Your Hero’s Unconscious Desire
In today’s post we’re going to attempt to shed light on a particularly confusing area for many writers. Yes, we are going to dive into the murky world of your protagonist’s unconscious desire.
OK, you have a hero, but are you completely clear on what both their conscious and unconscious goals are? There are many differing terms floating around the world of screenwriting on this subject, but basically they all mean the same thing:
Outer Goal / Inner Goal
Conscious Desire / Unconscious Desire
Want / Need
In the examples above, the one on the left equals your main plot—the hero’s goal they think they want and battle fiercely for throughout the film to achieve. The one on the right equals a subplot—the goal they really want, they just don’t know it yet. But by the film’s end, the unconscious desire trumps the conscious desire and they end up with what they need, not what they want.
At around twelve minutes into a film, most protagonists have to make a decision on what to do about the Call to Action, (or Inciting Incident, if you prefer.) This decision is what propels them into the uncharted territory of Act Two and is their conscious desire talking. It is also, invariably, the wrong one. In Act One they are still flawed individuals, therefore, any decision they make will invariably be flawed also.
As they battle their way through the script, their unconscious desire grows louder and louder until they can’t ignore it any longer. But the conscious desire is not completely dead and buried just yet, and comes back to bite just when things are coming up roses with their shiny new unconscious desire.
And what makes it extra powerful is the fact that it’s the protagonist’s own fault. Either they have been lying all along—a lie involving their old way of life (and conscious desire,) or they revert to their old ways and literally slip back into that old persona—what their conscious desire wants.
Let’s take a closer look at this using an example.
At the start of Wedding Crashers, John and Jeremy want to crash weddings and get laid. This is their conscious desire. They crash the Cleary wedding and hook up with Gloria and Claire. By the midpoint it’s clear John is falling for Claire. His experiences with her make him realize he doesn’t want to mess around anymore but actually needs to settle down and fall in love. But neither he nor Jeremy have completely shed their old way of life and conscious desire. They are still lying to Gloria and Claire, and to themselves about what they really want. This, of course, comes back to haunt them when the girls find out the truth.
This loss causes them, (John specifically) to realize the errors of his ways and to change. The unconscious desire trumps the conscious desire. He will do anything to win back Claire and does so by the end of the film.
Once you really understand your protagonist’s conscious desire, unconscious desire, want and need, your screenplay will come on in leaps and bounds. In another post, we’ll explain how both the conscious and unconscious desire work simultaneously through a screenplay’s plot points.
