{"id":71,"date":"2011-06-20T06:55:00","date_gmt":"2011-06-20T11:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/k-tock.com\/?p=71"},"modified":"2011-06-20T06:55:00","modified_gmt":"2011-06-20T11:55:00","slug":"prison-break-and-cat-killers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/k-tock.com\/?p=71","title":{"rendered":"Prison Break and ‘Cat’ Killers"},"content":{"rendered":"

SPOILER ALERT: The following contains spoilers about Prison Break – Season One<\/em>. If you haven’t seen Prison Break<\/em> (what are you waiting for? You should see it!) it might be best not to read.<\/span><\/p>\n

I started watching Prison Break – Season One<\/em><\/a> four days ago and I’ve finished it. My head feels a bit funny from watching nine episodes in a row today, but it’s worth it! <\/p>\n

I am a very moral person – I don’t speed, I wear my seatbelt, I don’t break the rules. Yet, in watching Prison Break<\/em> I find that I am rooting for characters to escape a penitentiary, despite the fact that they are criminals. Some of them are hardened killers. How have the writers got me to this point?<\/p>\n

I believe that it is due, in large part, to what Blake Snyder referred to as ‘save the cat’ and ‘kill the cat’.<\/p>\n

As those who have read his book will know, a ‘save the cat’ moment is where a character DOES something nice early in the movie\/show that gets us onboard – they save a cat, help someone, or something else that causes the audience to root for them.<\/p>\n

There are other ways, however, to get an audience to root for a character, and that is to have something bad happen TO a character. This gets the audience to root for the character who has been threatened. Blake Snyder calls this ‘kill the cat’.<\/p>\n

In Prison Break<\/em> there are many nasty characters. We want to see Michael Scofield succeed, because he is risking his neck for his brother, he has ‘saved the cat’ but why do we want a mobster like John Abruzzi to escape?<\/p>\n

The answer is because an even worse mobster has threatened Abruzzi’s children. Abruzzi is told that if he doesn’t get some information from Michael, Abruzzi’s children will suffer. Abruzzi tries all he can to get Michael to talk, even inflicting bodily harm, but despite his violence toward Michael, I found myself hoping Abruzzi would escape. This was due to the ‘kill the cat’ of having his children’s lives threatened.<\/p>\n

These are not mutually exclusive techniques, either. Sucre, Michael’s cellmate, is a likable character from the start. He is funny, he wants to propose to his girl, and he guides Michael through the harsh reality of prison life. Sucre’s cousin further reinforces our like for Sucre by trying to steal his girl. This ‘kill the cat’ is further compounded in a flashback revealing the cousin had a part to play in Sucre’s incarceration.<\/p>\n

A ‘kill the cat’ can also be used to sway an audience against a character. The literal killing of a cat serves to reinforce the audience’s view of one Captain Bellick. Bellick is head honcho among the guards. He has a dislike for Michael and his actions towards the prisoners are rarely moral. When he kills the cat belonging to one of the men in Michael’s crew, it solidifies Bellick’s antagonistic qualities. When Bellick is mistreated by the escaping prisoners, it is accepted by the audience because the writers have been careful to set him up as a nasty character, deserving of his comeuppance. This is due to the numerous ‘kill the cats’ he is responsible for throughout the show.<\/p>\n

The ‘kill the cat’ doesn’t have to occur early. If it occurs later, it can swing our vote and restore a character into our good books. This happens with C-Note, a con who reminded me a little of Morgan Freeman’s character in The Shawshank Redemption<\/em>. When we first meet C-Note he helps Michael source some much needed equipment for his plan, but he has a fall from the audience’s grace and only attaches himself to Michael’s PI gang through his own smarts. He tries to pit Sucre against Michael, and I found myself hoping C-Note would be eliminated from the escape.<\/p>\n

However, in a flashback we are shown the reason for C-Notes incarceration. He was dishonourably discharged from the army, the dishonour belonging to the army. C-Note was made a scapegoat for standing up for his morals in regards to military conduct towards prisoners. Seeing C-Note’s treatment swung my opinion of him back around, and I’m glad he still had his place in the escape plans.<\/p>\n

Of course, as Prison Break<\/em> also shows, it can lead to some very interesting drama when the heroes and villains are constantly changing. Today’s hero can be tomorrow’s villain, and the uncertainty of what exactly motivates certain characters can lead to some exciting, suspenseful viewing.<\/p>\n

These techniques are useful to get an audience identifying with characters, even characters who are morally ambiguous or a little repugnant. Of course, it helps to have a great actor breath life and compassion into a character, but being intentional about writing a ‘save the cat’ or ‘kill the cat’ can help define in the audience’s mind who they should invest in and who they want to see get their just desserts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SPOILER ALERT: The following contains spoilers about Prison Break – Season One. If you haven’t seen Prison Break (what are you waiting for? You should see it!) it might be best not to read. I<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[107,103,96],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-71","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kill-the-cat","category-prison-break","category-save-the-cat"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t