The Controlling Idea
Reading Story by Robert McKee right now. Some great new insights I think will help The Year, one being the "controlling idea." McKee says, "A Controlling Idea may be expressed in a single sentce describing how and why life undergoes change from one condition of existence at the beginning to another at the end. The Controlling Idea has to two components: Value pluse Cause. It identifies thepositive or negative charge of the story’s critical value at the last act’s climax, and it identifies the chief reason that this value has changed to its final state. The sentence composed from these two elements, Value pluse Cause, express the core meaning of the story."
I thought about this nearly all day yesterday in relation to The Year and came up with this as the two possible Controlling Ideas of the story. 1) Positive charge: Forgiveness is achieved because Price can acknowledge his guilt and forgive himself. The only forgiveness we need to be happy is our own. 2) Negative charge: Forgiveness is denied because things in Price’s past are unforgivable. We need forgiveness and acceptance of others to be happy.
Thinking about this all day made me reflect on my life. Afterall, this story–though not autobiographical–draws significantly from my experience, coming straight out of my heart. Later in the evening, I started feeling very sad. I ended up crying for an hour, filled with feelings of failure, regret, and loneliness.
I feel so fortunate to have been free all my life to select from a myrid of choices, and basically live the life I choose. But looking back, I can’t help wonder if I’d be happier now if I’d made different choice. Perhaps not. There’s no way to know where they would’ve led. A different but same place. And the future? Had I known 20 years ago I’d be here where I am now–which is not a bad place–wouldn’t it have saved me a lot of worry and stress? I’ve never been, broke, hungry, and homeless. Never been more than a phone call away from a friend’s help. I keep needing to remind myself of that yeara of unemployment. I was so worried everyday. But at the end of the year, everything turned out okay. I remember wishing I’d known it’d all work out okay at the beginning of the year so I could’ve enjoyed it more.
