Make it through the day

Suddenly what has always been clear becomes tinted with shadows of doubt. As long as it doesn't crowd the center and swing the oscillation out of place, minor disturbances are acceptable. After all uncertainties in life are unavoidable.

I was talking with a friend about an indie film ie unreleased in local cinemas. He gave it so much of credits that I can't help but to tell him that the film is not a story but mainly focuses on sensationlism. It is on making a statement which is story telling is never about. I wouldn't touch it with a 10 feet pole. He looked at me blank as if I spoke Greek to him. I wish I did because I certainly love Greek culture.

"There is a story. It is so obvious," he retorted.

I raised an eyebrow and told him, it is not a story because therer is no characterisation. Again he heard Greek from my mouth. To save him the pains of trying to decipher a language of antiquity I asked him one simple question. "Why would a prostitute want to keep an illegitimate child? Knowing very well it would impede her work. "

His intelligent reply was, "But there are so many children born out of such situation. Look at Thailand."

That was when I geared up and said, "But why? Why not abort the child? This is the issue that we must examine deeply in the story. Because we must tell the audience the values of this woman who insist on keeping the child. What are her moral values as a person, more specifically a woman in 1980s, which is 20 years ago. Don't look at her as a prostitute but let's examine her character. You cannot use a child of prostitute mother to senstionalise the story. Then it becomes shallow because you work on assumptions. Never assume anything, even the most obvious."

He thought for a while and began to make sense. "Maybe despite her job, she is human and the maternal part of her urged her to keep the child. She wanted or hoped to produce something good out of her filthy life. Too far fetched?"

"Ah, then the story will take a different turn. This means she wanted something to live for because there is nothing good in her life. This child is like a diamond among glass beads. This is a story about hope. To get to this, we must first establish a lot of things about her character. We can juxtapose it with other prostitutes from the brothel etc. Create events to prove this side of her character."

Our conversation carried on pretty well because despite being a man, he could think like a woman.