Today I’d like to get specific about how the filmmakers of one of the greatest TV shows of peak television, FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS, created one of its most popular characters —by deliberately drawing on one of the most powerful archetypes of our civilization.
I started this discussion on using archetypes to create character a few weeks ago.
- Master List: The Mentor Character
Then I missed a couple of newsletters because I got sick on the way home from our family vacation. But— being flattened by this virus gave me an excuse to lie in bed and binge Friday Night Lights.
One of the many, many things this series does so well is create characters you care passionately about. And we writers can get a crash course in creating character by looking at how the filmmakers of Friday Night Lights developed one of its most popular characters —by basing him on one of the world’s most enduring archetypes:
The Jesus/Dionysus figure.
If you’re a Friday Night Lights fan, do you know who I’m talking about?
That would be Tim Riggins, the gorgeous, troubled heartbreaker.
I suspect we all had a Tim Riggins or two in high school. I know I did! The jock who’d “slept with half the girls in the county and their mothers and grandmothers, too.” That combination of Adonis body and little boy vulnerability was irresistible, and the real closer was that the Tim Rigginses of the world genuinely like women. They were the first one you’d go to for help if you were in trouble. The bad boy who consistently ends up doing the right thing—at least as far as other people are concerned.
This is such a recognizable character type that just using that would go a long way toward creating an iconic character. But with Tim Riggins the filmmakers throw in an extra, archetypal level. Tim Riggins is a Jesus figure, and the filmmakers consistently drive this home by using Jesus imagery in scenes and shots.
One of the most obvious ways is his look: Taylor Kitsch’s long, layered hair, framing high cheekbones straight out of a Michelangelo sculpture; and his dreaming, luminous eyes that seem to have seen all the pain of the world. From the very beginning of the show, Episode 1, the filmmakers establish a spiritual and prophetic side of Tim Riggins’ character as he sits in a circle of teammates and friends around a fire at night and quietly urges, “Let’s touch God.”
But the filmmakers are even more blatant than that. Tim Riggins’ team number is 33: known as the “Jesus number” (because supposedly Jesus died at age 33).
And in critical scenes and moments, where Tim is about to make a huge, noble sacrifice (which he does quite often!), the filmmakers make sure that number 33 is on prominent display, whether it’s on in the jersey that he’s wearing or a game photo, or a sign that a fan is holding up, or a keychain with the number 33 in his hand.
The filmmakers use other Christ imagery throughout the series, like a Last Supper scene at a full table shaped like a crucifix with Tim sitting silent and suffering while his screwup brother makes a Judas-like toast to the other guests.
Is this cynical manipulation? You could make a case for that, and really it comes down to personal taste. But bottom line: it WORKED. Millions of people fell head over heels for Tim Riggins.
And what you need to understand is that blatant archetypal imagery is a staple of Hollywood. What can seem over the top to us writers, whose job it is to spot these things, works mostly subconsciously on other people (our audience and readers). Those who do spot it are rewarded by the thrill of finding the show’s Easter Eggs: the hidden references and to story theme and development.
Easter Eggs are a critical concept for writers to understand, a HUGE factor in building a passionate audience or readership. And archetypes and symbols are a huge component of Easter Eggs.
I talk about two more classic examples of blatant use of archetypes in Hollywood blockbusters The Hunger Games and The Walking Dead in this video:
Understanding and using archetypes to create character is one of the most powerful tools you can develop in your writing.
I personally particularly respond to Greek and fairy tale archetypes. Carl Jung and other prominent Jungians like Marion Woodman did classic work on psychological archetypes, and mythologist Joseph Campbell’s Hero with a Thousand Faces is really the bible of archetypal analysis. Two of the most useful books I’ve ever read on character—and I mean ever, are Jungian psychologist Jean Shinoda Bolen’s books Goddesses in Everywoman and Gods in Everyman — both fascinating analyses of how the Greek gods and goddesses are still alive and well in our own personalities. Start reading and you’ll see instantly how applicable these books are to creating character.
There’s a fantastic discussion in Gods in Everyman of the archetype I mentioned earlier: Dionysus, the Greek god of music, wine, theater, festivals, religious ecstasy, and insanity. Dionysus is the Greek pantheon’s Jesus figure, the only Greek god that wasn’t a sexual predator, and who was irresistible to women at a rock star level, and there is a whole lot of his energy running through the Tim Riggins character.
While we’re on the subject of useful books to create character, I also recommend the book Shadow Syndromes, by John J. Ratey, which breaks down how personality disorders like schizophrenia, sadistic personality disorder, bipolar disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, and others can manifest in ordinary personalities in a more subtle form. And of course Myers-Briggs tests are always helpful in honing in on character; other writers swear by the Enneagram or that old standard, astrology.
And there’s a writer I follow here on Substack who consistently posts some great articles delving into specific archetypes: Alyssa Polizzi, in The Artemisian.
Whatever works for you, is gold! I’d love to hear what you’ve found helpful.
If you haven’t seen Friday Night Lights, I really urge you to try the pilot (and then just try not to click right through to Episode 2!). It’s NOT just about football. Tim Riggins aside, it is one of the most devastating pilots ever broadcast, and the whole series (despite a wildly miscalculated Season 2) is some of the best writing and groundbreaking camerawork/filmmaking ever put on TV. It’s bingeable because it makes us care so very much.
And if you want more discussion and examples of using archetypes to create character, let me know! I’m still recovering, but I should be back to full power in the next few weeks. Stay well!
- Alex
Related posts:
Why subscribe?
Screenwriting Tricks for Authors is a reader-supported publication. Please consider contributing to this work by becoming a free or paid subscriber!
Subscribe to the Screenwriting Tricks for Authors YouTube channel
for fifteen minute doses of craft to elevate your writing right now!
Likes, Comments and Shares are really helpful and much appreciated.
Get the workbooks:
Stealing Hollywood ebook, $3.99, also available as print workbook
Writing Love ebook, $2.99
Need more help? The Screenwriting Tricks for Authors workshop is available online, as a self-paced course with all the videos, assignments, movie breakdowns and personalized feedback you need to get that book written next year. In three parts, and you only pay for what you use.
One-on-one coaching also available in The Writers’ Room.
All material © Alexandra Sokoloff, Screenwriting Tricks for Authors