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A Filmmaker's Guide to: Internal Conflict II

Film Studies (Pt.49)

By Annie KapurPublished 3 years ago 4 min read
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In this chapter of ‘the filmmaker’s guide’ we’re actually going to be learning about literature and film together. I understand that many of you are sitting in university during difficult times and finding it increasingly hard to study and I understand that many of you who are not at university or not planning on it are possibly stuck of what to do, need a break or even need to catch up on learning film before you get to the next level. This guide will be brief but will also contain: new vocabulary, concepts and theories, films to watch and we will be exploring something taboo until now in the ‘filmmaker’s guide’ - academia (abyss opens). Each article will explore a different concept of film, philosophy, literature or bibliography/filmography etc. in order to give you something new to learn each time we see each other. You can use some of the words amongst family and friends to sound clever or you can get back to me (email in bio) and tell me how you’re doing. So, strap in and prepare for the filmmaker’s guide to film studies because it is going to be one wild ride.

Internal Conflict

What is it?

The character suffers a conflict with themselves that is normally within their own mind. This either serves as part of the main plot as a device or is a subplot that happens because of an event in the piece. Normally, the earlier is more popular because the audience likes to see the psychology of the character come out either in the text or on the screen.

The most popular internal conflicts happen in first person narrative novels. Such as in "Frankenstein" by Mary Shelley where Victor regrets making the Monster and wants to be with Elizabeth but also feels obligated to follow the Monster and find him after the strange escape. In "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" by R.L Stevenson, this internal conflict is physically realised through the separation of the doctor and his creation into two separate sides of the same person. Let's have a look at some novels:

  • Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
  • The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
  • Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
  • Melmoth the Wanderer by Charles Maturin
  • The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
  • The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
  • American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
  • Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk
  • Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
  • The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter
  • Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice
  • The Road by Cormac McCarthy

What about in film?

In film, the aspect of internal conflict is more difficult to explore seeing as in a novel, the first person perspective allows us into the psychology of the character. But, in a film, we have to see it through the acting, actions and speech. The better the acting and story, the more we get to see the character-driven internal conflict and its many consequences. This is why it is better to have the internal conflict as part of the main plot devices, at least for film. It means that you can use the internal conflict of the character as part of the causation for most of the plot.

Here's a few examples:

  1. Inception (2010)
  2. Memento (2000)
  3. Fight Club (1999)
  4. American Psycho (2000)
  5. Inglorious Basterds (2009)
  6. The Godfather (1972)
  7. 12 Angry Men (1957)
  8. The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)
  9. The Shining (1980)
  10. Wall Street (1987)
  11. The Prestige (2006)
  12. Donnie Darko (2001)
  13. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
  14. There Will Be Blood (2007)
  15. The Others (2001)

Ever since “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” (1920), internal conflict has attempted to be shrouded in mystery but also serves as a main plot device in the movie. From the prophecies of Weine’s famous somnambulist driving the people around him to extremities to the fact that Dom Cobb cannot let go of his dead wife and all the way through the arrogance and stubbornness of the 12 Angry Men, the rivalry of Angier and Borden and how they keep secrets even from their lovers and even down to the temptation of Jesus Christ in Scorsese’s adaptation of a novel written by the man who brought you “Zorba the Greek”. Internal conflicts are possibly one of the most famous and loved aspects of cinema. I’ll give you a bit of further reading, but it will be on psychology.

Further Reading:

  • Freud, S (2006). The Penguin Freud Reader. UK: Penguin Modern Classics
  • Freud, S (2003). The Uncanny. UK: Penguin Modern Classics
  • Freud, S (2005). The Unconscious. UK: Penguin Modern Classics
  • Goffman, E (1990). The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. UK: Penguin Psychology

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About the Creator

Annie Kapur

190K+ Reads on Vocal.

English Lecturer

🎓Literature & Writing (B.A)

🎓Film & Writing (M.A)

🎓Secondary English Education (PgDipEd)

📍Birmingham, UK

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