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Before we begin, SPOILER WARNING- though apparently you enjoy stories more if you already know
what happens in them (link in the description), but fair warning all the same. Today we will
be discussing the plots of recent films "Frozen", "Iron Man 3" and "Star Trek Into Darkness".
You have been warned.
I love Frozen. This isn't really what we're here to talk about today, but I want to get
that out there straight away. I love the animation, I love the characters, I love the soundtrack,
I love that it feels both fresh and retro, and I love that a lot of it is devoted to
making fun of the traditional Disney princess formula, without it ever feeling spiteful
or detached. Hell, I even love that hilarious supporting feature, which is easily the most
entertaining thing Mickey Mouse has been in for years. The sincerity that drips from the
film's every frame is a joy to behold.
By the way, I also love that Rapunzel and Finn turn up near the beginning, although
it does raise the question of what they were doing while Arendelle was frozen over for
all that time. Maybe they were singing songs in the palace to boost morale. Maybe they
went on a separate quest to help that giant fallen snowman, or had to help the other foriegn
dignitaries find their true selves through the medium of acoustic guitar and lizard sign
language, or maybe...alright, alright, this is no time for fan fiction.
Anyway, I had a point here somewhere. Ah, yes! Frozen counts among its myriad charms
one of the best twists I've seen in a long time, especially in a kids' film, which are
often too terrified to try anything unexpected or different. OK, last chance to back out,
anyone here who hasn't already seen Frozen, and if you haven't, you really should.
OK, so the twist of Frozen is that seemingly impossibly good Prince Hans has actually been
scheming to seize royal power in Arendelle for himself, and the act of true love required
to save her life in the final moments of the movie is not a kiss from some man, but is
actually her own action to save her sister's life. Now, this is a brilliant twist in terms
of subverting the standard disney formula, but I want to talk about its construction
as a plot twist more generally.
This is what I call a "never see it coming twist". OK, that's not a very good name...let's
call it a "Mind the Step" twist. Something which comes out of nowhere, totally pulls
the rug out from under our feet, and, while it makes logical sense, it completely overturns
something we, the audience, have taken for granted. Part of the power of this twist is
distraction. We know Anna is dying, and needs that kiss to restore herself, but the real
danger we're focusing on is the worsening storm and the possibility of the escaped Elsa
causing even more damage. The kiss and heal is something we expect, that we "know" will
happen- until it doesn't, and we're left shocked.
This forms a good comparison with one of the other big Disney films of the year: Iron Man
3. Now, the twist in Iron Man 3 (that the person we believed was the Mandarin the whole
time is really just a drunken British idiot acting as a front for Guy Pearce's real villainy)
is also brilliant, for a slightly different reason. Here, unlike in Frozen, the trajectory
of who the Mandarin really is one of the main focus points of the film. We still get the
rug pulled out from under our feet, but unlike in Frozen, we're not thinking "you ***!
You tricked us!", we're instead thinking "why didn't I realise that?". Because the playing-on-worst-fears
forgery of the Mandarin's speeches earlier on in the film is glaringly obvious in retrospect-
the stuff with the fortune cookies, once you know who the Mandarin really is, seems like
a joke-hell, he even says "You'll never see me coming". Here, the audience is focusing
on the thing you're planning to subvert, which makes executing a twist both more difficult
and more satisfying. Drawing attention to something makes it easier for the audience
to second-guess where you're going with it, and that Iron Man 3 pulls it off is bloody
impressive.
Both of these films provide very good examples of how to pull off two distinctive types of
twist. But I also want to look at the wrong way to execute a twist, and a perfect example
can be found in one of 2013's other big films: Star Trek Into Darkness.
Now, just to be clear, this is not about me disliking Star Trek Into Darkness. I thought
it was slick and exciting, if a little bit massively sexist and arghh I can't see my
script through the lens flares! (Ahem!).
But Star Trek Into Darkness fails to create a twist, despite playing up the revelation
that "My name...is Khan". Now, this fails for a number of reasons. Firstly, it is blindingly
obvious who this person is to anyone with the barest knowledge of Star Trek- hell, I
hadn't seen ANY Star Trek before the two most recent films, and even I knew Khan was an
important person. {Video cut-Khan}
Secondly, the name Khan, to these versions of these characters, means nothing, so the
whole driving motivation for the plot, the mystery we've spent this whole movie focusing
on and trying to solve, has gone up in smoke. We have an answer, but that answer means nothing,
so not only has the film failed to provide a twist, it's failed even to give the audience
a satisfactory conclusion to its second act (or first, this film's structure is rather
ill-disciplined).
To re-iterate, it's not a bad film, and Cumberbatch is brilliant, elevating a rather empty and
poorly-written villain to something very watchable. It's just that the film lets itself down by
building so much of itself around the "shocking" revelation, that ultimately proves to be a
damp squib.
The key, obviously, to delivering a good twist, is not to indicate that you're heading towards
a big revelation, ESPECIALLY if you don't actually have one of those. This extends to
marketing too- Frozen had an awful, unrepresentative ad campaign, but it at least it didn't tip
its hand too early. Iron Man 3's nailed it perfectly, establishing the Mandarin as the
big nemesis for the film, but not giving any clues as to where they were going with him,
and Guy Pearce didn't even appear in most or the trailers. Star Trek Into Darkness,
on the other hand, made a huge deal out of "who is this guy?", making the ultimate "reveal"
even more disappointing. Understanding how to structure a good twist made Iron Man 3
a good film, and Frozen a great film, and this ill-discipline made Star Trek Into Darkness
a rather disappointing one.
Thank you for watching my examination of twists in this year's blockbusters. Have a happy
new year.