One aspect about the movie Adaptation that I found interesting was “desire.” Susan Orlean, played by Meryl Streep, says this: “I wanted to want something as much as people want these plants…I wanted to know what it felt like to care about something passionately.” Orlean tried to see what it was that people were so drawn to in the hopes that she might be passionate about them as well, but she then made the realization that she didn’t even like the things that these people liked (i.e. orchids). I won’t attempt to generalize this to everyone, but I know that I have pursued the feeling that Orlean describes. On a larger scale, I think that Orlean is also referencing finding her “purpose.” I say this because our desires and passions are intricately connected to what makes us who we are, and I think that there is such a thing out there that each of us are meant to do in life and that our experiences, opportunities, and talents have prepared us for whatever it is we are seeking.
In the Story seminar that Charlie Kaufman attends, the speaker, McKee, says that “you can’t have a protagonist without desire.” What I think McKee is referring to is something that we have discussed throughout this semester which is that a writer has to make the readers care about their story and care about their characters. When McKee talked in his seminar about how things happen in the world every day, I believe he meant that a writer must take thoughts, crises, and human feelings/emotions, which are things everyone experiences in some way, and find a way to embed them into your story in a way that makes sense. Desire is one emotion that everyone experiences. It has the power to drive people and characters to action which can be lead to positive or negative consequences, but it can also be something that leads to a character changing which is necessary for a successful story.
Lastly, Orlean says that we should “find that one thing you care passionately about and then write about it.” When I heard this, I thought about the story I am writing for this class and the question I was asked in my previous reflection: Why is this story I am writing so important to me? I think that my passion for this story has changed over the years, but the desire to finish this story has always remained. When I first started this story in 2013, I was passionate about my character because they closely resembled aspects of me and the people in my life. However, as the years have progressed and I have learned more about what makes “good fiction,” I have let go of the reigns and allowed the story I am writing to change and evolve as I have. A small reason why I am so passionate about this story is because I want all the years I have spent experimenting with the different angles of the story and characters to pay off. I want to see this idea through because I do feel that this could be a novel that young adults will want to read about. I am passionate about showing a world where people make mistakes, sometimes horrible mistakes, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t hope for them even when they feel hopeless, alone, and abandoned.