Fictional Characters and Working Out
Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice was a bad movie. It wasn’t awful, but it wasn’t good. I remember sitting in the theater watching the movie and thinking to myself: “This is really lame.” Then, to my shock, there was a training montage. Ben the jacked Bat-fleck starts throwing around iron. He is in a dark, wet and manly cave filled with chains, weights, racks, tires, dumbbells, ropes, and sledgehammers. This most likely throwaway scene was the best part of the whole entire movie. I’m not exaggerating when I say that this one scene upgraded the movie from something I would never watch again to a film I would re-watch just to see this one training sequence.
Ok, so what’s so cool about Batman working out? Is it because it shows how much of a brutish bore he is who thinks with his muscles and not his mind? No. It’s because in fiction super-powered characters need to train. In any story, sometimes seeing characters do normal stuff makes the audience feel that the characters are real. Watching characters eat, sleep, grocery shop, go to work, clean their house and even train are all activities that help ground fictional characters. Especially characters that exist in worlds or times totally unlike our own.
Now I’m not saying that a story should only consist of characters doing normal activities. That would be boring. A story without conflict is no story at all. But, fitting in little pieces of normality into a fictional character’s routine gives them more life and relatability. More meat for the audience to sink their teeth into and say: “Yep, that kinda tastes like a real person.”
Back to training. Having characters train in a super-powered setting is a must. Not only does this serve to ground the character in a form of realism but it also works towards the plot and character development. Take Dragon Ball Z for example. Whenever a new villain shows up the characters train like heck. This action of training progresses the plot in a logical direction. The model is as follows: Conflict: Strong Villain – Solution: Training – Result: Stronger Characters – Resolution: Stronger Characters battle Strong Villain. To the audience this pathway the story takes fits within a form of realism that grounds the characters while also making logical sense.
Additionally, training can serve as character development. Let’s use Avatar the Last Airbender for reference. In order for Aang to defeat Fire Lord Ozai, he must seek out teachers to help him master the four elements. However, he also needs to become connected with the Avatar State, a spiritual link between his past lives. Aang cannot accomplish the Avatar State training as he refuses to give up his love for Katara, his love interest. Here the story device of training is used to reveal Aang’s limitations and character motivations.
The final bonus of having training montages in storytelling is that seeing fictional characters’ workout inspires the audience to work out. And a healthier audience means that they will live longer to read or watch more of your creations.
