Lessons from ParaNorman

I've been meaning to put up a Lessons from Movies post for a while now, but I have so many ideas for different posts and didn't sit down to to do any of them because I couldn't decide.

But I have been watching ParaNorman almost every day for the last week and a half. Can you tell I have a seven year old? :-) I love this movie. Even with the repetitive watching. In fact, it has made me appreciate the brilliant dialogue even more.

For this post, I wanted to focus on a single dialogue line. Well, a question and then a character's response. If you haven't seen the movie, major SPOILER ahead, as this little tidbit is right at the end of the movie.

The quote happens between Courtney (Norman's older sister) and Mitch (Neil's older brother). Mitch is portrayed as a typical dumb jock type that the girls crush on. I love this line because it is said in an offhand manner and then moves on. Nothing is emphasized and dramatized about this quick interchange before the focus shifts to other characters.

COURTNEY

So I was thinking, maybe we could

catch a movie sometime? Nothing

scary.

 

MITCH

That sounds great, Kathy! Y’know,

you’re gonna love my boyfriend!

He’s like a total chick-flick nut!

In looking up the quote, because I wanted to get it right (I pulled it from the actual script which you can read at Script-O-Rama), I discovered that there was a lot of drama over this simple line and the basic fact that the creators had put an openly gay character in an animated kids movie.

Me. I loved it. I was so incredibly impressed that they 1) put a gay character in a kids movie and 2) didn't make a big deal of it (this single line is the only reference) just like they don't make a big deal that other characters aren't gay. It's like the film makers are making a statement without making a statement.

I hope to use this same technique at some point and have one particular supporting character in mind who would be perfect for it.