The One With the Character Development

 

Character Development

    Though this movie opening doesn't necessarily focus on the characters presented to us, rather more their surroundings, it's still important to subtly build their personalities and how the world around them has affected them as people. 

    There are 5 characters in total. Beatrice (the main), Maxxine (her younger sister), August (the father), the officer, and the civilian. (Both being background characters. Though, I'd say there's 6 characters, since there is a character difference between current Beatrice and her in the past. 

Let's Go One by One    

    1. Beatrice (Then): 

In the flashback, Beatrice is very quiet. She carries herself in an organized manner, back straight, eating with manners, things like that. While she tries and gets her dad to consider coming home early from work to celebrate Maxxine's birthday over dinner, she immediately gets shut down and she accepts it.  Though, you can tell from her attitude that she questions the society she lives in and obviously isn't happy about it.  

    Beatrice (Now):

Beatrice's manner of carrying herself is completely different in the current day we're shown at the start. She slouches, drags her feet, kicks around the suitcases around her feet. And this isn't only because she's tired, but it's also because a part of her has given up. After all, for all we can see, she ended up alone. Acting "right" won't help her with anything, and beyond that, she's starving. Survival is the only thing that matters now. Lastly, it's also supposed to represent how she's free. In an isolated world, with few survivors left, there are no rules or rulers left to oppress her freedom now. 

    2. Maxxine:

Maxxine won't talk much, if she even says anything at all, but her body language will speak for her. She'll slightly slouch over her seat, moving the few pieces of food around on her plate, eating in very small bites. I want this to not only represent the family's poverty, but the way it has affected her. She's grown to learn how to savor small amounts of foods to feel less hungry when she's done, or at least feel like she's eating more than she really has.  

    3. August:

The father is tired and overworked. He ignores the atrocities of the outside world because there's nothing he feels he can do about it, just like most people in his situation. It's clear he cares for his daughters and wants to have enough time to spend with them, but it's hard to when you're living in a world that doesn't give you many liberties, and your only options are to pick which necessity (like food, water, electricity) you want to pay for this month with the little money you earn. 

    4. The Officer:

There's not much to the officer. He represents a small part of the brutality of the world they live in. The way his immediate response to an inconvenience is violence, the way others react to his behavior, it's meant to build the world around them.

    5. The Civilian: 

He doesn't have specific character traits, his main purpose is also to represent a part of this world, the oppressed. Who have nothing to do but give into the violence. 

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