BSA 204 W16 : Burt has a Bone Disease

So on Matthew's set the other day there was these two lines:

Jean: "I'd just sleep on the dirt"
Me: "Wouldn't that hurt?"

As a joke Jean finished the scene with the line:

Jean: "It might for Burt"

After this I turn to the camera and whilst doing a gang sign enthusiastically say "Burt's got a bone disease".

So the phrase was bouncing around in the hollow cavern that is my skull today and I wondered what a film called "Burt has a Bone Disease" would be like and after some rumination settled on this logline:

A man is diagnosed with a bone disease, his story is told without him ever being scene, rather by the conversations in which he's mentioned by the people most peripheral in his life.

So many notes I want to make here, its so hard to write them quick enough:

- Like all those disability dramas but told in a comedic way by people who are less seriously affected by it, it's a spin on an existing type of movie that brings forth all new themes of how even the most seemingly unimportant people in our lives can have an affect on the way we live them.

- The characters treat it lightheartedly and joke about it (almost like how we joked a lot about Marcus' shingles) but there is an ever present under current of how serious the situation really is.

- Burt goes through different phases, from a limp to crutches to finally being chair bound.

- Each character has an arc where they change something in their own lives that is somehow informed by consequences leading on from Burt's diagnoses and worsening condition.

- "Did you hear that Burt has a Bone Disease" can be the first line, the movie is made up of conversations had by the main group of characters (most likely three of them).

- Burt himself is never seen, just hints and the remnants of his presence.

- Explores themes of the morality of dark humour, gossip culture and mortality. The three characters' arcs can each be tied to one of these themes.

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1) Dark Humour / Dolf

He follows suit when others start joking about Burt's bone disease, he gets in trouble with the school when he makes a post on facebook joking about Burt (who even likes his comment). Has a meeting with the head tutor and gets a chance to apologize. He is outraged by the accusations, believing himself innocent and comedy to be an exception, but he is generally too weak to stand up for himself. In the film he learns not to overcome his low status but to use it to his own advantage.

2) Gossip Culture / Guss

Don't know, I had some idea about this from my KFC experiences.

3) Mortality / Mortin

A character who learns that to take control of the time he has left on Earth.

Actually fuck all that, I'll just adapt the first one, feels like that fits everything and also closest to my real life experiences.

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Beats:

The three friends talk over lunch and one mentions that Burt has a Bone Disease, they immediately make it into a joke.

A group of friends gather before a presentation/critique that they have to deliver to the class - one is revealed to have just gone through a breakup, they avoid this sensitive topic and make fun of his haircut.

In the presentation one girl gets bad critique and has a panic attack, the main character has to go up and give his, but he is very much not confident in it and kind of crashes and burns.

They browse facebook and find a post about Burt and the main character leaves an insensitive comment, all laugh when he likes it.

He gets a letter the next day about his racial slur and offensive behaviour.

He complains to friends about the unfairness of the situation and they say he has to stand up for himself.

Gossip spreads and people look at him differently, as he goes home he sees Burt in an art class.

HOF tells him what he did wrong and how to fix it.

His friends again tell him he should be strong and just do whatever the fuck he wants, tell them how it really is.

He sees a piece of art that Burt made, the first since his diagnoses and it looks like a child's but there is a certain undeniable beauty, the caption says that Burt has learned to accept his new flaws as part of his style.

So instead the protagonist delivers a heartfelt and victimized speech in which he convinces them to retract their complaints. (accepting his identity as the lower status person in any given room, he doesn't stand up for himself, but solves his problem using what he has always seen as a weakness).

It's a regressive character arc, where the character learns to accept his faults.