Yuffie's Writing How-To's

TV to Books: Arrow

Today's TV to Books focuses on the show Arrow and how actions can speak way louder than words. I'm going talk about the friendship between Oliver and Felicity to exemplify this.

Quickly, Oliver is this archer vigilante who fights crime and stuff. Felicity is the computer geek of his team. The show does a brilliant job showing the two getting closer without actually saying it, and that makes their friendship so much more powerful. I'm just going to focus on the latest episode (season 2, episode 7) since I just watched it 5 minutes ago and it's freshest in my mind.

What happens is this drug lord, the Count, captures Felicity while she's snooping through his van. Oliver was at a very crucial trial for his mother, and they were waiting on the verdict. Oliver gets a phone call from the Count. This scene is the YouTube video in the sidebar, so take a look to get a better idea of what I'm talking about! This is part 2/3, and there's also a "part 3/3" that I'll refer to, so head to youtube to find it.

Here are some great examples of "actions speak louder than words" from that scene.

1. When Oliver gets the phone call and learns Count has Felicity, watch his expression. He has to close his eyes and take a breath to keep calm. He doesn't have to say he's terrified and angry. He shows it.

2. When the call ends, he just storms off without a second thought. It's only when his sister calls out to him that he remembers his mother's trial. Oliver is usually extremely polite (see how he said "excuse me" to her before answering his phone) so it's very unlike him to walk away from his sister without any explanation. That shows just how overcome with anger he really is.

3. While the whole threatening a chick and making the hero drop his weapon thing is very cliche, it's still worth noting because it shows that Oliver is willing to let the Count go in order to save Felicity.

4. At 3:25, he's breathing hard. This guy is extreeemely fit, so he most definitely isn't tired. That heavy breathing is because he's angry, and he's trying to keep a calm head.

5. Here's a bit of backstory you need to know before I get to this point. In the last season, Oliver lost someone very important to him, and after that he vowed never to kill again. Now look at what happens at 3:34. The Count was about to stab Felicity with his drug thing, and just look at Oliver's face. Oliver is generally a very expressionless guy, so seeing him look so furious is a shock. And then he didn't just shoot one arrow into the Count. He shot THREE. Three! One would've been more than enough--it went straight through the Count's heart, but Oliver kept going and shooting more arrows. If you had any doubts how enraged Oliver was throughout this whole scene, they should be gone now.

6. Now head on over to part 3/3 (linked to in the External Link, or you can just search it in YouTube). at 0:34, Oliver returned to check in on his friend, Diggle, who'd been overdosed with the Count's drugs, and Felicity. When he says, "I  just wanted to check in on you *looks at Diggle*, ...and you *looks at Felicity*." The way he says "and you" after a pause, and then looking Felicity all the way up and down says volumes about how worried he is about her. Even when Diggle says "I'm feeling better," Oliver and Felicity are still looking at each other.

7. Oliver starts walking away at 1:46. When Felicity calls his name, look how quick he is to turn around. His expression is wide-eyed and eager, lips pursed.

8. When she thanks him, he kinda looks away and quickly/awkwardly says "yeah". This can be interpreted one of two ways: 1. he's slightly shy/embarrassed at her thanking him, or 2. he didn't really think much of it since he's always saving people, so her thank you didn't really register much with him. One great thing about showing emotions rather than telling them is that the readers can interpret them in a way that suits them. If we want to believe Oliver is embarrassed, we have the chance to see that. If we want to see a less romantic motivation behind those actions, we can see that, too. The audience can mold the characters to something they like, making them more interested with the story as a whole. You can appeal to a wider audience with different tastes if things are left a little open-ended and open for interpretation.

9. When Felicity says sorry to him, he genuinely looks confused and takes a step closer to her. That step is huge in showing us that he's geniuinely curious to know her answer. Had he stepped away instead, it would've implied he wanted to leave quickly and didn't care about her answer. When he stepped closer, we can be sure he's sincere when he asks "how come?"

And finally he ends the scene by taking her hand and saying, "Felicity, he had you and he was gonna hurt you. There was no choice to make." Here's when words speak louder than actions. The meaning behind what he said was paramount, but the impact of that statement was only huge because of all the subtle actions that came before it.

The really great thing about Oliver's characterization is that he is such an emotionless and expressionless guy (on the outside). So even a tiny slip in expression is so easy to catch and shows how tormented he is inside. Whatever's going on has to be REALLY painful or frightening or angering to make his facade slip. It shows things are serious.

When you use a mixture of subtle actions and powerful statements, you get a more impacting scene. Your one-liners can be so much more epic when padded with powerfully subtle gestures and expressions.