Both films use the Power of Idealism to fuel the conflicts at the core of their stories. These films, at their heart, are about the battle between:

■ Individual vs. Society: Each protagonist struggles with his or her individual identity vs. the “proper” role or position within the family and the larger community. These protagonists march to very different drummers than the rest of the society portrayed in the film.

■ Desire vs. Duty: Each protagonist wrestles with talent/passion and social responsibilities as a son or daughter of the family and a member of the story community. These protagonists are caught between what they love and whom they love.

■ Rebellion vs. Conformity: Each protagonist breaks barriers, by dancing/playing football, to rebel against the restrictions of the family or society. This very physical rebellion and release is the source of much of the fun in both movies. In contrast, each protagonist has a sibling who is much more willing to conform and who is implicitly or explicitly held out as a role model.

■ Longing vs. Contentment: Each protagonist desperately wants something outside of or beyond that which is offered in the confines of family and home. While others in the community are content to stay within established social boundaries, the protagonist dreams of being or doing something more unique.

These kinds of films are particularly powerful because of the underlying feeling of loss through-out. Loss is one of the emotions that resonates most deeply with audiences. The audience knows that the price of all new beginnings is the end of something else. Coming of Age or Power of Idealism films incorporate loss in several key respects:

■ The price of growing up is the sacrifice of a child-like innocence. Over the course of the story each protagonist sees his or her parents (or other beloved authority figure) as they are— human beings with frustration, failures, and feet of clay and not as the all powerful gods of childhood.

■ The price of rebellion is loss of favor and acceptance by family and society. Rebels, by definition, anger and alienate those against whom they rebel. These protagonists are threatened with severe punishment, rejection and/or ridicule if they don’t conform. The protagonist persists in spite of the high potential cost.

■ The price of leaving is a loss of communal belonging. Once the protagonist fully asserts his or her individual identity and follows a unique passion or talent there is no going back. Although the family or community might eventually embrace or even celebrate the protagonist and his or her accomplishments; the protagonist has moved beyond and transcended the community. It is clear in the narrative that the protagonist will continue to move further and further from “home” to follow his or her dreams.

These emotional elements play out in a clear distinct cycle in each film. Although they are worlds apart externally, each protagonist has a similar psychological profile internally and undergoes a parallel emotional journey over the course of the films. This story cycle is the same in all Coming of Age or Power of Idealism films.

Such strong underlying patterns resonate very powerfully with audiences. When presented in a clearly focused narrative the audience responds deeply and eagerly desires to share the experience with others. This clarity, power and emotional response makes films like Billy Elliot and Bend It Like Beckham resounding international hits (regardless of culture, race or milieu in which the story is set).

The Social Network is a fascinating look at a cold, superior, technical genius, Mark Zuckerberg the FaceBook billionaire. In the film, Zuckerberg is personally disconnected from human warmth, emotion and compassion.  He became the world’s youngest billionaire by helping other people connect with each other via technology.  The Black Swan is the story of a young dancer who is a cold, dispassionate and disconnected but technically perfect ballerina.  She is chosen to dance the dual leads in Swan Lake and descends into madness preparing for the role.

I liked The Social Network but despised The Black Swan, although I did admire the stunning visuals.  The truth is, Aronofsky’s film  infuriated me and pushed my buttons like no film I’ve ever seen.  I had an intensely personal reaction to it.  It spoke to me about the biggest problem in my own life.

Both Power of Reason films were horrific in their own way.  Let’s start with the professional analysis before getting personal.

Here’s how Richard Corliss writing in Time Magazine describes Zuckerberg in The Social Network, “Zuckerberg, incarnated by Jesse Eisenberg (The Squid and the Whale, Zombieland) with a single-mindedness so cool as to be lunar, isn’t inhuman, exactly; more post-human, a series of calculating algorithms. He is his own computer code — complex, and to most of those who know him, unfathomable.  (He is) a brilliant, prickly loner — ‘He doesn’t have three friends to rub together,’ a rival says — who created a website that gave him, at last count, 500 million friends.”  Kenneth Turnan writing in the Los Angeles Times says, “(A)s played by Eisenberg, protagonist Mark Zuckerberg is introduced as extremely unlikable rather than heroic, a self-absorbed and arrogant 19-year-old Harvard sophomore who is as socially maladroit as he is fearsomely smart.”  Each of these descriptions is a text book depiction of a Power of Reason character.

The monstrous tragedy of  The Social Network is that Zuckerberg cold-heartedly dumps his only true friend and first supporter.  He does so for calculated business reasons.  Zuckerberg is surrounded by people or “friends” but is utterly alone.  Now that he is on his way to becoming a multi-billionaire, how can he ever know for sure that someone likes him for himself and not for his money or influence?  The more successful he becomes the more isolated he becomes from authentic friendship and genuine human connection.

Other examples of Power of Reason characters, like Zuckerberg, are Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy) in the Star Trek franchise, Dr. Gregory House (Hugh Laurie) in the television series House and Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons) in the television series The Big Bang Theory. Cooper is a comedic version of the Character Type and Parsons won a 2011 Golden Globe for his portrayal.  Spock, House, Cooper and Zuckerberg are all Power of Reason characters and have a similiar temperament, outlook and world view.  They function in exactly the same way in each very different story setting.

With the addition of  madness, delusion and horror, Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman) in The Black Swan portrays the Dark Side of the Power of Reason Character Type.  Issues concerning the boundaries of sanity, the limits of order or of logic, the genesis of evil, the ever-present potential of irrational chaos and the overwhelming nature of unbridled emotion or desire  are very much at the center of all Dark Side Power of Reason films.

Andrew O’Hehir writing on Salon.com describes Nina as:  “(A) dancer whose prodigious technique is a little cold, mechanical and even fearful… (And) Nina can’t tell the difference between the real world and what’s in her head.”  In the film, she is described as “technically brilliant” but devoid of passion or sensuality.  A key exchange between Tomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel) and Nina explains the dilemma:

Nina: I came to ask for the part.

Thomas Leroy: The truth is when I look at you all I see is the white swan. Yes you’re beautiful, fearful, and fragile. Ideal casting. But the black swan? It’s a hard fucking job to dance both.

Nina: I can dance the black swan, too.

Thomas Leroy: Really? In 4 years every time you dance I see you obsessed getting each and every move perfectly right but I never see you lose yourself. Ever! All that discipline for what?

Nina: (whispers) I just want to be perfect.

Power of Reason characters are technical geniuses who are disconnected or alienated from others (and often themselves). They fear being inadequate to the task at hand, not having enough resources to deal with a situation in a rational, logical or technical manner. They fear being overwhelmed by emotion, engulfed by passion, or getting caught up in chaos or forces they cannot control or contain.  The duality of Power of Reason films concern Connection vs. Alienation, Man vs. Monster, Sanity vs. Madness, Natural vs. Unnatural and Purity vs. Contamination (or debauchery).

Rick Groen, writing in The Globe and Mail, discusses these themes:  “Nina must destroy the sweet, pure girl in order to liberate the bold, mature artist. But that idea terrifies her, and with good reason – as we know from horror movies, metamorphosis can be deadly.”

“Nina becomes so consumed with becoming this monster seductress that her body simply begins to turn her into one. Her skin is pimpling like a chicken’s. Her shoulder blades are scarred. Is her body repaying her for those bulimic bathroom breaks? Aronofsky situates the entire film so deeply inside Nina’s fraying psyche that we’re unsure whether to believe the figurative monsters Nina concocts. Is (her mother) Erica (Barbara Hershey) a gorgon because that’s how Nina sees her? Is the company’s fading star (Winona Ryder) also its (crazy) Norma Desmond? … Is the more socially limber Lily a (sinister) frenemy or just the girl with a dragon tattoo?”   asks Wesley Morris writing in the Boston Globe.

Other examples of Power of Reason characters confronting the Dark Side of their fears and their madness are Dr. John Nash (Russell Crowe), a brilliant but cold and superior scientist who is overwhelmed by schizophrenic visions and delusions, in A Beautiful Mind;  Donnie Darko (Jake Gyllenhaal) a troubled and alienated teenager who has visions and delusions about a giant rabbit in Donnie Darko; and Dr. Jekyll (Spencer Tracy), a brilliant, obsessive and aloof scientist who wants to discover the nature of good and evil, in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

In A Beautiful Mind and Donnie Darko salvation comes from embracing and connecting with others.  Nash’s salvation is his wife, son and the students he formerly disdained.  Darko finds salvation by selflessly sacrificing himself for the girl he loves and who would have died in his place.  Jekyll finds no salvation.  He is consumed by and transformed into pure evil.

.Nina Sayers is like Dr. Jekyll.  Metamorphosis doesn’t help her face and transcend her fears.  Instead, it makes her one with them, consumed in madness and the malevolence of murder/suicide.  What the film seems to be saying about art and artists is what pushed my buttons.

A major problem in my own life has always been balance.  I am a bit of an obsessive myself.  I laughed when I saw the opening of Romancing the Stone. Writer, Joan Wilder (Kathleen Turner) finishes her book and sobs, completely caught up in the emotion of her characters and story.  When she reaches for a tissue there are none left in the box.  There is no toilet paper in the loo to substitute either.  There is nothing in the fridge and no food in the cupboard.  Joan is a writer so obsessed with what she does that she has no time to live life.

I’m afraid I can too easily become that obsessed writer.  I struggle to maintain a healthy balance between work and play, creativity and regeneration, losing myself in the story and being present in the here-and-now of life.  The thing that disturbed me most about The Black Swan is the idea that to be a great artist we must sacrifice everything including our humanity.  Every major character in the film is monstrously selfish, insular, obsessed and willing to sacrifice themselves and others without thought, care or any sense of compassion.  Is that really what creates and makes great art?

Where in The Black Swan is the sense of joy in creation?  Where is the fun and exhilaration in doing what you love? Where is the transcendence in art?  How does it elevate the human spirit?  How is it life-affirming?  There is nothing of any of those concepts at work in The Black Swan. There is no humanity here and no generosity on display anywhere in the film.

I’m not alone in abhorring this depiction:  “The Black Swan says that a dancer must enter into the irrational and the erotic—even destroy herself—in order to make art. That is, if you don’t get laid, and you aren’t ready to kill your rival or yourself, you can’t be a great dancer… (The film) is a pompous, self-glorifying, and generally unpleasant interpretation of an artist’s task.”  David Denby, The New Yorker

Diana Byer, the artistic director of the New York Theater Ballet, says that:  “A person who doesn’t live life can’t bring anything to a ballet. You have to live life to create an art form.”  Sarah Maslin, The New York TImes

“Nina is just a collection of neurotic behaviors… nearly all the conflict on screen derives from her victimization (or perceived victimization?) at the hands of others. We never understand what’s at stake for her as an artist, other than sheer achievement for achievement’s sake. With this movie’s curious inattention to the question of why performing matters to its heroine, it could just as easily be a movie about a girl’s brutal struggle to become Baskin Robbins’ employee of the month,”  writes Dana Stevens in Slate.com

Richard Corliss says in Time Magazine:  “The Black Swan isn’t an advance. It’s a throwback, in three ways. First, to what Freud called ‘the return of the repressed’ — that repressed desires created severe neuroses. Second, to the Method cult notion of empathizing with a character until you become it. (As Laurence Olivier legendarily told Dustin Hoffman when the younger star was agonizing over his motivation in the tooth-drilling sequence of Marathon Man: ‘Dear boy, why not just try acting?’) Third, and most reductively, to the ancient commandments of the horror genre, which teach that a young woman is either a virgin, who’s pure enough to fight the demon, or a whore, who somehow deserves to be killed (especially when she’s just had sex). The idea of a healthy eroticism is alien to these films; they allow no middle ground. I’m pretty sure this is a guy’s idea of a woman’s sexuality. The Black Swan had women in front of the camera, men as the director and writers and cinematographer.”

A movie about male ballet dancer has a completely different take on what it means to be an artist.  Billy Elliot, a Power of Idealism character, portrays the joy, verve, inspiration and freedom that great dancers bring to their art (along with their drive, determination, hard work and sacrifice).  Billy also loses himself in dance but he does so with love, exuberance and joy.

Tutor One: What does it feel like when you’re dancing?

Billy: Don’t know. Sorta feels good. Sorta stiff and that, but once I get going… then I like, forget everything. And… sorta disappear. Sorta disappear. Like I feel a change in my whole body. And I’ve got this fire in my body. I’m just there. Flyin’ like a bird. Like electricity. Yeah, like electricity.

Coincidentally, when Billy’s father, brother and best friend come to see Billy perform as an adult in London he is dancing the lead in  Matthew Bourne’s… Swan Lake.  It is a ballet performed by all men.  See the YouTube video clip of Billy’s performance here.  When told his family is in the audience, Billy smiles backstage.  Moving into the spotlight he literally jumps for joy and my heart leaps with him.

Billy Elliot may be a sugar-coated fairy tale or fable version of a film about artists.  It may not be a serious, complex or “important” film, but I wonder what it says about the state of our society when business AND the arts are portrayed in such an unrelenting, obsessive and monstrous way. Or am I just tragically unhip?  I would love to hear your thoughts. Comment here or on my FaceBook page.

Power of Idealism characters believe that life and love should involve a grand passion or an heroic destiny.  They see the world in terms of sweeping epic poetry or as a struggle of operatic proportions.  Intensity of feeling (good or bad) makes this character’s life worth living.

Power of Idealism characters believe it is better to be in intense pain than to feel nothing at all or to be simply content or complacent.  These characters are more than willing to suffer for their art, their iconoclasm or their noble or romantic gestures.  They believe pain is necessary to living a life of passion.  They embrace their pain and even tend to wallow in it.

Power of Idealism characters have high standards and seek excellence in whatever they do.  They appreciate the finer things in life and special luxuries large and small.  They strive for aesthetic perfection in all areas.  They abhor anything they consider to be coarse, gross, common, ordinary, mediocre, inelegant or ungallant.  They believe that what is perfect but unavailable or unattainable is infinitely more desirable than what is flawed but possible or achievable.  They are always reaching for the unreachable star.

A character driven by the Power of Idealism wants to stand out from the crowd, to be extraordinary, unique and special. They are youthful rebels, Epic Heroes or lovers whose passion lives forever.  In addition to the examples below, see the Power of Idealism blog posts for more examples.

Character Examples

Coming of Age characters like the title characters in Billy Elliot or Juno, “Jess” Kaur Bhamra in Bend It Like Beckham and Curt Henderson in American Graffiti are young people “finding themselves.” They don’t quite fit in and struggle to find their rightful place in the world. Learn how these characters lose their innocence but gain a more complex understanding of the adult world.

Epic Hero characters like Colonel Robert Shaw in Glory, King Leonides in 300 and William Wallace in Braveheart are warriors in a doomed but noble battle. These Epic Heroes fight courageously and sacrifice themselves for honor, glory and the immortality of story, song and legend. Learn how these characters lose their lives but live forever in our hearts.

Separated Lovers like Rick Blaine in Casablanca, Karen Blixen in Out of Africa and Zhivago in Doctor Zhivago are torn asunder from their lovers but their passion transcends time, distance or death. In Separated Lover stories learn how love becomes stronger than any other force on earth– even death.

Intense and sensitive Power of Idealism television characters include Meredith Grey in Grey’s Anatomy, Carrie Bradshaw inSex and the City, Ryan Atwood in The O.C. and Dawson Leery in Dawson’s Creek. Learn how these complex characters keep us enthralled week after week.

Power of Idealism eBook

The Power of Idealism Character Type eBook explains how these characters are alike and how each character is made individually distinct. It will help you develop unique, original, evocative and authentic Power of Idealism characters that fully explore all the contradictions, reversals and surprises of a fully formed human being.

Discover the Power of Idealism character’s specific goals, unique emotional obstacles and very distinct responses and reactions to any opportunity, challenge or threat. Create this character’s Immediate Tactics, Long-term Orientation and Strategic Approach in a way that is recognizably “true” at every step of the story and during every moment of screen time. The audience will instantaneously recognize and relate to your character because your character is complex, three-dimensional and “feels real.”

This eBook is thorough analysis of the Power of Idealism Character Type in his or her many guises and roles as a protagonist or a member of a larger ensemble. It is packed with numerous examples from film, television and even real life! Examples from scores of scenes and dozens of quotes from film and television characters clearly illustrate this character’s motivations and psychological dynamics in a story.

Comprehensive Analysis

The Power of Idealism Character Type eBook illustrates exactly how to create and differentiate this character based on his or her:

(1.) World View (beliefs about how the world works) What are the essential core beliefs that motivate a Power of Idealism character’s ordinary actions?

(2.) Role or Function (position in the story or role in the ensemble) What do the other players look to a Power of Idealism character to do or provide in the story?

(3.) Values in Conflict (competing values that push the character to extremes) What opposing choices or goals establish the Power of Idealism character’s moral code? What is this character willing to fight, sacrifice or die for? And why?

(4.) Story Questions (emotional journey in the story) What personal issues, dilemmas and internal conflicts does a Power of Idealism character wrestle with over the course of the story? What does this character ask of him or her self? What is this character’s Leap of Faith in an emotionally satisfying story?

(5.) Story Paradox (emotional dilemma) What is the duality or the contradiction at the heart of a Power of Idealism character’s story struggle? How is the character’s internal conflict expressed in actions.

(6.) Life Lessons (how to complete the emotional journey) What must a Power of Idealism character learn over the course of the story to make a clear, satisfying personal transformation? What actions lead to this character’s emotional salvation?

(7.) Dark Side (this character as a predator or villain) What happens when a Power of Idealism character’s actions are driven entirely by fear? How might or how does the story end in tragedy?

(8.) Leadership Style (what defines and qualifies this character as a leader) How does a Power of Idealism character convince others to follow? How does this character act to take charge and command?

(9.) Film Examples (the Power of Idealism character as a protagonist)

(10.) Television Examples (the Power of Idealism character as central to an ensemble)

(11.) Real Life Examples (historical Power of Idealism figures on the world stage)