THE FOUR HUMORS / RESERVOIR DOGS
Ever read a story or watch a movie and you just can't keep the characters straight? Worse yet, ever written a story full of characters your readers can't keep straight? Ever knew character definition was going to be a challenge and felt overwhelmed? Say you have a squad of super ninja assassins you want to feature in a short story. Just how do you cram that much characterization inside of 5,000 word count?
Well, thankfully, people have been telling stories for a long time, and thanks to them, we don't have to re-invent too many literary wheels. There are actually several models we can use to give our readers a quick (often subconscious) handle on personalities that distinguish our characters. There's the Power Trio, the Five Man Band, and the model we'll discuss here: The Four Humors.
The Four Humors is based on some Ancient Greek body-fluid-based proto-psychology. But instead of going deep into different colored phlegms and biles, we'll use a more modern example and then apply it to our movie for this week. Our model for the Four Humors? The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. This week's movie: another Quentin Tarantino joint, Reservoir Dogs.
If you're unfamiliar with the Four Humors, you might be wondering how Leonardo, Donatello, Michaelangelo and Raphael could have anything in common with Mr. White, Mr. Orange, Mr. Pink and Mr. Blonde. The first four are pizza loving crime fighting reptilian brothers. The latter are four professional criminals who have never meet each other before but have come together for one big job. Two completely different sets of characters right? The truth is, they're the same characters. First let's break down the Four Humors and apply the concept to our green ninja machine:
Leonardo - A task orientated extrovert, the leader
Michelangelo - A social orientated extrovert, the comic relief
Raphael - A social orientated introvert, the trouble maker
Donatello - A task orientated introvert, the technician
Now let's replace the names of Renaissance Painters with our criminal Crayola Crayons:
Mr. White, Harvey Keitel - A task orientated extrovert, the leader
Mr. Pink, Steve Buscemi - A social orientated extrovert, the comic relief
Mr. Blonde, Michael Madsen - A social orientated introvert, the trouble maker
Mr. Orange, Tim Roth - A task orientated introvert, the technician
From the start of the movie, Harvey Keitel's Mr. White is committed to caring for all the team members, sticking to the plan, and keeping faith in their boss. (In Reservoir Dogs, Splinter is an aging overweight mob boss.) He is the unofficial field leader everyone looks to for guidance. Everyone, except for Mr. Blonde.
Mr. Blonde, played by Michael Madsen, is a psychopath and a loner who takes orders from no one but himself. Still, his joy and misery come from the actions of others. And just like Raphael, he immediately knocks heads with Mr. White/Leonardo.
Next on the roster is Mr. Pink, our Michaelangelo of the group. He's loud and obnoxious, and although he's not a party dude, Steve Buscemi infuses the character with a raw sense of sarcastic humor. As our social extrovert, he's concerned with the whole crew, but not in the same way as Mr. White. His concern is a more personal concern. While Mr. White is concerned with the rest of the team's actions. Mr. Pink is concerned with their motivations. Mr. Pink wants to know who is the rat.
Which leaves us with Mr. Orange.
SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT!
Mr. Orange is a undercover cop. He is dedicated to his task, but must tell absolutely no one. We see him talking to himself, getting into character, working on his craft while no one is watching. Just like the technician Donatello who toils away at gadgets and gizmos while the other turtles break dance and skateboard, Mr. Orange is focused on his solitary mission while the others are joking about Madonna lyrics and arguing about tipping waitresses.
SPOILERS OVER.
Welcome back. Also, if you haven't watched Reservoir Dogs, stop what you're doing right now and pull up Netflix. This is one of my favorite movies ever made. The writing is great. The vibe is super cool. The acting is superb. It is brilliant in its stripped down simplicity. This movie is an excellent execution of a locked room scenario.
The contrast between these two character sets, the Ninja Turtles and the Resevoir Dogs, shows the diversity of this model. Those four character types are just a launch pad for a thousand different stories, each with compelling character interactions and unique applications. Check out this article for more details and examples of how the Four Humors are used in various movies, TV shows, comics and books.
These four characters are a short cut to our reader’s brains, giving them characters that are just familiar enough for them to get comfortable and ready to dig below the surface. And once you as a writer have these molds established, you can have even more fun as you start to break these molds. Want some homework? Take a look at Stephen King's novella and movie adaptation of the Four Humors in Stand by Me. The master of horror sends his Ninja Turtles on a journey to find a dead body along a set of train tracks, and along the way we see just how much these temperaments can be stretched.
Ever read a story or watch a movie and you just can't keep the characters straight? Worse yet, ever written a story full of characters your readers can't keep straight? Ever knew character definition was going to be a challenge and felt overwhelmed? Say you have a squad of super ninja assassins you want to feature in a short story. Just how do you cram that much characterization inside of 5,000 word count?
Well, thankfully, people have been telling stories for a long time, and thanks to them, we don't have to re-invent too many literary wheels. There are actually several models we can use to give our readers a quick (often subconscious) handle on personalities that distinguish our characters. There's the Power Trio, the Five Man Band, and the model we'll discuss here: The Four Humors.
The Four Humors is based on some Ancient Greek body-fluid-based proto-psychology. But instead of going deep into different colored phlegms and biles, we'll use a more modern example and then apply it to our movie for this week. Our model for the Four Humors? The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. This week's movie: another Quentin Tarantino joint, Reservoir Dogs.
If you're unfamiliar with the Four Humors, you might be wondering how Leonardo, Donatello, Michaelangelo and Raphael could have anything in common with Mr. White, Mr. Orange, Mr. Pink and Mr. Blonde. The first four are pizza loving crime fighting reptilian brothers. The latter are four professional criminals who have never meet each other before but have come together for one big job. Two completely different sets of characters right? The truth is, they're the same characters. First let's break down the Four Humors and apply the concept to our green ninja machine:
Leonardo - A task orientated extrovert, the leader
Michelangelo - A social orientated extrovert, the comic relief
Raphael - A social orientated introvert, the trouble maker
Donatello - A task orientated introvert, the technician
Now let's replace the names of Renaissance Painters with our criminal Crayola Crayons:
Mr. White, Harvey Keitel - A task orientated extrovert, the leader
Mr. Pink, Steve Buscemi - A social orientated extrovert, the comic relief
Mr. Blonde, Michael Madsen - A social orientated introvert, the trouble maker
Mr. Orange, Tim Roth - A task orientated introvert, the technician
From the start of the movie, Harvey Keitel's Mr. White is committed to caring for all the team members, sticking to the plan, and keeping faith in their boss. (In Reservoir Dogs, Splinter is an aging overweight mob boss.) He is the unofficial field leader everyone looks to for guidance. Everyone, except for Mr. Blonde.
Mr. Blonde, played by Michael Madsen, is a psychopath and a loner who takes orders from no one but himself. Still, his joy and misery come from the actions of others. And just like Raphael, he immediately knocks heads with Mr. White/Leonardo.
Next on the roster is Mr. Pink, our Michaelangelo of the group. He's loud and obnoxious, and although he's not a party dude, Steve Buscemi infuses the character with a raw sense of sarcastic humor. As our social extrovert, he's concerned with the whole crew, but not in the same way as Mr. White. His concern is a more personal concern. While Mr. White is concerned with the rest of the team's actions. Mr. Pink is concerned with their motivations. Mr. Pink wants to know who is the rat.
Which leaves us with Mr. Orange.
SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT!
Mr. Orange is a undercover cop. He is dedicated to his task, but must tell absolutely no one. We see him talking to himself, getting into character, working on his craft while no one is watching. Just like the technician Donatello who toils away at gadgets and gizmos while the other turtles break dance and skateboard, Mr. Orange is focused on his solitary mission while the others are joking about Madonna lyrics and arguing about tipping waitresses.
SPOILERS OVER.
Welcome back. Also, if you haven't watched Reservoir Dogs, stop what you're doing right now and pull up Netflix. This is one of my favorite movies ever made. The writing is great. The vibe is super cool. The acting is superb. It is brilliant in its stripped down simplicity. This movie is an excellent execution of a locked room scenario.
The contrast between these two character sets, the Ninja Turtles and the Resevoir Dogs, shows the diversity of this model. Those four character types are just a launch pad for a thousand different stories, each with compelling character interactions and unique applications. Check out this article for more details and examples of how the Four Humors are used in various movies, TV shows, comics and books.
These four characters are a short cut to our reader’s brains, giving them characters that are just familiar enough for them to get comfortable and ready to dig below the surface. And once you as a writer have these molds established, you can have even more fun as you start to break these molds. Want some homework? Take a look at Stephen King's novella and movie adaptation of the Four Humors in Stand by Me. The master of horror sends his Ninja Turtles on a journey to find a dead body along a set of train tracks, and along the way we see just how much these temperaments can be stretched.