At University I had a habit of using non gender-specific names in short scripts and seeing what conclusions people would automatically draw from the dialogue. In a scene about domestic violence the victim was seen as female and the aggressor as male, despite the piece containing no information about the characters except their names.
We were telling ghost stories at work today when the idea of context in dialogue came up. The following phone call has no additional prose except for a brief sentence setting up the scene at the beginning -
Sam walks out of the venue in the midst of a large crowd, heading for the train station. Just past the doors a phone rings and Sam pulls it out of a pocket.
‘Hello?’
‘Are you in the crowd?’
‘What? I can’t hear you very well.’
‘You’re in the crowd.’
‘Outside the stadium?’
‘What are you wearing? Did you leave through the main door? I can see you.’
‘What? Where?’
‘You’re wearing a blue jacket, by the service gate.’
‘Where are you?’
‘I’m coming towards you.’
Now perhaps if I hadn’t just mentioned ghost stories you’d fill in the blanks of that conversation a little differently. But by adding a few sentences it came easily become a friendly conversation -
Sam walks out of the venue in the midst of a large crowd, heading for the train station and looking around for Alex. Just past the doors a phone rings and Sam pulls it out of a pocket.
‘Hello?’
‘Are you in the crowd?’
‘What?’ Sam covers one ear, trying to block out the noise of the surrounding people. ‘I can’t hear you very well.’
‘You’re in the crowd,’ Alex shouts, speaking slowly.
Sam nods. ‘Outside the stadium?’
Sam strains to see above the surrounding people, looking for Alex.
‘I can see you,’ Alex says excitedly, waving enthusiastically, but the crowd is too thick for Sam to notice.
‘What?’ Sam says, turning in a complete circle to try and find Alex and almost getting knocked over.
‘Where?’
‘You’re wearing a blue jacket, by the service gate.’
Sam looks to the left where a large service gate is bolted shut.
‘Where are you?’
‘I’m coming towards you.’
Sam continues to be pushed forwards by the crowd, jumping every couple of steps to try and find Alex and before long, the mass of moving people brings them together. Sam grabs onto Alex’s sleeve so they don’t get separated again and they carry on towards the station.
But if we filled the gaps with something else, the same conversation can take on a completely different meaning -
Sam walks out of the venue in the midst of a large crowd, just past the doors a phone rings and Sam pulls it out of a pocket.
‘Hello?’ Sam asks, the number of the call was withheld.
‘Are you in the crowd?’ Says an unfamiliar voice.
‘What?’ Sam covers one ear, trying to block out the noise of the surrounding people. ‘I can’t hear you very well.’
‘You’re in the crowd.’
Sam looks around at the surrounding sea of strangers and sees no one familiar.
‘Outside the stadium?’ Sam asks uncertainly, scanning the mass of people for someone who is talking on a phone, but everyone is packed together too densely to see very far.
‘What are you wearing? Did you leave through the main door?’ Sam looks back to the main gate, which the steadily moving crowd is trudging away from. ‘I can see you.’
‘What?’ Sam says, frantically turning in a complete circle and almost getting knocked over. ‘Where?’
‘You’re wearing a blue jacket, by the service gate.’
Sam stops despite the complaints of the nearest people, and looks to the left where a large service gate is bolted shut.
‘Where are you?’ Sam whispers, gripping the phone so tightly that it is almost painful.
‘I’m coming towards you.’
The blood drains from Sam’s face but the crowd continues to surge forwards and Sam is pushed along with it, stumbling on to where Alex is waiting.
Now I know that this scene isn’t amazing, refusing to specify whether or not Sam is male or female makes everything a little clunky. But if their gender was mentioned, the conversation would, again, take on a new meaning. Sam being a girl makes the last example more sinister, especially if Alex is a man. But then Alex being a girl would also bring a new shade to the story.
I was completely fascinated with this for a while, seeing how many people drew the same conclusions from very little information. So, how do you like to do things? Lots of details or hardly any? Do you like to leave room for interpretation or do you think that takes away from the story?
