Why the Second Half of Grindhouse is Boring

April 11, 2007

There is a concept in Dramatica known as the Main Character’s Mental Sex. While this term may elicit giggles upon first read, it really is a very accurate method of describing the kinds of thought processes that go on in the Main Character’s mind.

In other words, it has nothing to do with the sex that you usually find on the Internet.

You might end up alienating some of your audience

Basically a Main Character can have either a Male Mental Sex or a Female Mental Sex. A Main Character with a Male Mental Sex will predominantly solve problems linearly. A Main Character with a Female Mental Sex will predominantly solve problems holistically. This is not an either/or - there can be overlap. But in analyzing a Main Character one method will stand out as dominant.

As Armando further explains in his story analysis of Grindhouse:

There’s this principle in Dramatica that states that stories told from a Female Mental Sex perspective (i.e. Intuitive Problem Solving) will be enjoyed mostly by an audience with Female Mental Sex (most women), while stories told from a Male Mental Sex perspective (i.e. Logical) can be enjoyed by both mental sexes (both men and women).

“Chick films” very often have a Main Character with a Female Mental Sex perspective - which explains why most men have to be dragged to see those kinds of movies. It is also interesting in the context of this analysis because apparently Quentin Tarantino, the author of the second half of Grindhouse, set out to make a “chick film”:

Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez are bringing back the ’70s…Tarantino tells you why you should love B-movies, the joy of writing quickly, and why his stalker car-chase movie Death Proof is a chick flick.

(from the latest issue of Creative Screenwriting)

Proof-positive that the Female process for solving problems was forefront in Tarantino’s mind.

Tarantino has a history of making films that are unique. Pulp Fiction was one of the first standout films to shift plot points out of sequence. It would seem that Grindhouse carries on this tradition my messing with what most audiences would expect from a gore/action flick.

When writing your own Main Character, make sure you know what kind of “mind” your most important character has. And the Mental Sex doesn’t ncessarily have to match up with the gender. All kinds of great and interesting stories can be told simply by offsetting them. Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) in Alien has a Male Mental Sex, Malcom Crowe (Bruce Willis) in The Sixth Sense has a Female Mental Sex.

You can do whatever you want - just understand that in doing so you might end up alienating some of your audience.