Akeelah
and the Bee is an uplifting, family-oriented film that rises above
its “Afternoon Special” subject matter. While treading
familiar territory, it dodges most major genre clichés through
the creative use of the story’s peripheral characters. The
sound story structure at the heart of Akeelah and the Bee gives this “ghetto
kid does good” an honest emotional resonance and earns its
feel-good ending.
SPOILERS AHEAD
The
Overall Story throughline is about a middle school seriously hurting
for money just to provide the necessary basics. The principal decides
to have a school spelling bee hoping that one of his students will
make it to the nationals and bring exposure (and money) to the
school (Overall Story Throughline: Activity; Story Goal: Obtaining).
The principal enlists the help of his college pal, Dr. Larabee, a
distinguished teacher and language scholar, to evaluate the students’ potential.
Eleven-year-old Akeelah is a stand out and shows great potential.
Akeelah
(Main Character) is an African American eleven-year-old girl from
South Central Los Angeles with a natural gift for spelling (Main
Character Domain: Situation). Driven by her feelings (MC Problem:
Feelings), she is inclined to take the path of least resistance
(MC Symptom of Temptation), choosing to skip classes to lessen
her reputation as a “brainiac.” Only when Akeelah does what she is “supposed” to
do does she feel fulfilled (MC Response: Conscience).
As one might expect, Akeelah makes it to the finals. Her school
and community get great exposure. Her mentor, Dr. Larabee, gets a
job at UCLA. And, in a split decision, she ties for first place (Story
Outcome: Success). Akeelah beams (Story Judgment: Good).
The storyform for Akeelah
and the Bee is straightforward. What is
interesting, however, is the manner in which the Impact Character
throughline is explored. Rather than the traditional single character
Impact Character, the Impact Character functions are handled by many
characters.
Dr.
Larabee acts as Impact Character for most of Act I and Act II.
About the middle of the film (or just after), the Impact Character
functions are handed off to Akeelah’s mom and various community
representatives in Act III. Act IV temporarily brings back Dr. Larabee
as Impact Character, but he is soon replaced by spelling wunderkind
Dylan.
Not
only is this an interesting and less traditional way of representing
the Impact Character—especially in this genre—it has
an intriguing side effect. Since Akeelah is a Steadfast Main Character,
ALL of the Impact Characters Change. That’s a whole lot of
change characters in one story. Dr. Larabee goes back to work after
a long sabbatical of disillusionment. Akeelah’s mother reconsiders
pursuing the college degree she abandoned after feeling she couldn’t
make it. Dylan intentionally misspells a contest-winning word when
he realizes Akeelah has thrown the contest in his favor. Various
South Central community figures recover belief in themselves and
their community. Each of these illustrates a transformation from
the Impact Character Problem of Disbelief to the Impact
Character Solution of Faith.
