Now, Doggone it, Get in Character!

How many Rouge Wavers watched the Palin/Biden debate yesterday evening? I know I was glued to it, admittedly waiting (and hoping) for a Palin gaffe that never happened. But my oh my did Governor Palin crank up her down home, regional accent for effect. She peppered her language not only with soft enunciations like "ya" instead of "you" and all the usual "goin's" and "shoulda's", but also a couple of well placed "doggone it's". The effect was quite calculated - this is a down home, all American, kitchen-table mom that you can relate to. Now, for someone like me, this was an annoying affectation - but for the voters Palin was trying to connect with, it was canny slam dunk. She understands ya. And maybe she won't answer questions the way ya'd like her ta, but Americans are just wantin' straight talk. Dontcha know.

From the linked article above:

Reaction to Palin's speech has been highly varied. Some people dislike it, finding it harsh or grating; others regard it as charming or authentic. These are common responses to a distinctive accent. Depending on the context, such an accent can make a person seem stupid or uneducated or, conversely, honest and folksily trustworthy—often at the same time. Some people exploit this for effect, emphasizing and de-emphasizing dialect features to prompt a particular reaction. Linguists call this code-switching. In this Palin interview with Katie Couric, you can hear her enunciating her -ings and her yous more clearly in responses where she appeared to have a ready answer, and returning to her more natural -in' and ya when she seemed stumped, which suggests that Palin may have been deliberately attempting to minimize her dialect features for that audience.

Yes, this code-switching...Palin does what I call a "Zelig". You know, that great Woody Allen movie about a guy who instantly becomes just like everyone around him at a given moment in order to fit in?

Full disclosure: I am a born and bred Democrat from an educated, East Coast family that doggone moved west but retained a regional loyalty toward everything Boston and a love of literature and discussion. My grandmother attended the Leland Powers School of Elocution in fact, though she could never quite rid herself of her Brahmin Boston accent, i.e., driving the cah to the pahk. For me, while Palin's diction, colloquialisms and overall diction is clearly a result of where she is from, there is an affectation that I find patronizing and which frankly galls me. Do ya know what I'm sayin'?

But moving on my from personal predilections and prejudices re Palin, I thought it an interesting lesson for screenwriters when it comes to dialogue. Palin employed a particular speech pattern for powerful effect: she was in character. Did she come across as warm, folksy and honest? That was the intent.

But to be both fair and realistic, we all have a bit of Zelig in us. How we want to be perceived varies from situation to situation. The way we speak tells others volumes about us. About where we're from, our socio-economic status, our education and our world view. We are all in character.

I know that while I might seem fairly polite on the Rouge Wave, in real life, I use the eff word and a thousand variations of it very liberally when hanging around with my friends. Wouldn't do that around my parents or around someone that I didn't know very well. When I'm around people who are quite educated and who show that in their speech - I'm right there with 'em too. My speech patterns and diction vary by situation. And your does too.

Take a look at your script pages and ask two questions of the dialogue: what affect is your character trying to have in the situation and what dialogue and diction choices have you made for your character in order to establish and reinforce personality?

How do you want your character to come across? What kind of vocabulary and diction do your characters use and to what affect? Oh dear, now I'm getting that paranoid feeling that I'm mixing my affects and my effects up. I probably am. And for every smarty pants Rouge Waver who writes in with the definitions of each and both, here's a preemptive cupcake for you.

The bottom line is that however you felt about the Palin/Biden debate, Palin had a little lesson packed into her speech for us screenwriters. Dialogue defines character.

For more on the debate click HERE.

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