firestarter

2009-04-26T05:04:00.000-07:00

Firestarter
By Nate DeSelms

Notes: When I originally wrote this, I planned for it to be a flash movie. If it is done through flash, an idea is have only subtitles for certain characters, but no spoken dialogue, as if they were in a video game (i.e. Final Fantasy)

Overview: A high school girl struggles with the meaning of her life. She hears of an activity that the "popular" kids do, "firstarting." She is taken with this word, and interprets firestarting as burning down buildings. After burning down a building, she feels free. Then she finds out firstarting is simply a term for smoking marijuana. Nonetheless, she still find appeal in her interpretation of firestarting.

Cast:
Sarah: protagonist
Craig: best friend of Sarah. Nerdy.
James: “popular” kid. Firestarts a lot (the normal kind).
Officer Jenkins: policeman. Authority figure.

Opening:
Music: theme song. Song I wrote that is in A minor. Slow part. Rising tension in music.
[Fire]
[Sarah’s face. Light is playing upon Sarah’s face from fire.]
[Fire again, “Firestarter” is shown.]

Scene I:
[Fire from opening is kept.]
[Sarah is facing fire]
Sarah: When I firestart I feel free. As the once proud structures of man are reduced to nothing, I feel I can release my spirit for at least a moment. What an inconvenient artist, the artist that creates art by destroying the art and lives of others.

Scene II:
[Life of protagonist is shown through scenes from an average day. At home in the morning, and then going to school, and then being at school.]
[Setting: Hallway]
Craig: hey Sarah.
[Sarah smiles]
Craig: how was that test?
Sarah: awful. I know I failed.
Craig: Yeah right. You’ve never failed a test in your life.
Sarah: Whatever. I don’t care.
Craig: you don’t care about it, but you do it every day and it’s… all you do?
Sarah: [pause] what else is there? In a place like this, you find a rut and you follow it. I have no definite meaning in life, so I find meaning in what is in front of me. This is just the beginning of the story [self-conscious look at screen] so my life is normal and boring-like, [camera angle changes so Sarah is now not looking at screen] and soon the exposition will happen in the plot [self-conscious look at screen] and change all that.
Craig: Stop breaking the fourth wall like that, it’s weird. I really hope I do well on that test, I studied all last period.
[Enter James and two cronies]
[James and Sarah’s eyes meet]
Craig: [sarcastic] oh look, James and his popular, popular friends.
Sarah: you always talk about him like that behind his back, but you still act nice to him when you talk to him.
[Craig rolls eyes]
[James walks up to locker]
Craig: hey James! Been firestarting lately?
James’s cronies: [singsong voice] firestarting
James: [pause] yeah man, always. Just this morning lit up a … [trails off as Sarah begins talking to audience]
Sarah: [monologue to audience while other character’s conversation is muted] what, oh what, could firestarting be? People say it in the hallways sometimes, but I have no idea what it means. I guess it’s something the “popular” kids do. See, I wouldn’t know because I am “unpopular” [chart of popularity ladder is shown]. Yup, right there. That’s me!
[Monologue ends and other characters are heard]
Craig: ha-ha man totally!
[Exit James and cronies]
Craig: [sigh] well I’ll see you later Sarah.
Sarah: peace it, popular dude.
[Craig makes small laugh]

Scene III:
[Sarah is walking home from school]
[Begins to daydream]
[Imagines James and cronies skateboarding]
James: this is totally what Firestarting is! Yeah!
Cronies: [singsong voices] firestarting
[Daydream dissolves]
[Sarah smiles]
[Another daydream forms]
[James is under covers in a bed having sex. A girl’s head pops out from sheets moaning]
[James comes out from under covers]
James: firestarting! This is what it is!
[Cronies come out from under covers]
Cronies: [singsong voices] firestarting
[Daydream dissolves]
Sarah: ha, maybe.
[Daydream forms]
[James’ hand lights match]
[Burning building shown]
James: this is firestarting.
Cronies: [more somber singing] firestarting
[Daydream dissolves. Sarah’s face is expressionless.]

Scene IV :
[Craig and Sarah are doing homework in Sarah’s room]
Craig: So three of the images of hell in Greek mythology are the hells of Tantalus, Sisyphus, and Prometheus.
[Sarah is looking away, not paying attention]
Craig: [continues, not aware Sarah isn’t listening] Tantalus’ hell was that he had to stand in water, and he was super thirsty. [Shows Craig standing in water] But whenever he bent over to take a drink [Craig bends over] the water level lowered so he couldn’t. And there were fruits hanging from a branch above his head. [Shows fruits above his head]. But whenever he tried to eat them [Craig tries to eat fruit], the fruit would rise out of his reach [happens to Craig].
Sarah: [Sarah is still not paying attention] firestarting.
Craig: Sisyphus's hell was that he had to constantly roll a boulder up a hill. [Shows Craig rolling a boulder] But when he got to the top, the boulder would just roll back down and he would have to start all over [boulder rolls back down].
[Sarah smiles]
[Daydreams Craig is doing homework]
Craig: [puts down pencil] Done.
[All the answer on his homework disappear]
Craig: aw man.
[Daydream dissipates]
[Sarah looks at books in front of her]
Sarah: this is meaningless.
Craig: Right, his existence is meaningless. So then there’s Prometheus. He got in trouble for giving fire to mortals or something.
Sarah: [looks up] fire?
Craig: didn’t go over well with Zeus. Prometheus got sent to hell for that. [Shows Sarah’s face. Then burning building] Prometheus’ hell was he got chained to a mountain [shows Sarah being chained to a mountain]. Then a vulture comes up and starts eating his liver. [Vulture starts eating Sarah’s liver] And when the vulture is almost done with the liver, the liver regrows! [Shows liver regrowing]
Vulture: [in singsong voice of cronies] firestarting

Scene V:
[Sarah is lying in bed]
[Burning building is shown]
[Sound of Sarah getting out of bed and empty bed is shown]
Sarah: I don’t know why I did what I did that night. I hadn’t even begun to consider it; the idea was just in my head. At the time I had no intention of doing it. But nonetheless I got them out. [Gets matches out of drawer] To light a fire one needs three things, oxygen, fuel, and heat. The oxygen was all around me. The fuel was the match. And the heat – well – that was me. That was my desire. My desire for meaning. I could stand hell, as long as it wasn’t meaningless. [Lights match]
Scene VI
[Sarah is at locker]
Craig: Sarah!
Sarah: Craig!
Craig: what’s happenin’?
Sarah: ain’t shit. [Slams locker]
Craig: are we still on for studying tonight?
[Sarah’s face is shown, then switches to previous daydream of homework undoing itself with Sarah doing homework]
Sarah: Uh no not tonight. I’ve got… doctor…
Craig: appointment?
Sarah: thing…
Craig: check up?
Sarah: huge growth…
Craig: Ointment application?
Sarah: the instructions are always vague you know…
Craig: medical terms?
Sarah: you always just use more than the dosage anyways…
Craig: an American dependency upon clinical happiness?
Sarah: probably a conspiracy…
Craig: Reaganomics?
Sarah: well later!
Craig: But the big chemistry test is tomorrow!
Sarah: [running down hallway] Gonna split like an atom!

Scene VII:
[Sarah is walking in run-down part of city]
[Stands in front of abandoned building]
[Is inside building. Sits in middle of floor. Looks around for a while.]
Policeman Jenkins: This doesn’t look like the sort of place a girl like you would belong.
[Policeman Jenkins is standing by the door]
Jenkins: Ever been somewhere unfamiliar and you can just tell you don’t belong? God I hate going to banquets with all the big wigs. Your drink is on the left and your bread is on the right. Or is the bread on the left?
Jenkins: But whether or not I eat the mayor’s bread, I have to go to those banquets. And you have to study for a chemistry test with Craig.
Sarah: But I have a doctor appointment.
Jenkins: The health corporations just act on America’s best interests you know. They provide care to all and keep the industry strong. And Reaganomics works.
Sarah: Been gettin’ that trickle down Jenkins?
Jenkins: the upper class tips my wife quite generously at her waitressing job.
[Sarah is expressionless]
Jenkins: We bought a Pilates machine off the TV. The extra income also helps with the expensive medications.
[Sarah is expressionless]
Jenkins: You’re young. But one day you’ll understand. The world isn’t made by dreamers. It’s made by workers. Youth is wasted on the young. Look at you, a bright future and you’re not satisfied. It’s never enough for you bleeding heart types. What are you thinking for? You should have you nose buried in the books. Do extracurricular activities. Wouldn’t it be nice to just stop worrying and follow your given path? Stop looking for other things. You’re where you are for a reason.
Sarah: I have this song stuck in my head. [Hums a small portion] All day it’s been playing over and over. I can feel it coloring every moment of my day. [Pauses then looks up at Jenkins] Have you ever noticed how much of an effect music has in a movie [music is playing in background]? This music is reflective. It shows something heavy is being discussed right now. [Shakes head to clear thoughts] Anyways, I could probably get this song out of my head. All I have to do is listen to or think about another song. And it’s not like this song is great, so I’ve considered it. But it’s so catchy that [music has changed to a catchy rock song] when I’m just humming it to myself it makes me feel good, even if people are looking at me funny for singing to myself.
Jenkins: My brother is always humming to himself. It’s annoying. A bad habit. Young girl like you should be getting rid of those bad habits. Kids of your age have responsibilities. You need to grow up and get jobs and live in our world.
[Sarah jumps up and sarcastically shakes Jenkins’s hand]
Sarah: Pop a Prozac for me Officer Jenkins!
[A firestarter “bump” is shown]

Scene VIII:
[The abandoned building is shown burning down, but played in reverse, so it starts with ashes and then starts burning, and finally is set on fire by Sarah. The scene keeps moving backwards to her lying in bed before performing the deed. She opens her eyes. The scene suddenly moves in fast forward to her going home and lying in bed afterwards. She opens her eyes again in a similar way but is covered in ashes and soot. Then she laughs.]

The Religon Room

2009-04-26T04:01:00.000-07:00

This is a short story I wrote about a month ago.

There are one million of them, and one of you. So what is a man to do? Some will say, ‘One on one, it is a fair fight.’ By that, the odds are against you. So what is a man to do? Choose a course of action, but do not think twice, because this is not a test.

There are men who choose to be religious. Regardless, a God (the representation of a God, the mind’s eye’s vision) is only a symbol; just as any person that one views is a symbol, just as any color that one views is a symbol, they all may be real - but you see only symbols, because what else can you see. To see or to talk to someone does not necessitate the existence of your friend, your brother, your lover. So then the God you pray to, it is not a God, it is a symbol. Some people pray to their symbol on their knees, just as I search for my symbol on these keys, as each key is stroked, there are then as many choices for my next key as there are keys on a keyboard. In this way, I create the possibility tree for what words and sentences I can express using this machine; and perhaps these possibility trees, these algorithms I see in my head, these are my Gods, they are the symbols I have searched for since I kneeled at the altar and begged forgiveness from a God for not believing in Him, as a priest chanted over my head and confirmed me in a way I felt hollow.

We each in turn, turned our backs to one another in the small room. I quickly looked over my shoulder, that fellow, to my left, he looked at me funny. There was a sense of unease as we all pulled from our pockets our various symbols and said a small perfunctory prayer to them. We were all so painfully aware of the others in the room saying their own foreign prayers, and though each prayer was different, they all were hasty, made hasty by us since no one could stand being in the room with the other. Because religion is like sex, in that everyone does it but no one feels comfortable performing it in front of others. They are the things that are said when eye contact is quickly broken, and those old nervous twitches come back involuntarily. Myself, I will tell you that my nervous twitch is a bouncing of the knees while I’m sitting, people who are close to me can notice it immediately (if of course, they are the sort of person who would care to notice such a thing). With our prayers done, we quickly put our things away so we could be relieved of our burden.
As each walked out the room, it was if a weight was lifted off our shoulders. I was glad when the fellow who was on my left engaged me in awkward small talk, and I quickly responded so that he would not be put off. He is from India, and was a manager in a small business firm. Now on the bus ride, we talk happily about the state of things across borders, and in outer space. I am happy, because nothing is more comfortable to me than talk of business. That small room where I must pull out and look upon my small symbol (that I carry in my pocket. Got it at a corner store for $7.99. God will take my life, but I’ll be damned if he’ll take my pocketbook) is torture to me. But a talk of business is a comfortable talk, and I can tell the Indian fellow is a bird of a feather, because as his demeanor was threatening and large in the religion room, here on the bus ride to the gateway he is a jolly mountain of a man filled with amusing anecdotes about the micro-computer industry and the lunar conferences. As the bus pulls into gateway station C, I tell him this is my stop, and he squeezes his large frame into the crowded aisle to let me pass. I tell him Good Luck on his presentation with a knowing tone to my voice, and he laughs at my tone and responds in the same.
Outside on the station platform, the air is hot, and a million times hotter to me, as the weather is to any foreigner. The gateway is in the distance, and for a second, I miss the religion room. I wonder if I would rather have met the Indian on the bus (as I did) or back there in the religion room (with the symbols well worn in each man’s hands to each man’s hands). I take the stairs down to the entrance, and these thoughts were pushed to the back of my mind. But I knew that even if the gateway took me farther away in distance than my mind can imagine, that thought would remain in the back of my mind, and would always haunt me.

Nate's Thoughts

firestarter

The Religon Room