Copyright 2021 by Gary L. Pullman
A
movie poster tagline poses various questions related to
- WHO?
(personal identity, agent, or agency),
- WHAT? (identity or identities,
nature or natures, or origin or origins of an object or objects or an
abstraction or abstractions),
- WHEN? (time, endurance, or era),
- WHERE?
(location),
- HOW? (process, technique, or method);
- WHY? (cause,
motive, purpose, function, or use), and
- HOW MANY? or HOW MUCH?
(quantity of number or volume).
The
tagline for the 1988 movie Call Me is “Her
fantasies could be fatal.”
By
identifying the questions evoked by this tagline, which should be
considered in relation to the film's title, we can establish the
elements of the plot that create mystery, thus creating, maintaining,
and heightening suspense:
WHO is “she”? (personal identity)
WHAT are her “fantasies”? (fantasies)
WHY is she fantasizing? (motive)
HOW do her fantasies involve others? (process)
WHY do her fantasies involve others? (cause, motive,
purpose, function, or use)
WHO is the other or are the others whom she includes in
her fantasies?
WHY does she include this other or these others in her
fantasies?
WHY could her “fantasies be fatal”? (cause)
From
our investigation, we find that mysteries regarding who
the woman is, what
her fantasies are, why
she fantasizes, how
and why
her fantasies involve others, and why
her fantasies could be fatal fuel the suspense of the plot. Counting
our “whos” and “whats” and “whys” and “hows,” we see
that there is two “who” question, one “what” question, one
“how” question,” and four
“why” questions. Therefore, the plot's main source of suspense
will be related to questions of cause, motive, purpose, function, or
use (WHY?). Related to this primary source of will be the secondary
questions concerning the personal identities (WHO?); the nature or
natures, or origin or origins of an object or objects or an
abstraction or abstractions; and process[es], technique[s], or
method[s] regarding the way in which she includes another or others
in her fantasies (HOW?).
The tagline uses the nominative case of the third-person
personal pronoun to refer to the woman who fantasies, referring to the woman as “her.” This pronoun separates her from the viewer/reader, who
regards him- or herself as an “I” (if a subject) or a “me” (if
an object). The story is about her (and her fantasies); she is the
protagonist. Her callers are the story's antagonists. They may also
be her victims, since her “fantasies could be fatal.” Therefore,
she can be a predator, even a killer. Vicariously, as we read her
story (i. e., “call” her), we may become her victims as well.
WHY
we might call her (our motive) suggests information about us: WHO we
are and WHAT we want (and, therefore, WHAT we lack). “Call me” is
an invitation to listen to her fantasies, to participate in them,
vicariously, potentially as her victims. We have a motive for
desiring to do so. Perhaps we are lonely, feel unloved, are unhappy
either at being single or in our marriages. We lack something that we
believe, or hope, that we may obtain from this woman, from her
fantasies. According to the U. S. National Library of Medicine, “loneliness
can lead to various psychiatric disorders [such as] depression, alcohol abuse, child abuse, sleep problems, personality
disorders and Alzheimer’s disease. It also leads to various
physical disorders like diabetes, autoimmune disorders like
rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and cardiovascular diseases like coronary
heart disease, hypertension (HTN), obesity, physiological aging,
cancer, poor hearing and poor health. Left untended, loneliness can
have serious consequences for mental and physical health of people.”
As
the article explains, “Loneliness is caused not by being alone, but
by being without some definite needed relationship or set of
relationships.” This seems to be the lack, then, that those who
answer the woman's invitation to 'call” her experience. We have
learned much about the antagonists of the story, including their
possible physical as well as their mental health issues and their
causes. (The article also defines three types of loneliness that
could be of use to a writer writing about the situation reflected in
the Call Me
movie tagline: “situational loneliness,” “developmental
loneliness,” and “internal loneliness.”
The woman who fantasizes also wants something from us:
our ears, our attention, our indulgence of her fantasies. However,
she does not want us for long; we are disposable because she has,
potentially, many callers, many replacements for us. We are like
food, as it were, that sustains her, but nothing more. Therefore, we
are expendable. What counts is she and her fantasies, her needs and
desires.
Everything
seems to revolve around her and her desires and needs, which suggests
that she might be a narcissist, whose behavior, according to the Mayo
Clinic, is characterized by:
- an exaggerated
sense of self-importance
- a sense of
entitlement and require constant, excessive admiration
- [the expectation of
being] recognized as superior even without achievements that warrant
it
- exaggerate[d]
achievements and talents
- [a preoccupation]
with fantasies about success, power, brilliance, beauty or the
perfect mate [Now, we have an idea of the types of fantasies she
might have!]
- [the belief that]
they are superior and can only associate with equally special people
- [the tendency to]
monopolize conversations and belittle or look down on people they
perceive as inferior
- [the expectation of]
special favors and unquestioning compliance with their expectations
- [taking] advantage of
others to get what they want
- [having] an inability
or unwillingness to recognize the needs and feelings of others
- [being] envious of
others and believe others envy them
- [behaving] in an
arrogant or haughty manner, coming across as conceited, boastful and
pretentious
- [insisting] on having the best of everything—for
instance, the best car or office
What
is she like? Someone who is unable to form long-lasting, meaningful
relationships? Someone unconcerned about the welfare, or even the
lives, of others? Someone who is willing to kill others without
remorse or concern? A sociopath, perhaps? A killer, certainly, and a
survivor, of sorts, a survivor at all costs. She is amoral, it
appears, and is not bound by the mores, customs, conventions, or laws
of society. She seems either unconcerned about them or believes that
she is above them, a force of nature or a law unto herself, perhaps.
In addition, she is likely to be narcissistic, feel
herself to privileged and entitled, possess a sense of superiority,
and be arrogant, manipulative, dominant, and authoritarian.
What sort of fantasies might she have? Those that
provide what she wants, but lacks, even if her fantasies provide them
only momentarily. Company? Intimacy? Relief from loneliness, boredom,
or emptiness? A sense of belonging, for a moment, at least, or a
sense of being in control? She will also probably fantasize “about
success, power, brilliance, beauty or the perfect mate.”
Presumably, those who do not properly reinforce her concept of
herself or are in any other way less than “the perfect mate”
would be murdered, since the fact that her fantasies “could be
fatal” suggests that sometimes they are; other times, they are not.
Why does she sometimes kill, sometimes spare, those who answer her
call? It seems that her decision would depend on whether or how well
her callers respond to her fantasies, to her? On how well her callers
fulfill her needs.
It
seems that she could be a narcissistic sociopathic serial killer,
possibly with sadistic sexual tendencies. As the Mayo Clinic website
points out, “Antisocial personality disorder, sometimes called
sociopathy,
is a mental disorder in which a person consistently shows no regard
for right and wrong and ignores the rights and feelings of others.”
In addition, such persons “tend to antagonize, manipulate or treat
others harshly or with callous indifference. They show no guilt or
remorse for their behavior.” People who suffer from antisocial
personality disorder also “often violate the law, becoming
criminals. They may lie, behave violently or impulsively, and have
problems with drug and alcohol use. Because of these characteristics,
people with this disorder typically can't fulfill responsibilities
related to family, work or school.” Operating one's own erotic
telephone service might be an ideal career choice for someone who
displays such symptoms
as the Mayo Clinic website lists for the antisocial personality
disorder:
- Disregard for right
and wrong
- Persistent lying or deceit to exploit others
- Being callous, cynical and disrespectful of
others
- Using charm or wit to manipulate others for
personal gain or personal pleasure
- Arrogance, a sense of superiority and being
extremely opinionated
- Recurring problems with the law, including
criminal behavior
- Repeatedly violating the rights of others
through intimidation and dishonesty
- Impulsiveness or failure to plan ahead
- Hostility, significant irritability, agitation,
aggression or violence
- Lack of empathy for others and lack of remorse
about harming others
- Unnecessary risk-taking or dangerous behavior
with no regard for the safety of self or others
- Poor or abusive relationships
- Failure to consider the negative consequences of
behavior or learn from them
- Being consistently irresponsible and repeatedly
failing to fulfill work or financial obligations
So,
is the woman who fantasizes a narcissistic sociopath who entertains
dangerous, potentially fatal fantasies about others who accept her
invitation to “call me”? Does she operate an erotic telephone
service for lonely people who lack “a relationship or set of
relationships”? Could she be a sadist and her callers masochists
whom she lures into a sadomasochistic telephonic relationship? Does
fantasizing sometimes cross the line between fantasy and reality,
resulting in the deaths of her callers? Is the woman who fantasizes a
femme fatale?
Our search for answers to the questions the tagline provokes and our
research into the implications of the tagline certainly seems to open
such possibilities.
Checking
a synopsis of the movie's actual plot shows that the screenwriters
chose a different plot than the one we might envision from the
movie's tagline, but that doesn't mean our ideas of the protagonist's
character, the antagonists' characters, and the protagonist operating
her own erotic telephone service while she searches for her “perfect
mate,” according to her own needs and desires as a narcissistic
sociopath with a well-defined list or criteria is “wrong.” It is
simply an alternative plot—and perhaps a better one, at that.
Here
are a few more horror movie taglines that you can try, each of which
is capable of suggesting personality traits, if not mental disorders,
for a protagonist and one or more antagonists and a plot based on
those personality traits. Using horror movie taglines as a means of
developing characters' personality traits goes a long way toward
generating plot ideas as well.
Dawn
of the Dead: When there's no more room in Hell, the dead will
walk the Earth.
Paranormal
Activity: What happens when you
sleep?
Saw:
Every piece has a puzzle.
Texas
Chainsaw Massacre: Who will
survive, and what will be left of them?
The
Grudge: It never forgives. It
never forgets.
Wolf
Creek: How can you be found when
no one knows you're missing?