Baymax: A True Representation of a Healthcare Worker

I think that Big Hero 6 is an underrated movie. There’s a lot of great stuff that went into it, and I think it got ignored, just because of how big Frozen was at that time.

While watching the commercials, I was almost positive I was going to hate Baymax. He was big, slow, and the parts that they had of him made me think he would be there as comic relief, but I didn’t think that I would like the kind of comedy he would provide.

After watching the movie, I have one thing to say. Baymax is the greatest representation of a healthcare worker. Tadashi made him to be a personal healthcare provider. He must have done his research, because he created exactly the kind of person most facilities want.

Baymax’s first question, whenever someone is in pain is: what’s your pain level on a scale of 1-10?

You have no idea how often I ask this question. One facility I worked in, we were required to ask every one of our patients that question every four hours. It was in our medication record, and we had to record their pain level every 4 hours. On a normal shift, I probably ask that question probably thirty to forty times. And if I’m not asking, I’m assessing for signs and symptoms of pain.

Grimacing, guarding, acting withdrawn, moaning, groaning… I’m programmed to notice anything that could indicate pain. When I have patients with Alzheimer’s, or who had stroke and can’t communicate, I keep an eye for any nonverbal signs so that I can control their pain.

In nursing school, we learn that pain is the 6^th vital sign. It’s so important that we should be assessing it whenever we walk into a patient’s room.

So hats off to Tadashi, for understanding how important pain is, and how often it needs to be assessed. 

Secondary Characters

This week, my husband and I decided to go see Maleficent.  I was interested to see how they would turn the fairy tale upside down.  As I’ve said before, I love retellings of fairy tales, and I’ve seen it done quite well.

As we watched, especially near the end, there was one thing that really bothered me.  It wasn’t anything major, or anything that really spoiled the movie, but it was one that’s kept me thinking for a while.  There was a character in the movie who had a lot of potential.  He was in almost every scene.  Yet he did absolutely nothing for the plot.  He was a fluff character who sat back and watched everything else happen.

I’m talking about the crow.  Okay, I know he played little part in the actual movie as well, but he had so much potential.  He was the one there as Maleficent was learning to like the ‘little beastie’ and he was the only one who was willing to talk back to her when he thought she’d done something wrong.  With just a little creativity, I think he could have been more than just a flat secondary character.

So what is the importance of secondary characters?  Are they there to support the main character?  Provide guidance?  Maybe even conflict.

As I look through the different WIPs that I’m working on, I’ve started to really look at those secondary characters and try to determine exactly what their purpose is.  I’ve come up with three things that I think are necessary for a secondary character to be round and to really draw the reader in.

1.  A secondary character must have a role in the story.

                I guess that should be pretty self-explanatory.  If there’s no reason for them to be there, then why are they there?  Except I know I’ve seen and read many stories where there are secondary characters who are only there for filler.  I’ve even created characters like that.  In The Orphans of Jadox, there are quite a few orphans running around.  Though they play a part, most didn’t have a role in the story, other than to show that there were children.  I ended up cutting five of them, and it didn’t even affect the story. 

                In Maleficent, the crow really didn’t have a role.  He was probably there just because there was a crow in the original movie.  If he had been deleted from the story, I think everything would have been exactly the same.  Honestly, she could have been speaking to herself with all the interaction that they had.

2. A secondary character must move the plot forward.

                Now this may sound similar to point number one, but here’s the difference.  You can have a character in the story, who has a role (father, boss, child, etc) but as much as they play a role, they don’t do anything for the plot.  It’s like taking the scenic route when you want to get to your destination. 

                I’ll give another example.  I had a character who was sold as a servant and ended up learning to sew.  The seamstress taught her everything she knew, and despite all odds, they became friends.  Then she was sold again, and she never saw the seamstress after that.  I had a beta call me out on that.  She told me that unless my character needed to use her sewing skills in the final conflict, the entire side plot didn’t do anything for the story.  Did she have a role?  Yes.  She taught my main character, they formed a friendship.  Yet, she did nothing for the story and plot itself.

3. A secondary character needs to have motivation of their own.

                I think this is the most important.  Everyone has some purpose for existing.  Even if the story is told from the main character’s point of view, that doesn’t mean that every character within the story doesn’t have their own agenda.

                I love bringing up Wreck it Ralph for that exact reason.  You’ve got the bad guy, Ralph, who wants to get a medal.  He’s the main character.  But all of the secondary characters have their own agendas too.  Finding the cybug.  Winning a race.  Saving his game.  Their paths intersect, and every interaction is propelled forward by each of their individual desires.  Having a secondary character there just to help the main character doesn’t help either of them.  Give them a reason to do what they do.

Anything else you’d add to the list?  What secondary characters do you love?

Fairy Tales and Childhood

Last week, my husband and I went to see Frozen.  I am a huge Disney fan, and when I saw the trailer, I was incredibly excited, especially when I found out that it was based off of the story of the Ice Queen.  I was curious to see how they would do it, especially since it didn’t look like they were following the main plot points as much as they usually did.

To say I was pleasantly surprised is an understatement.  I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I loved the small twists that gave a nod to Han Christen Anderson’s original.  I won’t mention them here, just to prevent spoilers. 

One of the things that I love to do, especially when I read/watch something that I really enjoy, is to go online and read others’ reviews on the topic.  Usually I don’t post my own, but I like to see both sides of the story.  And for some reason, I like to read the negative reviews, to see what sections were a bit less satisfying for others. 

What surprised me the most about these negative reviews were two things: One it was considered a ‘good effort,’ but nowhere up to par with the Disney classics like Lion King or Little Mermaid.  The other complaint was that the score was less than thrilling with ‘forgettable’ songs, except for one.  And if you’ve seen the movie, you know which one they’re talking about.

So I’ve been thinking about that quite a bit recently.  What made those Disney movies classics?  How is it that most of the new movies are considered subpar when compared to them?  Is it the animation?  Is it the music? 

As I was thinking about this, I talked to one of my sisters about it, and how much I enjoyed it.  I began mentioning that the story meant so much more to me because I loved the story of the Snow Queen, and I loved seeing it expanded in the way that it was.  She mentioned to me that maybe I enjoyed it so much because I knew the story.  I was already familiar with the characters – to a specific point.  That’s one of the things that Disney is most famous for.  They take classics that everyone has grown up with – Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and give it a new spin.

Why is there such a surge in fairy tales in the movies?  Yes, I’m sure it has something to do with copyrights, but I think it also has to do with the fact that fairy tales are almost universally a part of everyone’s childhood.  It touches them in ways that perhaps a new story won’t.  How many people read a classic from their childhood and immediately get a flood of nostalgia?  I think that’s one of the reasons that the Polar Express and Where the Wild Things Are became movies.  Not because they were that long or good of stories, but because they touched the viewers in a way that a new story might not have.

So when I see critics of Frozen, I wonder how many of them know the actual fairy tale.  It’s not as common as a story like Beauty and the Beast, or even Rapunzel.  I think Rapunzel received much higher praise, just because it was a well-known fairy tale with a unique twist.

Now, for the second question, I’d like to take this just a bit further.  The songs were heard by critics, aka adults.  How many of those adults, comparing the score to classics from the Lion King, were children when watching those classics?  I went back and compared the music.  I know that this is all very subjective, but I think that if the Lion King were to come out for the first time, it wouldn’t be as well received by our critics as it was back then.  Those songs aren’t just a representation of ‘good music,’ but they’re also a representation of our childhood – a time that seemed simpler, when things were happier.  So how could anything else compare? 

But when we look at these movies – for children – with the eyes of children, something surprising may occur.  This isn’t our childhood anymore, but it is theirs.  In ten year from now, I’m almost positive that songs from Frozen, Tangled, and all the movies coming out will be considered the ‘classics.’  While the songs that we grew up with will be considered ‘old.’  In fact, I’ve already seen that happen with some children that I’ve worked with recently.  

What do you think?