Conflict is a struggle between 2 forces (in a narrative that’s usually two Characters) who want different things. It can be as simple as teenage girl wants to go out with vampire boyfriend and father wants her to date hot Native America dude they’ve known for a long time. Or it could be very complex involving bombs, spies, multiple passports, or people who pay money to kill you because you’re an American.
There are two types of conflicts in narrative: External Conflict and Internal Conflict.
External Conflict can be Character versus Character, Character versus Nature or Character versus Society.
Internal Conflict is basically Character versus Self. It’s psychological in nature and is usually a struggle with identity or a decision.
There are two types of conflicts in narrative: External Conflict and Internal Conflict.
External Conflict can be Character versus Character, Character versus Nature or Character versus Society.
Internal Conflict is basically Character versus Self. It’s psychological in nature and is usually a struggle with identity or a decision.
Monster is a bio picture about American female serial killer Aileen Wuornos played by Academy Award winner Charlize Theron. Most films about serial killers are sensationalized in one way or another, but this film, to its credit, is more interested in portraying the conflict this woman experiences than glorifying her actions or romanticizing her situation in any way. I have always had a personal hate for any movie that glorifies prostitution, say for example, Pretty Woman. I think it sends a horrible message to females. The only film about the profession I ever remember seeing that didn’t glamourize prostitution in some way was director Lizzie Borden’s Working Girls (1986) not to be confused with the Working Girl (1988) with Sigourney Weaver and Harrison Ford. Very different movies!
Making a picture like this, director Patty Jenkins ran the risk of sentimentalizing a killer. What she manages to do instead is humanize her. She does this by focusing on conflict. Showing a killer’s struggle to achieve her goals isn’t likely to garner much sympathy, but I don’t think that’s Jenkins’ goal either. She doesn’t want our sympathy but perhaps our empathy. When we see that this woman’s struggles are not so different from our own, she becomes more difficult to dismiss as…well…as a Monster. Her goals are not unreasonable to us because we share them: we all desire love, stability, companionship, a semblance of a lifestyle free from assholes trying to harm us.
Sure she makes mistakes…horrendous mistakes…again and again. It’s when her mistakes become choices rather than reactions to violent situations that we begin to allow ourselves to detach from any recognition of self in her character. And that’s necessary for us to then employ empathy. There’s a point in the movie where we are on her side. We see her try to make positive changes in her life and she gets beat back down at every turn. But there’s also a point in the movie where we throw up our hands and say, “That’s it. That’s crossing the line.” The magic of film is for that one moment where we can see ourselves, not in this woman, but in her struggle, we experience a conflict of our own.
This film is complex because Aileen is struggling with both internal and external conflicts. The fact that we hear a voice over narration beings us even closer to the protagonist. We are her confidant. The external conflicts are all the people who have been abusing her for her whole life. It’s the society that refuses to budge an inch to allow her to move up toward a healthy productive lifestyle when it’s far easier to simply judge her and keep her down making ourselves feel superior.
This film manages to reveal to us that if our society produces a monster like this, then it’s not just the monster who’s solely to blame. Frankenstein’s monster didn’t ask to be created any more than did Aileen. We see Aileen make bad choice after bad. But we also see in the ending that she is capable of the kind of love and sacrifice that many would never even consider. She reveals a lesson that she seems to learn only as she experiences it and that is if you love someone, it’s for you…no matter if that love is returned or not…it’s for you!
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