Ron Woodroof in Dallas Buyers Club (2013).
‘TRUE CHARACTER is revealed in the choices a human being makes under pressure – the greater the pressure, the deeper the revelation, the truer the choice to his character’s essential nature.” —— Robert McKee, Story, 1999, pg. 101
What McKee suggests is, each character has a surface and a true self, an inner life and an outer appearance; and the true self normally shows under extreme circumstances. If the inner self (character) and the outer appearance (characterization) match, it is likely that the character becomes boring. Using Ron Woodroof as a case study, I want to illustrate that McKee’s statement is not absolutely accurate, and that the difference between character and characterization is not as clear.
At the beginning, Woodroof is starting a bet on bull riding; and when his scheme fails he just flees out and takes the money that does not belong to him. He even wounds a police so that he can escape. He is apparently a person who does whatever it takes to achieve his purpose; that is the core of his character. Soon, when an illegal worker is injured on the construction site Woodroof works, Woodroof insists getting him an ambulance; the audience can tell that he has a good heart. Woodroof’s ‘true character’ is revealed very quickly, and that does not change over the film. Even when he is diagnosed with HIV, facing the greatest pressure a human can face —— the pressure of death, his character does not change. The audience knows that, and they do not get bored, because Woodroof’s characterizations make him interesting. His characterization and character are mostly not contrasting but parallel to one another.
As I mentioned in my previous posts, Ron Woodroof is disrespectful, arrogant, aggressive and homophobic (that changes over the story); but he is also hard-working, smart, charming, determined and persistent. Not all of these characterizations are necessarily contradicting to his character. In fact, some of his characterizations come from his character. He does whatever it takes to survive, so he is persistent on finding a solution to extend his living days, and that leads to his effort in researching medication (hard-working). Everyone who confronts him becomes an enemy to him, so himself becomes disrespectful and aggressive to them. He is aggressive to the FDA because they ban his effective medicine. He is disrespectful to the Doctors because they deliver him the bad news and that interrupts his normal life. Woodroof’s character is shown to the audience at the beginning, and he stays the same till the end. This character attracts the audience because he is real, his inner life and outer appearance match, and that helps him overcome the pressure.
The only significant quality that changes on Woodroof is that his homophobia gradually fades in the film. As he gets to know Rayon and this whole group of homosexual people, Woodroof starts to treat them with dignity. Like I analyzed in my first post, he stops using words like ‘faggot’ or ‘daisy puller’. But this transition does not correspond well with McKee’s summary of character arc either. Plus, homophobia is not a quality deep enough to be part of a ‘character’. A character becomes something from something, but when his homophobia disappears, it is simply gone. You cannot describe someone as ‘not homophobic’. It is a strange phrase to use. So I would conclude that there have been transitions that happens to Woodroof, but he is generally what I call an ‘honest character’, meaning deep down he is still what he looks like.
McKee’s book and articles are great tools to create a story and they offer useful insights. However, in this case of Woodroof, I don’t think this character corresponds with McKee’s ideas too well. Anyway, this film and this character help us examine that storytellers can break the canon sometimes and create great ‘honest characters’.
McKee, R., 1997. Story. pp.100-109.
Dallas Buyers Club. 2013. [film] Directed by J. Vallée. New Orleans, Louisiana, USA: Truth Entertainment.