Dramatica Users
Group Movie Analysis:
"Working
Girl"
Review by Katharine
E. Monahan Huntley
Main character
Tess McGill is the titular Working
Girl in director Mike Nichols and writer Kevin Wade's study
of a baby doll Brooklyn secretary (mc domain-universe) with big
hair and even bigger ideas (objective story concern-conceiving).
Set in Manhattan's business arena of mergers and acquisitions (objective
story prerequisite-obtaining), competition (os domain-psychology)
for a power position in high finance is fierce. Undeterred, Tess attempts
(mc unique ability) to climb the corporate ladder:
TURKEL
The straight
shot, Tess, is they turned you down for the entrée (mc problem-potentiality)
program again.
TESS
Why?
TURKEL
. . . You
have to remember you're up against Harvard and Wharton graduates.
Whaddya got . . . some night school, some secretarial time on your
sheet?
LUTZ
Christians
and lions, Tess.
Tess quits (mc
approach-do-er) the obvious dead end and takes on a new post with
a true lioness-Katharine Parker-whose signature line is: "I am,
after all, me." Under the false impression Katharine will guide
her career: "Tess, you know you don't get anywhere in this world
by waiting for what you want to come to you (os problem-reaction).
You make it happen (os solution-proaction). Watch me Tess. Learn
from me"-she approaches her boss with a brainstorm for a plum account-Trask
Industries. Katharine promises to take a "looksee."
TESS
I've been
trying (mc thematic counterpoint-attempt) to get into the entrée
program, and this would be a big push, I mean if anything . . . happens.
KATHARINE
Absolutely,
Tess. Two way street.
Katharine, of course,
has her own agenda, one that does not include anyone else taking the
credit for ideas-whether or not they are hers.
Tessa's lucky break
(literally!) comes about when Katharine breaks her leg on a ski trip
and is hospitalized for several weeks:
KATHARINE
I need
(os thematic issue) you to take over.
In her absence,
Tess reads Katharine's confidential memo to Jack Trainer:
"There's
a lightbulb over my head. I know Trask and you know media. And that
adds up to us finally doing a deal together. Let's run with it."
Betrayed by Katharine,
Tess is also betrayed by her boyfriend ("You snake!"), whom
she discovers naked with Doreen.
What's a girl with
"a head for business and a bod for sin" to do? Pass herself
off as her boss's fictitious assistant, meet with obstacle character
Jack Trainer (who also happens to be Katharine's boyfriend), and attempt
(mc unique ability) to put the Trask deal together:
TESS
In each of
the last three quarters, Trask Industries has announced plans to acquire
a major market television station, each time unsuccessfully. At the
same time they've expended time and money fighting off a hostile takeover
attempt by one of their Japanese competitors. Buying into radio would
in one fell swoop accomplish two important tasks. It would give Trask
a solid base in broadcasting, and because of FCC regulations forbidding
foreign ownership of radio stations, it would wipe out the threat
of a Japanese takeover.
TRAINER'S
ASSISTANT
Interesting
idea (os goal-conceiving).
Tess and Jack form
a professional relationship-Tess all the while keeping her secretary
identity a secret. Jack unwittingly serves as her mentor (subjective
story concern-learning). Though lacking in analytical (mc
critical flaw) skills, Tess uses unorthodox methods to make the
deal happen-and surprise!-Jack realizes he has a lot to learn from her
bravado.
"Isn't it romantic?"
Tess and Jack fall in love as the deal is set up:
TRASK
By letting
some of the air out of our strategy (ss thematic issue)
to expand into broadcasting, Miss McGill and Mr. Trainer have effectively
shown all of us here at Trask, the light at the end of our tunnel.
Unfortunately, Katharine
walks in before contracts are signed. Dramatically pointing a crutch,
she exposes Tess's charade. Jack blanches (oc problem-reaction)
and Tess, humiliated, excuses herself.
Success (outcome)
is inevitable when, in one short scene, Jack makes a leap of faith (oc
resolve-change), and Tess puts it all together (female mental
sex) for Trask:
TESS
This is Forbes.
. . . It's just your basic article about how you were looking to expand
into broadcasting. Now the same day . . . I'm reading page six of
the Post, and there's this item on Bobby Stein the radio talk
show guy. . . . He's hosting this charity auction that night-real
blue bloods. Now I turn the page to Suzy who does the society stuff
and there's this picture of your daughter . . . and she's helping
to organize the charity ball. So I started to think, Trask, radio.
Trask, radio. And then I hooked up with Jack, and he came on board
with Metro. And so now, here we are.
Impressed, Trask
fires Katharine and hires Tess into his entry-level program (mc solution-certainty).
An office and assistant of her own-the working class girl (mc resolve-steadfast)
has been promoted to the big leagues (judgment-good).
WORKING GIRL story engine settings.
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