Assignments

Chapter 8 - Plot II

Assignment 1 - Adaptation

We learn that Charlie is ridiculously insecure through the babbling voice over that opens the movie, which contains lines like: “All I do is sit on my fat ass. If my ass wasn’t fat I would be happier.”

We learn he is a screenwriter through a subtitle that says: “Charlie Kaufman, Screenwriter.”

We see him ignored on the set of a film that he wrote, showing that he is easily overlooked. But the film is Being John Malkovich, which signals that he is an especially brilliant screenwriter. 

We see that he’s philosophical when he ponders “Why am I here? How did I get here?” And then imagines an evolutionary montage that travels through four billion years up until his birth.

When he meets with the film producer, he is sweating profusely, worrying that the producer thinks he’s bald. And yet she does nothing but praise his skills as a writer. This shows the dichotomy between his insecurity and his brilliance.