Dear Friend,
I apologize in advance for the topic of this letter, which I fear will be dry for most readers. A couple weeks ago, in a burst of nerdy enthusiasm, I “promised” to write about subplots in the movie, Barbie. I know nobody really cares if I follow through on this, but I somehow still feel obligated, even though I’d truthfully prefer an easier and funner topic.
This will be my last Barbie post for a while. Also, I’m going to refrain from predicting future topics.
A quick recap: In a previous post I discussed what plot is and the main plot of Barbie. The discussion was framed somewhat as a rebuttal to this meme:
In preparing to write today’s post, (preparing / procrastinating, to-mā-to / to-mah-to) I did a quick search to if anyone else has discussed subplots in Barbie. One of the first hits was a YouTube video titled “Ken is more of a Protagonist than Barbie: Screenplay Analysis.”
Deep inhale. Long exhale.
If I were to link to this video (which I’m not, because I don’t want to be a jerk about it) the caption on the thumbnail would read:
Ken is definitely NOT more of a protagonist than Barbie.
The protagonist of a movie is the character who carries the MAIN PLOT. In Barbie, this character is Barbie. Her pursuit of her goal to regain her perfect, unexamined life is the main plot.
I say that with confidence, but moving forward in this article, I don’t want to present myself as the subplot expert. I’m not. I’m researching and learning new things even as I write this. However, I’m doing with the benefit of a fair amount of context as well as curiosity and so I’m also confident I’m not going to steer anyone too far off base.
First a little background—something obvious but that somehow I’ve never thought about consciously—in Screenwriting: The Sequence Approach Paul Joseph Gulino notes that when writers begin a story, they need to choose “whether to make it a long story or a broad one. A “long story concerns itself primarily with a protagonist experiencing a succession of events, and a “broad” one introduces one or more subplots that run in parallel to the protagonist’s story, involving subordinate characters.”
To rephrase and add to this—stories come in different shapes and sizes. They either have subplots or they don’t. There can be one, two or multiple subplots of varying robustness or slightness. Sometimes you’ll hear the A plot, B plot and C plot used to refer to the various plots and also to rank their importance and the amount of screen time they receive. (While Ken’s is not the A plot in Barbie, it is a pretty robust B plot.)
Gulino says, “subplots, like dramatically structured main plots, have a protagonist with an objective and follow the same three-act shape of setup, development and resolution… and often their resolution involves a culminating moment that changes the subplot character, in a small-scale echo of the protagonist’s character arc.”
This is pretty much a perfect description of Ken’s role in the movie. He is the protagonist of his own subplot, which has its own dramatic shape. If we were to give Ken the same writing-class-worksheet-treatment we gave Barbie, it might look something like this:
ONCE UPON A TIME THERE IS a “Stereotypical” Ken
EVERY DAY he lives in a world ruled by Barbies, and he tries to get (Stereotypical) Barbie to notice him, because he derives his life’s purpose through her attention, and every day he pretty much fails
UNTIL ONE DAY Ken decides to stow away in Barbie’s car
AS A RESULT OF WHICH he witnesses a new world where Barbies are NOT in charge…
AS A RESULT OF WHICH he goes back to Barbieland and tells the other Kens
AS A RESULT OF WHICH they establish a patriarchy in Barbieland.
AS A RESULT OF WHICH Etc. Etc.
In Ken’s culminating moment, he has an epiphany about breaking free from his societally prescribed identity (this is, I’m sure, arguable, but I think it’s in the ballpark)—which is, as Gulino posits, “an echo” of Barbie’s character arc.
I think one of the several confusing things about subplots, is that they can belong to a secondary character (like Ken), OR, in some cases, a subplot might belong to the main character, in addition to the main plot. i.e. the main character might be the protagonist of more than one plot.
In The Hunger Games, Katniss is the main character. The central question is “will she survive the Hunger Games?” and she is the protagonist of the main plot— which is about how she pursues her goal of surviving the Hunger Games. BUT there’s also a subplot that follows Katniss’ growing romantic relationship with Peeta. Peeta and Katniss are both involved in this but (IMO) it’s Katniss who must take the bigger journey of overcoming her distrust.
She’s the protagonist of both the main plot and the romantic subplot, which gives her a lot of screen time. We don’t spend (as I recall) much time with Peeta when Katniss isn’t around.
I wonder if some people’s feelings that the Barbie movie is “too much” about Ken could be the result of expecting Ken to be a subordinate player in a Barbie-led romantic subplot instead of being the protagonist of his own parallel subplot. But, again, being the protagonist of a subplot, even a prominent one, does not make a character the protagonist of the movie.
This article categorizes five different kinds of subplots: Romantic, Nemesis, Parallel, Conflict/Complicating and Foil. I thought it was interesting. I don’t usually try to define what type of subplot I’m watching (or writing) but maybe I should.
If I had to make a guess, I’d say that for the first 70 pages (yes, I’ve downloaded the script🙄) Ken’s subplot seems to run parallel to Barbie’s main plot. Ken’s actions and decisions neither propel Barbie on her path, or cause her to deviate from it.
But somewhere after the middle of the film, Ken creates a new patriarchy in Barbieland and thus becomes a foil to Barbie’s desire to return to her former “perfectly perfect” existence (which featured Barbies having the dominant power in their society). His subplot has veered and thrown itself across Barbie’s plotline.
When I picture this in my brain, I think of two pieces of string running side by side, until one crosses over. Which is probably why terms like “thread” and “weaving” are often used when discussing how to manipulate narrative.
There’s a lot of threads in this picture—and most movies have more than one subplot as well. In Barbie. Gloria has a subplot, as does Sascha and the Mattel CEO, and probable a few other characters. Pretty much anyone who has three scenes that leads to a change has a subplot.
Now it’s late, so I’m going to stop talking about subplots.
Warmly,
Barrington