Poetry in Motion

(Another summer re-run from the old Yahell blog....)

A very pleasant comment on a very old blog entry set me thinking the other day. The comment was all about struggling as "poetry in motion." How true! And like poetry, struggling comes in its high forms and doggerel, rhymed and free verse versions.

When I look at DiD scenes on TV or clips, it occurs to me that some girls just know how to struggle better than others. It has always been difficult for me to define what makes some struggling "good" and for a long time I just thought there was something ineffable about a damsel who could. Part of the reason was that there were so many different types of heroines, and personality-appropriate struggling meant there were countless variations of sexiness in struggling.

Take Yvonne Craig as Batgirl -- talk about an actress who made that pattern cutter scene work! She isn't even really tied up under those belts - but Yvonne made it utterly believable! And yet her manner of struggling is very different from, say, Jane Seymour in Memories of Midnight -- a mch more traditional damsel in distress. But both struggles are epic, making a potentially ho-hum scene a classic.

Bad struggling can wreck even a great set-up. It's a little like dancing - if you just "learn the steps" by rote, it can be technically good but still look tedious. You have to give something of your personality - you have to commit to it -- to make a great struggle. But, like dancing, it's not a matter of "just go out and do it." There are elements that good and bad struggling have in common.

So here, in a somewhat rude fashion, is my "do and don't list" as a primer on good struggling form. Sorry for making it look like a demand --it's just the easiest way to make my point. I don't even know why I am making it - it's not like I'll be directing a DiD movie any time soon.... But if I were, here would be some of my ideas for a DiD actress:

DO

Do change facial expressions. We want to see a range of emotions from defiance, to frustration, to anxiety to terror.Just presenting one face means you haven't embraced the role of DiD - you're just going through the motions.

Do moan. It shouldn't be too loud or constant, but an occasional whimper of exhaustion as you are defeated by your tight bonds is a nice touch.

Do vary your struggles. Try to wriggle out of the wrist ropes, then try your ankles, then try rocking your body.

Do act with your eyes. Don't be self-consciously "wide eyed" because it will come across as fake. Just think of the set-up peril, look at it, and believe yourself to be in great danger. You'll look convincing.

Do slump in despair from time to time. We have to believe you're trying, and failing, to escape. It should be tiring.

DON'T

Don't move rhythmically. There is no way that anyone really desperate to escape her bonds would twist left and right, move her feet up and down, in anything in a regular pattern for long. Staccato =frustrated and afraid. The only exception of course is a girl who has found a sharp object to slowly cut her wrist bonds. Rhythmic sawing, especially slowly done, can heighten suspense: will the villain return to catch her escape attempt? (Hint: yes.)

Don't self-consciously try to show off your "best attributes." Nothing reeks of lack of credibility than lifting your feet to show off your bound legs - even if they look nice. A damsel first and foremost shold be thinking of her own predicament, not how she looks in fromt of the camera (or spectator). Of course, the obvious exception is a girl who has been captured but not yet placed in peril, trying to persuade the villain to let her go by twisting ever so slightly in her bonds to emphasize her good points. But the exception proves the rule -- what makes this acceptable is that the heroine is thinking of escape.

Don't scream nonstop into your gag. It gets annoying. You can scream as your doom lurches closer, or when you're extra frustrated. But constant yowling into your gag will come across as "something you're supposed to do" as opposed to a genuine reaction. Don't feel the need to cry unless you really feel like it. If you try to fake it, it will look fake.

Again -- JMHO YMMV