothes and his tie, I thought it would be funny if he really liked reading magazines. Like the kind of magazine that I would never touch let alone purchase and read in earnest. So I picked up a copy of “Men’s Fitness” and “Good Housekeeping.”
A lot of people seemed surprised that Florence wasn’t a girl… and later, that he wasn’t gay. Honestly, I’m not sure about Florence’s sexual orientation yet, though I’m leaning towards him being straight because it meshes better with the rest of the picture I’m developing. But as far as gender is concerned, I think it would just be a cheap way out to make the character a girl. It’s like, “oh, really, the pink, preening bird is a girl. Nice one, Thomas.” It’s not like guys are any less vain. And the pride and color of a flamingo just adds together to make for, as described above, a colorful but well-fashioned young man. Having Florence being a straight guy, frankly, gives me a lot more to play with in terms of finding the opposites and the contrasts in his character, which transitions nicely into something we were discussing today in class.
During our Monday discussion, Matt Gray addressed the problem of saying the same thing in different ways to the point where it becomes oppressive or boring. He cited Black Swan as an example where virtually every single element of the movie tells you the same information about Natalie Portman’s character. Out of that comes the wisdom: “Don’t act your costume.” Your costume gives the audience certain information about your character, and whatever information it conveys is taken care of. If you have a dorky costume, you don’t have to play “dorky” necessarily, or not overtly at least. The audience will get dorky from the costume, leaving you free to explore other aspects of the character.
It’s definitely something to keep in mind with Florence, and I think I made huge strides and discoveries with him during today’s improv (during which we interacted as our characters at various ages as Matt called them out). Florence has made interesting choices in apparel, to be sure, but that’s not necessarily a product of homosexuality or secretly wanting to be a woman. He’s just a semi-formal pink-shirted sort of guy. Flamingos are very social creatures, and they live the entirety of their quite long lives in the same flock, in the same area, secluded from other animals. So here’s Florence: he’s been raised in a slightly aristocratic American home, has a large extended family, but has struck out on his own in unfamiliar territory. He’s friendly and socially courageous, (you almost have to be coming from a family that large) but years of an isolated familial social life has contributed to a certain degree of social awkwardness with other animal-people. He’s gangly and not well-muscled, but he certainly has spunk, and he cares a lot about his image, and his appeal. Additionally, he feels a strong need to be married by the time he’s 30, which is another result of his upbringing (flamingos mate for life and raise children together), and as he’s bordering on 28 that's rapidly becoming a point of psychological desperation for him. That deep-seated drive to find a life-partner will be a fun super-objective for the character, and is a very active reason for him to engage with others. (I can imagine it being especially helpful during the Formal Dance final exercise).
(Just one historic branch of Florence's family. (It's actually the Mitford family.))
Another thing I’m playing with is the idea that not only does he like magazines, but he likes the visual lay-out and actually hopes to become a magazine designer. An artistic producer for a magazine might be his dream job. But again, he’s only recently struck out from the shallow waters and from under his family’s wing (pardon the flamingo references, they’re practically sub-conscious now) and hasn’t gotten a break yet.
He’s a distinctly auditory person as well though, and probably needs reading glasses (I have to get those, still), and so I’m still looking for a way to incorporate more of that. Maybe he’s an opera fan? That could be nice.
Anyway, today was highly productive for the creative process with Florence. On Wednesday we’ll be doing more improv work, and on Friday we need to come prepared with a Private Moment of our character’s—that is, a short scene of them on their own with a beginning, middle, and end.
On a more analytical note, I got into a discussion with someone about Iron Man 2 (which I really like, though I recognize it has many flaws) and these were my final thoughts on the matter:
I think the reason I like Iron Man 2 (perhaps not surprisingly) has more to do with what it does right than what it does wrong. I'll accept that the pacing is... well... not to sugar-coat things--awful. The action is disappointing and the fact that they pulled the same bullshit "ripping off the arc-reactor" villain plot left a lot to be desired.
But Iron Man 2 has great performances on all counts. Don Cheadle is amazing, and Gwyneth Paltrow and Robert Downey Jr. continue to have the best chemistry of any superhero movie couple. Ever. Their interpersonal plotline ALONE makes up for the movie's shortcomings, because it is so well-written and well-executed. Not only that, but we saw a lot of development of Tony's darker side. References to comic book Tony's problems with alcoholism were very present, and he overcame a significant daddy-issue in the process of saving his own life.
There was a lot going on in the movie besides the main action-plot, and that's not only what continues to make Iron Man stand out, but it's what I'm really going to see the movies for. I knew going in that at the end of the day he'd suit up and kick the bad guy's ass. What I didn't know was what was going to happen between him and Pepper Potts after the burgeoning-but-not-yet-realized romance of the first film and I was actually really happy with the place their relationship went.
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