Blockbuster Advice:  Script Notes for a Better Life.  

Question: 

My brother is fifty-one, a barista and a hipster. However, he’s a bit of a slob, and– if you didn’t know him– you’d have a hard time figuring out whether he’s a hipster or homeless. It’s so bad that strangers will actually cross the street to avoid him. Personally, I think he’s kinda having a mid-life crisis and trying to alienate friends and family. Please, I need some words of wisdom to inspire him to clean up and get his act together. 

~ Rob

Answer: 

Rob,

Being over fifty-five, a klutz, and a bit of an expert at being rushed to the ER, I have a thing about always going out of the house looking your best. It’s that just-in-case insurance for untimely visits to the hospital. Call it a hunch and call the world unfair, but I bet ER doctors and nurses work harder for the well-kempt old guy screaming in pain rather than the bedraggled one. (Especially, if you’re on a gurney in one of those unsightly baggy blue robes that tie in the back.)

That said, the aging hipster is not an easy role to play. Once that big ol’ beard starts to turn gray and the hair begins to thin, the trendy barista can look pretty damn grizzled and old. And god forbid an accident happens. 

The clothes we wear, whether we’re trendy or not, are the first to announce to the world where we fit in. We dress ourselves, as some social psychologists say, to confirm the version of our present-day selves. It’s called congruency theory and it simply suggests we are trying with our outward appearance to advertise to ourselves and others the best version of who we are. The movies do it too, where the wardrobe department in cahoots with the director and star tries to make the ideal sartorial version of the character. 

In Hollywood films, they get Academy Awards for this work. It is a meticulous enterprise that begins with a script and continues into pre-production and shooting with endless discussions with the director, producers and stars. They in effect, build characters. Meryl Streep is quoted in a New York Times article about Academy Award-winning costume designer Ann Roth (whom she’s worked with many times and now plays the old “beautiful” woman on the bench in Barbie) saying, “You just remember the people she has clarified for you through what they chose to put on their bodies in the morning… Authenticity and specificity.” At the end of the day, it’s all about supporting the story and clarifying a look that is unambiguous and sells what the character and story are all about. 

In bad movies, wardrobe can derail things. The wrong decisions lead to confusion among the audience. I experienced this myself with a movie I made where we dressed the Warren Beatty-inspired lead in such fancy clothes that some in the audience thought he was gay. Not helpful, when the sex comedy you’re making is trying to make a point of untethered male hetero randiness! 

It happens in real life, too. It reminds me of the infamous film director in Hollywood who goes to screenings carrying his guitar and a soft briefcase overflowing with papers. His beard, wild shock of long gray hair, and well-worn black uniform of  “a creative” give off a wif of a guy who sleeps in his car. Of course, he doesn’t but to the untrained eye or someone who doesn’t know him… 

Bad movies and judgment aside, there are two possibilities here. First, it seems your brother is reflecting some story problems in how he dresses. There is an old adage in drama, character is action, which, in my mind, extends to the smaller details in our lives. For example, character also could be “how messy is your room is.” This is not earth-shattering news for Marie Kondo fans and the Art of Organizing but it does beg the question: If character is action and is reflected in how slobby you are, or the clothes you wear, then the story must change in order for change in the details, right? This all, of course, is assuming that looking homeless is such a terrible thing, which brings me to the other possibility: maybe he’s just a bad dresser. But, I think not. He’s a hipster!

My guess, given that he was an early hipster and gave dressing quite some thought, is that he’s quite good with wardrobe and that the sloppy outward presentation at the moment has something to do with his story. Taking what Meryl suggested with her comment about being dressed by Ann Roth, perhaps his look is trying to clarify or subtly announce a certain challenge or change in his situation. With that in mind, maybe the tact to take is to sit down and get to know your brother a bit better and work from the inside out. Try to see what’s going on inside rather than worrying about others making snap judgments about his outward appearance. For example, that director I mentioned who seems to be going home to his car? He is a famous director living in a huge house who once had a famous fight with a studio and lost. I’m not sure if he’s worked much since but with the way he dresses there is still some defiance lurking. It’s kinda inspiring. Rather than pretending all is good, he’s expressing, in my mind, that the good fight continues.  

Your brother’s story, I’m sure will be full of surprises and, hopefully, with some brotherly-producer advice, his wardrobe will either make sense or change with some new story ideas. Of course, if he’s just letting things slip, then just remind him: You always wanna look good over age fifty in case you end up in the hospital. You don’t want the ER doctor asking the nurse “Where’s the homeless guy’s chart?” Instead, you want her to answer, “You mean the hipster?”