Relationships are hard enough to keep between two people—add in a third party and a whole lot of trouble comes around. What the first two people had changes to accommodate the new found friendship or love interest. Sometimes it works out for the best, and sometimes someone is left feeling more like a third wheel than a friend. But it is inevitable, relations are constantly changing in life—but these relationships are also played out in movies, television shows, and The Bookstore—a brilliantly written and performed play, where two best friends are tested when a quirky and confident girl makes her way into the picture.
Change can be hard to accept—the unknown can be scary and unpredictable. It’s understandable that there is hesitation when it comes to change, but unfortunately and inevitably, it is going to happen. It’s no wonder Grant, Vincent’s childhood best friend, becomes hostile and angry when Vincent starts to come out of his shell. The overall mood of their relationship drastically shifts from where it stared. Grant started out as a concerned friend who had reached his wits end at getting Vincent to open up more. “Vincent, you’re killing me! You stay up in your loft all weekend without even coming downstairs.” (1.1.1.) Grant’s frustration had reached its boiling point and without hesitation Grant continued to pound on Vincent for his lack of social skills—but it didn’t matter—Vincent enjoyed his own bubble.
But his bubble soon burst when the girl he had been keeping a close eye on, Lily, finally notices him. He became the guy Grant wanted him to be—more talkative and social—the problem was that he didn’t do it for Grant—but instead for Lily. The mood between Grant and Vincent becomes hostile and livid and shifts from the start and Grant becomes more agitated as Vincent pulls away more.
Big Fat Liar, starring Frankie Muniz and Amanda Bynes, faces a mood change between two characters due to a third party. Jason is a compulsive liar and his dad is none too thrilled with his son’s constant fibbing. His continually disappointment in his son seems to be the norm, but it reached its peak when his son told the biggest lie of all—a movie producer stole his story. Of course the biggest lie of all turned out to be true and suddenly his father was proud of him and impressed of the trouble he went through to prove his point. Without the help of the corrupted move producer, his own father never would have seen the talent his son had—or changed his opinion of him. It simply took one character to alter the dynamic of a father and son.
And although one character, Lily, altered the dynamic of Vincent and Grant—it wasn’t for the best. Grant’s inability to accept that Vincent has changed because of a girl, affects their relationship. Soon, Grant is faced with two conflicts—his own and outer conflict.
The outer conflict reaches its peak when Grant finds out Vincent had written a book but told Lily rather than him. The play starts to reach the climax when Grant confronts Lily, creating a heighten emotion throughout the play. But soon the outer conflict can only be resolved by Grant himself choosing to change.
Grant’s inner conflict revolves around the fact that he cannot come to terms with Vincent changing for a girl and leaving Grant behind. As an audience member we witness him struggle to accept that Vincent had found someone else to share his life with. Though Vincent talked to Lily—something Grant had pushed—it hadn’t turned out the way he had thought. His own jealousy begins to compromise his relationship with Vincent and isolate him from the rest of the group.
Inner conflict can start within yourself but starts to affect others around you, much like it did to Grant. In the series finale of Entourage—nothing short of predictable—Ari Gold, the agent of all agents to the stars finally quits his life consuming job to spend time with his wife. But he is faced with his own conflict when he receives a call for the biggest position in the entertainment industry—again a third relationship. Though he had left it all behind to be with his wife, his own desires to have fame, money, and power creep up once again and he is left with a choice—his family or a job.
Much like Ari Gold, Grant ultimately has to be the one to make the change. He can either stay angry, jealous, and bitter, or accept the fact that people grow and change. And although it took Grant time, he realized in the end that his friendship meant more to him with Lily in it—then without him at all.
No comments:
Post a Comment