Updated: When an Eskimo grandmother is abandoned by her migrating family during a famine, she struggles to survive through a bitter winter until?the ?spring ?thaw.
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Updated: When an Eskimo grandmother is abandoned by her migrating family during a famine, she struggles to survive through a bitter winter until?the ?spring ?thaw.
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After being abandoned by her family, an Eskimo grandmother must survive the famine of a bitter winter until spring arrives.
The problem with this is the generic “survival only.” While I’m sure you can make a movie of her struggles, it really is only “surviving” unless you have a phenomenal series of hurdles for granny to overcome, what else does she really have to do? If she wasn’t intentionally abandoned and only lost, then I can see her survival to get back to her family as a great feel good goal.
Otherwise, how does this play out?
Does granny make it through the winter only to still have her family not want her? That’s not very fulfilling. What other big goal does she have to survive for? Is there anything we can include in the log?
>>>Does granny make it through the winter only to still have her family not want her? That?s not very fulfilling.
What other big goal does she have to survive for?
At her age, with her infirmities, fighting to survive through the winter — fighting for her life isn’t enough?? ?In her circumstances, what greater goal , greater stakes can she have? ?Can any human have?
She can hope her family will return and take her back. But that’s only a hope, not an objective goal. ?It’s beyond her control to make them come back for her.
(I can see an allegorical subtext to this story, how in our more advanced and “humane” societies, we abandon our elders, offload the burden of taking care of them to senior citizen warehouses where they wither away and die ignobly.
It’s not “very fulfilling” that we’re all going eventually die. ?At least she’s doing it with nobility and courage.
Good ending or not, the story should be compelling and unfortunately, this doesn’t sound compelling. I think the problem lies in the fact that there is no out of the ordinary event that happens to motivate her to take action. Eskimos traditionally abandon their elderly on sheets of floating ice to die alone, so to some degree, she knew this day was going to come. Perhaps if she were to be separated from the family unexpectedly (freak storm or a?large break in the ice) she would rightly be motivated to try and get back to them in order to help them. Even then she would still need to be made out to be the matriarch the family relies on for leadership, otherwise, her own survival alone is not enough of a motivation.
Well, I think it is compelling for the reasons I’ve already stated. ? But it’s?of no use to beat the drums on the same talking points.
However, there is one challenge I see with the subject matter and that is to whom to market the movie. ?What is the demographic, the target audience for the story? ?Not kids, not teens nor young adults either — and they constitute the bulk of movie viewers, the primary source of revenue for the business.
In the US market, the people who would most identify with this movie are, I’m guessing, the over 50 crowd. ?And there are tens of millions of them. They are retiring at the rate of 10,000 a day. ?A demographic trend that will play out for another dozen years. ? ?Despite their numbers, movie makers seem to have largely written them off because they don’t watch movies as much as they did in their youth and prime. ?They are a hard sell.
But not an impossible one. ?Case in point: “Amour”, the French 2012 film about an 80-year old couple struggling with the inevitable ravages of time. ?The film was a critical success and did okay at the box-office. ?Because it dealt with an issue and characters retirees can immediately and intensely identify with.
Done right and promoted right, I think there is a market for this movie.
fwiw