Ken Levine proffers (and comments upon) a Mike Nichols quote:
Every scene is either a fight, seduction, or negotiation.
Levine points out some caveats with the claim and Mark Evanier (who originally linked me to Levine’s piece) offers a few more, but I thought the simplicity of the fight / seduction / negotiation triad was an interesting conceptual tool when thinking about scene-framing. As I discussed in the Art of Pacing, there’s a lot of different ways you can think about the creative elements that you put into a scene and a lot of different structures you can use (or abuse)
My immediate (and maybe wrong, admittedly) read on Evanier’s list:
Which of those three is Julie Andrews singing that the hills are alive with The Sound of Music? Seduction
Which of those three is the campfire scene in Blazing Saddles? Fight
Laurel and Hardy pushing the piano up the stairs? Fight (slapstick is a battle with reality [even surreality], is it not?)
Citizen Kane saying “Rosebud?” Negotiation (admitting to himself that it was all a waste, perhaps?)
Some of those are with the Audience as the “other” party…
“it’s hard for one person to fight, seduce or negotiate with him or herself” — is it really? I’ve never beaten myself up over a decision made? nor bargained with myself for something I wanted but didn’t need? Hmm…