Every main character should have a history, philosophy, and/or metaphor. It's an image or phrase that serves as the character's moral code. It is a verbalization or physical representation of their internal monologue. "Life is like a box of chocolates." Is it reductive to say that Forrest Gump can be summarized by that, or Bubba Gump is defined by his obsessive lists on how to cook shrimp? Yes. But is it also helpful for an audience shuffling through dozens of characters? Yes!
So what is a good HPM? Any internal monologue you externalize that points toward the story's overall thematic question. For instance, in ABBOTT ELEMENTARY, the thematic question of the workplace comedy is "Can you maintain your principles in a dysfunctional and unprincipled school system?" Each character would answer 'yes and' in their own way to this question. The janitor, the veteran teachers, the young idealist. Even the cynical and corrupt principal is funny b/c she doesn't think she's corrupt...she thinks she is moral in her own way. If you asked each character to raise $100 for the school, they would do so in their own way, according to their moral beliefs and HPM.
In DEATH OF A SALESMAN, one of the thematic questions is 'how do you become a success in America?" There is no single method to get there, but everyone seems to agree that one sign you have become a success is being well-liked by peers and family. So Arthur Miller takes a job that is 100% dependent upon being well-liked: a salesman. Then he flips the question by showing us a very unsuccessful salesman who is putting on a facade of success for his friends and family. Each character has an HPM. Willy Loman's HPM is the grand funeral procession of a legendary salesman... people came from miles around to pay their respects. And it's fitting because Willy is thinking about committing suicide as his body is failing him. He rationalizes it will be for the insurance money but really it's also for that funeral procession as moral vindication. For Linda Loman, it is the house payments...they've almost paid off the house, and then it's all ours. For the two sons, it's 'getting away with stealing and cutting corners' and then 'having sex with as many women as possible." Happy thinks life is about 'being loved', but he's a serial cheater, so he can't settle down and get married. Biff was the big man on campus in high school, but he realized his father was a hypocrite. So Biff starts cheating and stealing in response to feeling betrayed by his father cheating on his mom, and now he can't stop. It becomes a tragedy b/c each character is operating on their own HPM that circles around the same thematic questions, and they are either growing out of it or tragically returning to it. Happy promises to get married, but we know he's going to continue cheating even if he does. Biff promises to stay and help out, which is counter to his nature to escape and be free on a farm. Linda Loman thinks everything will be all right once the house is paid off and her husband stops traveling. Willy Loman is going through dementia/insanity b/c he can't keep up the facade of a successful salesman with bills piling up, and he's borrowing money from his neighbor to cover the costs. By the end, the only character who gets their HPM is Linda Loman: the house is paid off because of the life insurance money. And her husband is no longer traveling...b/c he's dead. In some ways, her HPM seems like the surprise twist b/c it winds up being the ending point of the story, and therefore some people have asked: have we been viewing this memory play through her HPM this whole time? Willy didn't get the big funeral; Biff is going to stray; Happy is going to continue sleeping around. But Linda Loman is the rock, the foundation, and the ending POV.
In BECKY SHAW, the thematic question is 'how do you love someone when you're damaged?" And we see all sorts of damaged people on a continuum from physical illness to corruption, to emotionally manipulative, to a rage-filled, money-obsessed man. But the titular character doesn't appear until the end of Act One. So why is the play called "Becky Shaw" when Suzanne and Max seem to be the main characters? Well, simple: Becky Shaw's HPM is the straw that stirs the drink. Her character comes in and shakes everyone up, and it becomes her HPM that overwhelms the others. Her damaged persona infects everyone else and the entire world of the play, which is another important point...
HPM should be act-able. It's one thing for Forrest Gump to say Life is like a box of chocolates.' But it has to be put into action. And that is tough b/c Forrest Gump is a passive character. He wants to love his momma and Jenny. But Jenny and his momma only appear in small parts of his life, and most of his adventures aren't about them. The assortment of adventures in his life is like a different kind of chocolate. Each adventure is attached to a specific colorful character who is the 'sample chocolate' Forrest Gump is tasting...that is his action. He is tasting by observing, fitting in, showing love and fidelity to the main person in that particular section of his life. By the end of Odyssey, we have the titular character, who has gone on a series of adventures around love and fidelity that are in the box. The only theme is to 'take life for what it is, sample, learn, move on, and love.' And Forrest becomes rich and successful. Without that HPM, the movie doesn't work. It's just a bunch of random things that happen to a kind, innocent fool. But with that HPM, the audience wants to be Forrest Gump. It wants to sample the next chocolate without having some grand ambition of 'success' like in DEATH OF A SALESMAN. The thematic question is 'how do you go through a chaotic life when you're underestimated?' You let life guide you and live in the moment. And maybe you'll see Jenny again...maybe you won't. But the important part is to spread that love to others.
Once you know have a general idea of what a character's HPM is...fill up their toy box. You're only going to use the top 1%, but it's important to have the rest of the iceberg beneath it, so come up with as many histories, philosophies, phrases, and metaphors around their principles as possible. And then put the character under pressure. Give them stakes, a ticking clock, a bus to catch, and watch the HPM's spill out as they try to accomplish their goals. Furthermore, watch them use their HPMs in act-able ways. And finally decide if the character is going to outgrow their HPM, leave, triumphantly return to it, or ironically return to the place they left.
A character's HPM in action is either going to save them or kill them. But either way, it should feel both surprising and inevitable. A character's HPM answers the story's overarching thematic question. It doesn't have to be a definitive answer, but we should feel like we have ended up in a different place by the end because of the long hand of fate moving across the chessboard. And this fateful movement is embodied in their character's action because the writer has set it up at the beginning of the story.
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