Elf Storyform Analysis

analysis
#83

Yeah, it’s totally crazy because I just assumed Linear for all those reasons, but when you look at the storyform, you start to see how things really work. Such an awesome example.

What’s exciting to me, is I’ve tried to storyform this for years, and I could never figure it out.

We sat down to watch it last night, and as soon as they brought up the energy crisis, I had the whole storyform in like two seconds.

The difference between this year and last?

  • Genre and Sub-genres
  • Holistic Premise
  • Relationship Story as a Perspective

And this new idea of “boxing in” a storyform. Starting at the top to get a general feel, then looking at the bottom, to corral all the elements into place.

It’s a much more holistic approach to storyforming. Instead of breaking it down linearly, and trying to work from a to b to c to d, you look at a, you look at d, and then you can infer all of b and c.

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#84

WOW!!!

I didn’t have much time today and when I did log in for a few minutes I skipped this thread because I thought you were talking about Lego Elves or something… LOL … and now I see that you guys found a complete storyform in a few hours! Which is like lightspeed online!!!

Totally agree on the Holistic problem solving. Buddy solves everything with balancing, especially by going overboard. Having a bad day, balance it out with some used gum. More decorations! Bigger lego structures! MORE SUGAR!! Nothing logical or if-then in any of those.

Now for the big question Jim. Do you think this storyform helps explain why I always feel an “off” sense at the end of the movie when they focus too much on lack of belief (Faith/Disbelief) as the problem? Maybe it’s just me, but I always feel like we’re suddenly in a different movie for about 10 minutes.

#85

I think it has more to do with the complete lack of an Antagonist, so they had to come up with one at the end, which come out of nowhere, and is likely inspired by the Nazgûl Black Riders from Lord of the Rings (also out at the same time).

Also, the IC change is kind of sudden and out-of-nowhere (don’t talk to my kid like that), but hey, it’s a Family Comedy, and i’ll keep watching it every year!

But yes, I think the fallback with this kind of story is faith/disbelief without a real understanding that it’s effect/cause.

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#86

It also smacks strongly of Save the Cat’s ‘bad guys close in’ beat, which doesn’t happen until near the end and comes out of nowhere.

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#87

Just had to bump this thread as I found this little gem in Jon Favreau’s ten-year retrospective on the movie:

Interviewer: You cast Zooey Deschanel as Buddy’s love-interest Jovie before she was well-known as an actress or a singer.
Favreau: I didn’t know she could sing. When I found out, that’s when I wrote that part in. That was not in the original script. I wrote it in because she has that great Doris Day voice. The whole Christmas spirit, saving Christmas, that was pretty late in the game, too. That wasn’t in the original script. It gave it that magical feeling, that spirit-redeeming. Buddy changing a lot of people in small ways and overall changing the personality of the city, that’s something I think gives the movie heart.

That pretty much lines up with @mlucas’s feelings about the end of the movie:

If it was truly a last-minute addition, then it makes sense that it just doesn’t quite blend as well as it could have done with a few extra rewrites. That’d also explain the Central Park Rangers antagonist issue.

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#88

Elf!! I am so disappointed I missed this. Sigh. One of my/ our family’s favorite movies. We need to do another upbeat analysis of a fun-favorite.

No offense intended to @Lakis and Good Girls.

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#89

So Elf is a total disaster.

  • There’s like four different stories going on and the plot ends up looking like the syrup-poptart-candy spaghetti Buddy eats for breakfast.

  • Either the whole thing should have been Buddy working at his dad’s company OR at the department store, not both.

  • The romance subplot just took screentime away from the ‘real’ relationship plot between Buddy and his dad.

  • The end change of his dad comes out of nowhere.

  • The broken Santa’s sleigh/ believing in christmas schtick is related to nothing else in the plot.

  • The ‘Buddy writes the book’ outcome is telegraphed the whole movie but happens off screen!!! This could have been the climax instead of that crap with the Central Park cops. Or better yet, gotten rid of entirely because it doesn’t even fit the relationship storyline or any of the rest of the mess.

The most interesting thing about this movie is Buddy’s holistic thinking, and its only used for a few gags. Then they (through exposition) tell us Buddy is the only one who can fix the sleigh, even though it’s established he’s no good at physical labor, and even though it’s a linear task. Imagine if the end depended on Buddy’s holistic thinking to get them out of trouble, and the whole movie had led up to it. THAT would have been a rival to The Santa Clause.

Which brings me to another huge problem, that Buddy plays the role of Physical Comedy, Comedy of Errors, AND Comedy of Manners…these roles are supposed to be allotted to each of the Classes separately, not all given to the MC.

Ask anyone the plot of The Santa Clause and they know the plot immediately. Now try the same for Elf. Yeah.

But was there ever an analysis meeting recorded for it? Because I would definitely like to have seen you guys try and sweat through that one.

#90

This post is pretty much the extent of the analysis. And while I don’t completely disagree with you on some of your more salient points (:blush:) I will say that this:

is not entirely true when it comes to Dramatica theory - particularly when you think of Buddy the “MC” as both Main Character, Protagonist, one-half of a Relationship, and key component of an Influence Character perspective.

It’s best to think of characters as Players carrying different points of view in the Four Throughlines (i.e., you don’t need to separate out Genre aspects of Comedy in different characters - that’s a storytelling decision independent of Storyform)

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#91

Very enlightening, thanks!

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#92

I’m not sure that I agree it’s a “mess” other than the fact that it’s a holistic story, :rofl:.

The movie isn’t about “fixing the sleigh” … it’s about restoring balance by being in the Christmas Spirit. The sleigh just needs that one last “weight on the scale” to tip things toward a the Xmas Spirit–his dad joining in and being part of that cause which will have an effect on the flying sleigh… but more importantly, it’ll have an effect on Walter himself. (Note that the OS and IC share the same Problem element).

I also wouldn’t say the Dad’s change came out of nowhere. If you track his journey of change, you can see that:

  • First, Dad’s on the naughty list and doesn’t have the slightest inkling of Christmas Spirit and kicks Buddy out as if he’s a crazy person.
  • Then, Dad finds out Buddy is his son and has gotta start grappling with his attitude about Buddy.
  • Next, Dad has trouble with buddy, but when he runs away… Dad prioritizes Buddy gone missing and his family over work when he tells his boss “Up yours!” at the presentation
  • Finally, Dad’s actively helping Buddy and Santa … which all leads to him joining in with the crowd and singing.

Relationships “taking away screentime from the real relationship” isn’t exactly how Dramatica sees the RS. The RS is a throughline that any and all players can represent, handoff, whatever.

Take Back to the Future, for example. You can apply the dynamics of the RS to ANY of the significant relationships in the film. Marty and Doc, Marty and George, Marty and Lorraine, George and Lorraine, Biff and Lorraine, Biff and George, etc. All of them deal with dilemmas of commitment with a problem of temptation, being tempted, seducing… vs. doing the right thing.

In Elf, ALL the relationship growths seems like they won’t be able to grow because of things don’t look like they fit, which moves those relationships toward what CAN be tolerated. But they all grow by adjusting expectations by choosing or judging things for yourself.

You see this evident in Walter and Buddy, Buddy and Jovie, even a bit with Walter and his Office, Walter and his other son Daniel, Walter and his wife Emily.

This is probably a direct product of the story being Holistic. The “Plot” and “Goal” are irrelevant. It’s not about that. It’s about Being in the Christmas Spirit.

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#93

That’s very interesting. Especially about all of the relationships making up parts of the same RS problem. I definitely see it in BTTF.
As for Elf’s confusion coming from it being holistic, I will have to watch it another two or three times before I can comment.
It’s of note though that even Favreau admitted to hastily adding on the sleigh bit at the end…maybe that is the price you pay for a holistic movie. I remember the movie ‘Adaptation’ did something similar at the end, in order to provide a climax.

#94

I love Elf but always find that one sequence feels like it doesn’t belong … like we temporarily stepped into a different movie. Luckily they bring things back right away, and once you’ve seen it enough times you kind of get used to that part.

1 Like
#95

Very interesting. It never jumped out to me – last minute addition or not. Looking at the Fourth Movement, at the end we get:

MC: Fate > Interdiction – Buddy interceding to keep the Xmas Spirit Going
RS: Deficiency > Expediency – The Xmas Spirit is lacking and they better get into it quick before it’s too late!
OS: Doubt > Reappraisal – That last bit of questioning whether any of this Santa stuff is legit and if there’s anything that can be done, to all of the “Hey wait, where’d you get that Santa list? How’d you know that? Hmm, maybe we should all get into this.”
IC: Preconditions > Analysis – Walter is there, but he’s not singing. He has to sing! The situation requires he sings and the kid points that out. And once he does… is that sleigh really flying?! Is Santa really real?!

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#96

That is interesting John, since that would almost make it bottom-right on the theme level, whereas the analysis under storyforms/elf puts it in top-right.
When I was watching I actually put it under bottom-right myself, particularly due to the heavy Conceiving angle as well as the Appraisal-Re-appraisal arc, which supposedly is what the movie is all about.
But of course then you lose accurate-non-accurate, which is also clearly present. I guess the question is whether or not this is the true conflict or just subject matter? Like is the message of Elf about ‘being yourself’ or about the spirit of Christmas? It’s kind of schizophrenic, as a storymind.

#97

I think more than even “Being Yourself” it’s more about specifically “Being in the Christmas Spirit” … which I imagine would encompass being yourself, but the point of the film is that special time of year you can be kind to everyone. Being’s first definition is, after all, temporarily adopting a lifestyle. Even if just for that one night, everyone is going to act like Buddy. HOPEFULLY for some, that Being represents their true selves.

Conceiving stories are usually a slightly “heavier” subject matter than something as light and airy as Elf. They’re not the heaviest of the lot, but usually more like A Face in the Crowd or Social Network or Ford v Ferrari …

There are of course exceptions that on the surface seem like light films… Ratatouille, Princess Bride, etc… But if you compare the love stories there, or the dilemmas found in the OS, to that of a movie in Being like Elf, I think you can easily see which is the “heavier” relationship, or quest.

Is Buddy & Jovie a stronger romance than Wesley & Buttercup?
Is Buddy’s quest to get everyone into the spirit of Xmas a heavier plot than stopping someone’s true love from marrying an evil prince?