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Happily Ever After...
Usually when reviewers or audience members talk about comedies and tragedies the focus is on the happy- or not-so-happy ending. The crying and the smiling Greek masks: 🎠But there is a bit more to it than that, and understanding this concept opens up a world of possibilities for writers. Some of the very best of us play with these concepts, and especially with the implied morality of what a happy-ending really means.
How I want you to look at a comedy versus a tragedy is the difference between whether the Protagonist of the story reaches their Heaven On Earth - a comedy, or whether they (often metaphorically) die trying - a tragedy.
On the surface this is simple: Aladdin (1993) dreams of living in a palace, and at the end of the movie he is the Sultan of the entire kingdom and he married the love of his life who is also a princess!? Heaven on Earth and then some! Clearly Aladdin is a Comedy with a happy ending.
But, Aladdin was only able to achieve his Heaven on Earth because he fundamentally changed. For most of the movie he was pretending to be something he was not; a Prince. It is not until he drops that facade, until he stops lying, that he is able to fulfill his true potential as the chosen one. This goes for every comedy ever: The Protagonist has to change their ways in order to reach their comedic (née happy) ending:
THE (Comedy) Theme: To reach Heaven on Earth, our Protagonist should fundamentally change their ways and do Y instead of Z.
Aladdin's Theme: To marry the princess, become the Sultan, and reach his Happily Ever After, Aladdin should stop lying and start being honest about the empathetic poor street rat that he is.
...Or Die Trying
Meanwhile, in Sicario, unflappable Kate’s Heaven on Earth is “to make the world safer”, and in the end she is scared shitless. Not only did she not reach her Heaven on Earth, she died a metaphorical death in the process as she can’t be a cop anymore and a cop was all she ever was! Clearly this is a tragedy with a sad ending. Kate reaches for her Heaven on Earth, but she keeps trying this in the same way over and over again: she does everything by the book. Even after she gets told, repeatedly, by all her bosses, that the rules no longer apply to her: she is working outside of the law as a part of this task force. She gets told specifically to not go back into the bank to arrest the money launderer, but she does so anyway. Instead of letting the assassin go after the big boss, she tries to arrest him. And even that doesn't work out for her.
If only she would have changed her ways, like Aladdin. But she doesn't, so she does not get to her Heaven on Earth. And similar to the comedies discussed above, there is a rule for every tragedy ever: The Protagonist will not change their ways and thus will only ever reach their tragic ending:
THE (Tragic) Theme: To reach Heaven on Earth, our Protagonist should have fundamentally changed their ways, but they refuse to do Y instead of Z, so they die trying.
Sicario's Theme: To deal the Cartel a meaningful blow, and make the world a safer place, Kate Mercer should stop playing by the rules, and do whatever is necessary, but she refuses to descend into lawlessness and thus, metaphorically, dies trying.
As you can see, the tragedy shares a much more nuanced "truth". Or at least that is what the writer is telling us: Aladdin has to stop lying; a straightforward fairytale moral. Sicario's theme is more political, more philosophical. It raises more questions than it answers; is lawlessness the only way out of this situation? Is our world too far gone? Is a law-and-order mindset adding to the chaos of the situation? Etc. Sicario presents the audience with a much more complex problem that the writer (probably) doesn’t even know how to solve. He only shows us how not to solve it. Keep this in mind while we move through the next few chapters.
Pick One
Every story is either a comedy or a tragedy. You have to pick one and this choice brings us one step closer to starting to write a story using the Tale Spinning method. But there is one more decision to make before you can do so: you will have to decide whether your Protagonist lives in a Kind Universe or a Cruel Universe.
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