Micro-Obstacles VS Flow in Narrative
Analysis of a technique
The TV show Halt and Catch Fire provides beautiful examples of the methods and benefits of the micro-obstacles that great writers of screen/teleplays/fiction put in the way of characters’ forward momentum until they periodically open the gates to the pent up flow. Let’s look at Season 2, episode 6 in terms of periods fraught with mini-obstacles alternating with times of forward momentum. Subplots alternate throughout, relating to the uneasy relationship between these characters’ computer companies, and the subplots tend to all go through the flow — to obstacles — and back to flow process at the same rate. Note that flow can be negative and obstacles can be positive.
To establish the main characters:
Gordon is Donna’s husband, working from home on computer innovation with his own new company.
His wife Donna works at Cameron’s company.
Joe works at a different company and is trying to network with Cameron’s company.
Joe, now engaged to someone else, used to be romantic partners with Cameron, who is now privately dating Ryan.
***
Episode 6 begins with the micro-obstacle of Joe not being able to communicate with his girlfriend on the phone, as communication is always blocked at first in this series, which is a masterful ploy, creating suspense. She’s been gone for a week, and won’t pick up. So when he gets a call back, he thinks it’s her. That makes the phone call from his boss more dramatically interesting. Joe goes to see him and goes to bat for his ex girlfriend Cameron’s company, which Joe’s boss wants to downgrade.
***
Gordon shows up to his brother’s house because he wants to release the pressure of a pent up secret by letting the truth out about his recently discovered brain issue. Brother-to-brother talks about heath problems aren’t thought of as all that exciting in the real world, so craft must make them so. The episode begins when we see his brother asking what’s up that made him fly quickly out to see him, and Gordon puts off answering. So now, after that tiny obstacle of putting it off, though we might not have cared otherwise, we have grown some anticipation for the brain conversation. Why? Because we’re not just given it; it’s withheld from us. Now, we sort of want to know.
Micro-obstacles to passing information creates anticipation and cliffhangers.
And we also empathize with the desire of the brother to learn the answer, so it’s a low cliff-hanger, very mild; it’s only the beginning of the episode and the stakes must raise. When the conversation finally happens, we feel a release of feel-good chemicals, in a scene full of warmth. That flow has a psychological affect on Gordon that makes Gordon vulnerable to the next plot point that will happens when the show returns to the bar.
***
In a domestic scene with Gordon’s wife, Donna, and her mother, we see demands on their patience with toys, representing how having children can interfere with the smooth flow of getting on with life. A conversation with Donna’s mother needs something active happening to make it interesting, right? Conversations in passive situations are rarely shown (unless the background provides dramatic, symbolic visual effects.) As they talk, her mother presents a couple of Troll dolls she found in the pockets of the pool table. Donna says — “Joanie practically refused to go to California without them.” The event also symbolize the helpful role of mothers.
When her mother laughs, Donna doesn’t; we know she needs to honestly talk about what she’s pained about. The tone of the laugh, while sweet, is a little annoyingly shrill, which makes us feel even more for Donna, and we want her to release her tension before sounds become overwhelmingly acrid.
“Are you alright, honey?” A little on the nose, an effect which needs to be rationed, and the conversation that follows that up is also a little overly on the nose but effective, as the mother characteristically directly brings up the issues that make Donna snap. Donna’s not quite ready to talk about it, of course, because if she were, there would be no tension in the scene to build up to the revelation of information. We need the micro-obstacles to build up to the flow of information.
Micro-obstacles can build up enough pressure they turn into angry conversations of saying things a person wouldn’t have let out otherwise.
Donna let’s the floodgates loose with, “Yeah, well, Gordon has a thing called ‘free time!’” Her regret for snapping at her mother makes her more likely she’ll open up with even more detail. The tension of the obstacles to her talking about what’s wrong has made the information have more weight to the audience. We know because of how this scene is framed that ultimately the subtext of the problem relates to the couple’s interpersonal dynamics involving the delivery and acceptance of information, and how that will affect the future.
“How about you tell me what’s really going on,” mother says more loudly with determination, with us seeing Donna’s expression as she jerkily washes the dish, and stops at that moment, has impact. Normally, people in the real world aren’t all that keen to overhear marital woe conversations between mothers and daughters. Craft makes us want to listen in.
Never random, the obstacles to characters’ progress create the urge for growing momentum, which makes the audience pay more attention.
The forced pause in delivery provides build-up tension, creating suspense that makes us want to know more what the information is they’re so focused in trying to obtain.
Thank goodness for the on-the-nose police. The unusually straightforward character of the mother, which is needed to hurry the plot along by direct questions, is balanced by Donna’s half truths. This is where it gets interesting because we see her defensively releasing the message the best she can while fitting into her mother’s world. So she calls the abortion a miscarriage, and when her mother shows sympathy, Donna scolds her how it’s a good thing.
***
Next we see the conflict of Cameron’s tech workers trying to get a TV to play but it won’t give them the information they seek, so they exclaim before running out of the room. We see Cameron and Ryan having sex but of course that’s interrupted by the knock on the door, so their attention is more intense. The whole department is straining outside the door, and the information we need to know is yelled, quickly pouring out, while we’re treated to Cameron pulling on her clothes. The information itself isn’t visually appealing, being abstract. All this must happen to make the very technical information dump pleasing.
Micro-obstacles make info dumps fun.
***
When Joe brings them a contract, of course they don’t sign it without resistance, Cameron and Donna disagreeing on how to handle it. The disagreement leads to many of the following scenes. The two of them argue, trying to establish dominance over each other through reasoning. Joe is dominant, because he can’t negotiate the price. The irony is that he would give them the lower price they want to pay if his boss would let him. But the women treat him like he’s being ruthless. That unfairness makes us sympathetic to him.
We may not care deeply about whether people sign a contract or not, but we do care about someone we see as our friend, because of that sympathy. Joe’s complexity involves an arc of growing increasingly considerate of others like Cameron, and putting up with his punishment in the meantime by accepting that he isn’t trusted because of the risks he took in the past.
***
The conversation between Joe and Ryan in the kitchen is not overtly dramatic, as they stand there leading against the sink. But they’re back lit, in black and white, equally paired off in the composition, with cabinets on either side of them, trying to establish dominance and respect through the unstated implications of the conversation in which the subtext is about their love relationships to Cameron.
The cabinet doors divided the center of the composition, and the suggestion from the visuals of their location and their barely acknowledged sparring is that Cameron could go either way with which man she ultimately chooses to end up. Sure, she’s married to Ryan, but — Lee Pace! (Plays Joe.)
When Ryan says, “She knows what she wants,” the gauntlet is thrown. Joe does come out ahead, through subtle visual subtext. He’s the one who leaves, coming into the camera, while Ryan shows a nuance of frustration as he remains by the sink. That one subtle, almost throw-away moment sets the tone for the rest of the series.
***
The conversation with his brother about Gordon’s health shows his concerned brother sympathizing and asking what he can do, though skipping out on the tab. Eventually they drink more beer and get more relaxed. Gordon happens to meet his old flame, Jules, there, after having immersed himself in the attempted flow of the revelation to his understanding if weak brother, and the beer, and warm lighting with a string of colors linking them.
Alcohol, drugs, sexual attraction, costumes, a grand idea, a past connection rekindled, fog, playfulness, mania and bold honesty all create a sense of flow, making characters make different choices than they do when frustrated by micro-obstacles.
The soft dim light instead of visible right angles of the walls contributes to the relaxed pace, and the ambient light is like fog, joining them together moistly. Jules comes over only after the brother has left the room. By setting the scene up that way, the micro-obstacle released into flow, “gutter” is being built for Gordon’s emotions to naturally move toward Jules. No obstacles come up. They reminisce about the past and continuing to spend time together seems natural.
***
So Donna and Joe then square off as she tries to establish equality with the business deal, and again, we have the fantastic background images of the location. They’re in an office that’s not something to fool around with, with imposing rows of fluorescent lights angling toward the characters. With perfect symmetry of the setting and then sharp switches between Joe and Donna as they stand in the center of the frame. Everything is huge, white and sterile, impersonal, and Joe stands there, arms crossed, unable to budge on the price, while she pleads for humanity. The visuals are static, just like Joe’s boss’s stance, which Joe has to represent.
***
When Donna consults Cameron about it, Cameron again is in the center of two choices, as well as having the power, since the company is her, so she’s poised in the corner of the kitchen. The counters span out on each side of her equally. That reminds us of the counters dividing Joe and Ryan. When Ryan makes a suggestion to outsmart Joe, we expect from the way the last scene with the counters ended that he’ll remain in a weaker position from Joe’s. Joe is coming from the strength of honesty, while dishonesty doesn’t have a secure foundation.
So when they rig the computer to try to fool Joe, everything is visually complicated, their attempt full of mini-obstacles, with the build up to Joe trying it out, when things seem to go smoothly. The easy flow gives them hope until he figures out the deception creates the dramatic beat of the false win.
Corners, balanced symmetry, and single individuals framed and set off other framed individuals in the scene setting symbolizes micro-obstacles.
***
When Gordon meets up with Jules for a talk, the tone is serious at first and they bring us back into the tension related to his brother’s alcoholism. We’d suspected before, but Jules provides more information about just how bad it is. The daylight is harsher than at the bar, they don’t seem as in sync, and the compositions are disjointed, and she’s about to leave without them growing any more intimate. The scene ends with the suggestion of “weed,” so we suspect the next scene with them will again be smoothy slidey and the tension of this part will be released.
And so it is. This time they’re contained in the back of his truck, arms and legs angled toward each other as well as spread into relaxed adventure of speaking honestly. They bring up why she went out with his brother instead of Gordon. Her first answer is rough and creates a little tension therefore, but her next answers are flattering, so the flow moves toward union. In every scene of flow, there is always a little back-flow near the beginning.
Gordon and Jules are gently arranged on their corners of the truck, his arm, laid straight across, reaching slightly farther over the center line than hers does. We expect from the composition he’s going to succeed in an assertive act toward intimacy. We also see the gasoline can in front of the lit joint, and know his relationship is therefore going to blow up.
The contrast between the frustrating static of his married life and the flow when Gordon’s with an old flame is palpable, and mimics the sensation of infatuation, being in the zone, the invitingly deceptive ease of releasing his pent up emotions into open communion with someone compatible who is compelling and attractive, outside of his marriage. The ease takes them into love-making.
He tries to ride the flow to spill information about his brain issue. At first, it works, as the flow had with the rigged computer, but in both cases, the attempt at flow is artificial, selfish, not following the rules, and must lead to even bigger obstacles than before. Jules feels he’s dumping on her, which upsets her.
Each scene ends with the resourceful person finding out a way to get the flow going again; Donna helping the girls get to sleep next to Gordon in the motel room, and Joe proposing to his boss that they acquire Cameron’s company, where Donna works. Micro-obstacles happen most at the early parts of an episode, book, or movie, because stakes raise to serious obstacles toward the end.
Flow rarely lasts very long. But if we never experienced it, the effect would be grim, without suspenseful ups and down to play our hopes against our fears. For now, there’s hope of some flow, moving past the period of obstacles as the show ends. At this point, it’s hard to see how it can work, so when we hope for something, it’s a richly mixed feeling.
***
The next episode begins with Gordon and Donna, right after he’s told her about his brain issue. And what does he say? “This is a complication, that’s it. Lord knows we’ve overcome our fair share of those, right? . . This cannot derail anything.” And what do we remember? Donna singing to their daughters at the end of the previous episode, and the girls going effortlessly to sleep.
***
Likewise, the subplot of Gordon’s new home-based computer company begins with hopeful flow when it first hits the episode. The scenes of flow are shot differently than the scenes of obstacle, with visuals being much more complicated with mini-obstacle moments, with people crowded around messily, the camera angles being non-symmetrical, the background full of junk. Scenes in which major obstacles are stubbornly negotiated are static, without much activity but instead, architectural placement that mimics the power dynamics.
***
The structure is organized around mini and major obstacles, and how they relate to times of easier flow. During the moments of flow, music sometimes comes in to emphasize that quality. We see this same pattern in how episode 7's first scene with Joe. He and his boss are very excited by ways they can make things work out with Cameron’s company. The episode beginning continues the hope for flow from the end of the last one, with hopeful unity, acceptance, and cooperation in the subplots.
We’re left with Gordon taking center stage with an inspiring speech to his new company team members. The composition and the way foreground and background are lit is all about a company flowing forward from his shaky vision.
Since the subplot scenes are all ending with flow in this episode so far, the subplots can be expected to run into obstacles again before too long, in parallel. The characters are like us all. They desperately want positive, trustworthy, stable flowing lives with continual forward momentum. Because because they want to believe in moments of flow when they shouldn’t, they can create bigger obstacles.
Trying to believe in flow can cause misplaced optimism and mistakes.
***
About a third of the way in, Donna brings up to her mother the same line about Gordon’s brain issue being “a complication. And Lord knows we’ve overcome our fair share of those.” She’s trying to keep the hopefulness of that sentence alive, as believing in the flow is the only way they can move forward with love. Donna’s mother’s strikingly sour look introduces the mini-complications that will start bubbling up in all of subplots as the characters try to continue that early stage of some people being in agreement.
But that means everyone else has to get on board with moving forward on the projects of this episode, such as Joe’s proposed acquisition of Cameron’s company, and of course, they all will disagree.
Since Gordon’s big flow moment led to spending an inordinate amount of money, Donna’s faced with curtailing the somewhat manic flow, to be reasonable and realistic. In the next scene, Donna switches from her issues with Gordon involving nurturing his health, to that care involving the nuts and bolts of his job. So, symbolically, when one of his company hands comes into the kitchen to get a cup, she starts to give him coffee before he says the cup is to put small parts in, and he innocently mentions the spending.
Too high dopamine, the neurotransmitter, can cause someone, like Gordon, to convince himself all can work out in spite of the odds, and draw unreasonably on energy reserves from his adrenals. This creates too much of a sense of flow, like caution isn’t required.
***
When Joe and his father and his fiance meet at a table at a restaurant, she starts to speak about breaking it off with Joe; her father interrupts her and Joe interrupts him. Instead of her simply telling the father the problem, mini-obstacles come up to the information being shared. When it’s information we already know, but which must be passed along to a character who doesn’t, there’s never a boring scene of straightforward facts. There’s difficulty in communication between the characters that makes the transfer of the information into something urgent feeling. It needs to happen for the moment to be complete, yet the scene is broken, making it into a cliffhanger. The scene ends with her asking: “Does anyone want to know what I think?” The jagged, short scene is entirely about lack of flow.
Lack of flow can get across the message without it ever having to be said at all.
***
Gordon gets the model of the Pro computer working, which has only taken two days, and everyone is drinks and celebrates. He tells the guys, “The hardest thing in life is to get knocked down and then get back up — constantly. But we do it because we love it. And we know deep down that if it’s the right idea, it can be bigger than all of us.” He says he’s finally found how he can tell them with confidence that they can follow their dreams no matter how hard it is.
So he’s spoken to the theme of obstacles VS flow. For the screenwriter to give us a generic, simplistic message like “follow your dreams and you can get past all the obstacles” would be naive in this realistic show. Though he doesn’t know it, what Gordon’s really saying, with the subtext intact, is that it might not really always work out. Because as he says those words, ironically, he thinks he’s at a different time and place, due to his brain issue.
Characters’ perception of flow compared to the reality of their obstacles creates irony.
***
When Cameron asks people about vote on what to do with the company, Ryan doesn’t answer. So we have the micro-obstacle to the message. Only in a later scene in the hospital does he tell her — he wants the company to go on for a long time and he also wants his relationship with Cameron to go on for a long time. Again, the theme of desire for forward momentum, the flow.
Rather than characters easily exchanging ideas, micro-obstacles to the gist of the dialogue makes conversation richer with conflict, more realistic, and dramatic, and when they do finally get to the gist, during moments of flow, it’s more meaningful than if they’d just come out and said it earlier.
This is especially pertinent when the message is actually ABOUT the desire for flow in spite of hard choices creating obstacles to that. When the pattern of a pent up message finally released continues to lead to sentences about overcoming obstacles to long term flow, it becomes the theme incarnate.If characters had simply said something about that theme in an easy conversation between agreeable friends, it wouldn’t have nearly the impact.
The shot where Ryan and Cameron talk is tight, the music slow, a single color warm background color and warm lighting on both faces in the frame creates the sense of a flow-moment.
Significantly, only after Ryan’s heartfelt conflicted answer involving the truth about his family, in which he concludes that the company is Cameron’s to do with as she wishes, does Cameron transform because of the sudden flow of intimacy and caring for someone other than herself. She states that, “No, the company belongs to all of us. I’ll call Joe.” She’s been the obstacle and now the dam is ready to break.
However, the big twist is, it turns out she was right before! So maybe the previous flow with Ryan was coming from his weakness and damage, fear and wishful thinking. Joe discovers that his boss would ruin the company if he bought it, and keeps her from selling it. And he’s going to pull away, so we see his reflection fading as they look at their dying friend in the hospital.
The episode functions like a scene, changing the charge from plus to minus. It’s impossible to say what’s positive and negative in this scenario, but we can label the micro-obstacles and the flow. Episode 7 began on micro-obstacles and ended on flow. 8 began with that flow. It didn’t end on flow.
We have flowing healthy intimacy with Joe based on being true to her vision in which he warns her off and breaks off association with her company, moving toward the desire for a marriage lasting a long time.
Cameron switches back to saying to the tech guys, including the crushed Ryan, “Let me just one thing clear. This is my company. And I’m not selling it.” Her intimacy flow with Ryan and with Joe are both pulled away from her, but she’s taking a brave risk by being true to herself, as Joe suggested.
The episode functions like a scene, changing the charge from plus to minus. It’s impossible to say what’s positive and negative in Halt and Catch Fire until the ending, but we can label the level of flow. Episode 6 begins on micro-obstacles and ends on flow. 7 began with that flow, with deliberate continuity reminders. Each moment healthy flow flips the decision.
It ends on a dramatic final decision about the dilemma, for all the characters. It might not work out, but they’re going to try. It doesn’t end on micro-obstacles but on Cameron’s bold assertiveness, with swelling music and a closing door. The relationship of flow VS obstacles is rich enough that the ending resonates.
Tantra Bensko is the bestselling author of The Agents of the Nevermind psychological suspense series. She teaches fiction writing with UCLA Extension Writing Program and Writers.com, and edits manuscripts with book Butchers and her Online Writing Academy.
