And today, here we are!
Now, I'll start by saying that I completely blanked the realistic elements on the inner demons of a character. We all have them, literally. Psychologically speaking, they exist, if you choose to believe in the profession of psychology or anything Sigmund Freud said. Freud explained that in our unconscious, an area of our mind completely inaccessible to us, we have three separate entities: id, ego, superego. Our id (not our ID), is essentially that inner demon I've been talking about, it's the desires that we try to repress. The cool used to repress this is our superego, the thing that keeps us from being completely barbaric and basically evil. And our ego is just the mediator, where the two meet up. Thus, the "devil" on our shoulder is our id while the "angel" on our shoulder is our superego.
You can say that I am taking a psychoanalytical approach to this topic and you would be absolutely right. But how else do you want me to examine the inner mind of a character? Using the author's biography? Do I look like a New Critic to you? (the answer is no, friends).
Given that the inner struggle that a character can have when facing a decision or desire is a realistic element to all human beings (you can't even deny it, so don't bother), it makes things more interesting to observe. Since I discussed how an inner demon works last time, I'll leave the character study out and focus more on the actual struggle, even a battle that ensues (not literally a battle, though sometimes there is a physical conflict that arises).
The resolution of this battle, is, of course, the new start for a character's journey, or sometimes just the end of it, since it can be the climax. Think of it like this: a story may revolve completely around the character's struggle with his or herself, so when it's over, the story is essentially over right? But if there are outside events going on simultaneously with this struggle, there is room for expansion since the inner conflict is over with the character, and now they must face an outer conflict.
An example of this occurs in Spider-Man 3, where Peter battles the symbiote in the church (talk about symbolism). Throughout the movie, he's been getting slowly addicted to this symbiote that is completely changing his personality.
For the worst.
When he comes to realize this after a horrid dance number, he struggles to rip the symbiote off of his body so it can end and he can revert back to his ways. There is clearly something more than him just ripping off an alien substance going on. He's battling with his inner demon in a visible way, something that rarely happens, because the conflict is usually inside the mind or soul (hence the inner conflict). When he does finally get it off and it takes over Eddie Brock (this is not a spoiler, it's Venom's backstory, duh), Peter is back to his ways but the story is not over. He has to fix his relationships he's broken and now fight Venom in the movie's climax. Peter's duel with the demon was not the climax, but it set it up.
Sometimes the inner demon can even take the form of another character that our protagonist has to face and overcome in order to prove he is more than just his id, that he is a hero. Two examples come to mind: the Huntress arc of Arrow season 1 and a scene in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Pt 2. Regarding Arrow, Ollie decides to take Helena Bertonelli under his wing because he sees in her a wildfire that can lead to massive damage in Starling City. But since he is not the best of teachers, Helena goes out of control with this new skill and we see Oliver struggling with her. But it's just Helena, what's the problem?
The problem is that, well first Ollie has stupid feelings for her, but that Oliver sees a part of himself in her. Both of them are killers, and no matter what Oliver may think, that fact does not change. So his struggle with her is not just with the Huntress, but with himself. He has to overcome this dark killer that the island morphed him into, otherwise what he is doing is not justice, but like Helena, becomes acts of vengeance.
In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Pt 2, Voldemort and Harry take a plunge off the Astronomy tower, and in their struggle, there is a quick shot where Voldemort and Harry's faces morph. Now, obviously, there has been a big hoopla about them being connected through a prophecy, but, we never really see them physically struggle with each other outside of magic. Their flight off the tower and slight morphing, and then climactic battle, is their way of eliminating each other from the other's systems. In Voldemort's eyes, Harry is his ultimate devil, he is what Voldemort cannot be. In Harry's eyes, Voldemort is the thing that killed his parents and will destroy the wizarding world. That, in turn, makes their conflict so even all the time, and is why they always come to a draw (besides the technicalities of the wands and what not). Willpower drove them to defeat each other, making the inner conflict external.
Of course there is the scene in Taxi Driver where Robert de Niro talks to himself in the mirror ("You talkin' to me?!"), which is obviously an external representation of this. But of course the ultimate struggle, that occurs internally and even externally, is that of Gollum/ Smeagel in The Lord of the Rings. No character that I have ever read struggles with himself as much as Gollum does.
He hates himself. He loves himself. He wants to kill himself. He relies on himself. There are two entities inside the character: Gollum, the part of River-folk person that the One Ring enveloped, and Smeagel, the part of the River-folk person that is still gasping for air. In The Fellowship of the Ring, this is not explored very much. But in The Two Towers is where Gollum cements himself. One moment is going to kill Frodo in Sam, then the next he is leading them to the Dead Marshes. He plots to kill Frodo and Sam. He ends up becoming the hero of the story. The struggle in Gollum is what makes Gollum one of, if not the most, interesting character in all of The Lord of the Rings.
A scene in the movie depicts this perfectly. Frodo and Sam are asleep and Gollum is standing off to the side. Then we see him talking to what looks like himself, and the way that they use the cameras makes it look like there are two of the same creature there, as if squatting in front of one another:
That's the same creature, making different expressions and using different emotions with every sentence he speaks. The conflict leaves Gollum's soul and reveals itself to the audience, becoming an external one. In The Return of the King, a similar thing happens. He is looking into a small pond, with Smeagel talking to the water and we see the reflection as Gollum, or the Ring, talking back. The two entities are using essentially the same body to express themselves, as if battling for a host to use, which in turn becomes Smeagel. The conversations are always about good and even: should "we" kill Frodo and Sam, or should "we" let them live and help them destroy The Precious?
Oftentimes, though not in the case of Gollum, the inner conflict resolves with the good guy winning. On Teen Wolf, we've yet to see how it will resolve with our character in a dilemma right now, but, hopefully things work out. On the other occassions I mentioned, you can probably guess how the outcome goes.
The big shock is usually when the id, the devil, the bad side, wins. Of course, you can point to the Star Wars prequel trilogy for an indication of that. If you know who Darth Vader really is, then you know what I'm talking about. Vader's conversion to the Dark Side is a sign of his id winning. He wants to save the ones he loves but in turn becomes the very thing he swore to destroy, breaking all vows of the Jedi. Though there no sign of outer conflict of it, we do see the man who is to become Vader struggling emotionally. He is sent to wait while a task force of Jedi go to kill a man he refuses to believe is guilty, and his inner turmoil is shown as he waits by a window, shedding a tear until he finally makes a compulsive decision based off of what he wants, not what is for the good of the galaxy. And then we have a tragic, sad scene, but karma does strike!
Don't join the Dark Side folks. They don't really have cookies.
The inner conflict of a character can often be more interesting than the story at hand, which is probably not a good thing since the overall story should get boosted by the conflict and not really rely on it. Like I said, the resolution of this conflict is not always the climax, thus the story should have a stronger climax than a character's resolution, since the climax is now set up by that resolution. Vader had a climax, and he chose to jump. Gollum had a climax, and he chose Shelob's Lair instead of the Black Gate. Every action has a reaction.
Most times, the villain never sees that reaction coming. That's what separates the good guys from the bad--they learn from their resolution. If not, they just become pawns in a machine they can never comprehend and just like any other cog, are subject to replacement when unnecessary. Unless that villain gets redemption (Return of the Jedi!), which is also a topic from another day.
So concludes the two part-er of "Inner Demons." I would like to talk about "Inner Angels" but that's just a good guy doing what he has to, isn't it?
See you next time!
Links to images:
Symbiote Peter: https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTjBCP3UDPHUJQRankPmVa2iWwhcPaDBGHKXZlY3C97Lqamx140
Gollum/ Smeagel: http://x4ashes4ashes.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/my-soul-to-take-bug-and-leah-8-gollum-talking-to-himself.jpg%3Fw%3D640
Vader's physical transformation: http://creatingcoherentworlds.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/screen-shot-2010-11-21-at-10-48-40.png
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