The Problem with “She Is”

I’m a dabbler. Always have been. I’d say I’ve always been acutely aware, but never truly embraced it till now. Towards the end of 2020, partly due to the pandemic and the global feeling of stagnation, I went through some sort of existential crisis where I began to question my purpose in life. I knew I wanted to do something creative, and be renowned for it. I also knew I wanted it to be in film. No philosophical reasons, I just love movies; I love the dialogue, I love the plot, I love the characters, I love the cinematography, everything! I used to work in distribution, which was my first real taste of working in the film industry. Then I moved to Canada and haven’t worked in film for 2 years (not for lack of trying). That period comprises a slow descent into constantly wondering if I’d ever work in film again, doubting my talent or my “right to be in the room”, until finally, I emerged on the opposite bank, thankfully feeling energized and ready to put in some long overdue work. I changed my Twitter bio from “Box Office Analyst” among a plethora of film-related titles to simply “Professional Dabbler”, and started doing just that — dabbling. And I am loving it!

Right now, I’m in love with the idea of screenwriting, and have written one short (the goal is 6 this year) and I’m in the process of writing one feature. On the side, I’m writing pieces like this one, where I share my (non-authoritative but hopefully insightful) thoughts on something film-related. In the course of studying the craft of screenwriting, I’ve come across a lot of helpful resources, particularly for people at my level (fledgling writer). What I mean by this is I have (I believe) some raw talent, but a mountain of learning and unlearning to do. Suffice to say, I’m perfectly happy with giving this journey the next 15 years of my life. How I’ll feel in the next 5, who knows?

Today, I want to talk about the film, She Is, a 2019 Nollywood dramedy currently on Netflix, and I’d like to examine what about this film doesn’t quite work. This is not a holistic attack on the film, as I quite enjoyed it, and happen to have a soft spot for Somkele Idhalama, who starred as the film’s protagonist. In the film, Frances, a nearly-40, mentally-overdue-for-marriage spinster with a penchant for the Lord Jesus Christ, finds out she has to have her uterus removed within 12 months due to fibroid growth. Faced with the prospect of lifelong childlessness, Frances’ desire to be married is intensified and she sets out to find Mr. Right. I find this premise very fresh and on paper (figuratively — I didn’t; read the script), and the story has some of the right ingredients — an empathetic protagonist with a strong world view and desire, as well as several obstacles and levels of potential conflict. What this story is largely missing, in my opinion, is causality.

Among other things, causality is the lifeblood of any good archplot. In an archplot, typically the protagonist, in pursuit of a goal, goes on a journey brought about either by their own hand or someone else’s only to return changed. Since change is the end result of the archplot, it follows that this change must be “wrought” or “brought about” somehow. It is the steps toward this change that make an archplot compelling. Good examples are Finding Nemo, The Lord of the Rings, Schindler’s List, and The Matrix. While this is not a hard and fast rule, as many protagonists do not change completely in their journey (e.g. Marty in Back to The Future), for the fledgling writer, I think it is important to master the elementary cycle of archplot before attempting to depart from it. Put simply, it requires skill and that skill can only be acquired by first mastering the basics of the hero’s journey. I, myself, have decided to devote the first 5 years of my current journey to understanding and mastering archplot.

Back to causality. For an archplot to work well, the writer should look to develop a story where each scene, beginning with the opening, gives rise to a subsequent scene somehow, and the plot continues to build to a climax. The key is to have a rich story with unexpected but inevitable events. A break in this causality chain can be jarring to the audience, unless that departure is either tied back to the primary plot, or runs alongside it as a “B-story”.

The main problem with She Is is that while Frances exhibits some of the basic traits of a good protagonist — a core world view (her Christianity), and experiences an inciting incident which sends her on a journey (her fibroids), on the basis of the inciting incident and armed with the world view, she finds herself in pursuit of a goal (marriage and motherhood) with the added element of a time limit for stakes (12 months), many of the film’s scenes do not follow the principle of causality. In many cases, the subsequent scene seems to intercept the scene prior, disrupting the flow of the story. Here’s an example. When Frances is called to her pastor’s office and he asks her to hel him plan his wedding, it’s a shock for her. But why? While we are given every indication that Frances has the hots for Pastor Jude, there is not even the slightest hint of reciprocity. Her expectations are completely unrealistic, and while some of us might find this relatable and funny, for the purpose of the story, it doesn’t tie in well.

Another example. When Frances is first propositioned by Chief Okala (played by Chiwetel Agu), he proposes to marry her because he needs a first lady for his political aspirations. This proposal isn’t built on the scene before it, or any scene prior really. In the preceding scene, Frances suffers a mix-up between a messenger sent by a client, and a suitor sent by her father. We don’t know about Chief’s political aspirations beforehand and there is nothing to indicate what made him propose. Of course, we know that Frances’ father has taken to setting her up, but because Chief Okala’s arrival wasn’t set up in the preceding scenes, it feels a little out of left. It might be funny, but it just doesn’t fit.

Third example. Later on, Chief Okala comes back adorned in an Anglican Church knight’s uniform, in a bid to impress Frances. But she never indicated that the reason she wouldn’t consider his proposal was her Christian beliefs. So why would he believe that this would change her mind? Sure, the audience knows her beliefs and how strong they are, but unless Chief has gone back and spoken to Frances’ father, who has clued him in (very logical conclusions by the way), this scene bears no causality. It hasn’t been wrought by anything. It also doesn’t necessarily give rise to anything. When Frances leaves this scene to go for “a meeting”, she arrives in the next scene only to bump into an old friend, Jessica, whom she hasn’t seen in years. Again, there’s no setup for this. The friend has simply conveniently materialized out of nowhere, and whatever Frances’ reason for coming to that site, when her friend suggests they go hang out to catch up, the “meeting” — her very reason for coming to this location — disappears.

To illustrate why this kind of storytelling can be problematic, and suggest perhaps a better way of tackling it, I’d like to compare She Is with a film bearing a similar plot, The Bachelor. The premise of The Bachelor is that the protagonist, Jimmy (played by Chris O’Donnell), has a limited time within which to achieve a goal (find a wife) in order to preserve his right to a large inheritance. Unlike Frances, who technically has her goal from the start, the inciting incident in The Bachelor has disrupted Jimmy’s way of life and introduced his goal, adding urgency to boot. From the opening image of wild mustangs running free, we are clued into our protagonist’s world view and his initial goal — to run forever free and bask in his “maleness”. The scene I’d like to draw attention to comes around 6 minutes in, when the first of Jimmy’s co-bachelor friends is “snagged” after his girlfriend catches the bouquet at a wedding. At the snagged friend’s wedding, another one of the group is fallen when his girlfriend catches the bouquet, and on and on it goes. Causality! This is an epitomic example of it. Throughout The Bachelor, each of Jimmy’s actions in pursuing his goal, gives rise to the subsequent scenes, and steadily build to a climax involving the city’s population of potential brides chasing him down the street! It makes for excellent storytelling. You can check out both films yourself and draw your own comparisons, but I’m confident that whichever of these you enjoy more, you’ll agree that from a pure storytelling perspective, The Bachelor suffers from superior storytelling.

This post could be a whole lot longer, and a whole lot more boring, so I’ll stop here. I hope you find this insightful and will watch these and many other films as you go on your own storytelling journey. Please send me an email [d.layonu@gmail.com] or leave a comment below if you disagree as well. I’m here to learn and would be thrilled to get your contributions on these insights.

I’ve been studying the West African box office & generating insights from film performance for almost 5 years. I also write on developments & lessons to be drawn from films and global box office news. Follow me on Twitter [@snagapus] if you love film, books, & a good laugh.