Roemer's book is a deep and incredibly well thought out book. It's views about story and storytellers are very insightful. It ranges from the classics like Oedipus Rex to structuralism in it's discussion of literary theory. There is a lot to digest from the book. It's most memorable statement is the "every story is over before it begins." That writers of films know the ending. What is in question is how the filmmaker gets to the end. I have heard to this idea before in film class. That with the star system and audience polling, etc. It becomes obvious that the big star is going to be the hero. What isn't know is how the star is going to get to the ending. That is where creativity comes into play. Writers must keep audiences paying attention and entertained until they get to the ending and return to stasis. I was watching The Revenant by Inarrutu and this theory held true. The audience knows that Dicapprio is going to win in the end. It wouldn't be right if he didn't. He probably wouldn't take the role if he was going to lose or come out somehow harmed in the end. So we have to watch and see how he gets the bad guy and comes out triumphant by the end of the film. We see it all the time in films. It's what we expect and if it didn't happen there would be a lot less box office.
Roemer quotes everyone from Nieztche to Levi-Strauss. Another idea he had was the film is more than just an escape. We are drawn to stories because they explain how things are. We want to understand ourselves and the World around us and to do that we resort to stories. Films, plays, novels, etc. they all seek to explain who we are and why the World is the way it is. The book is great. Much better than some of the other books I've read about film and writing.
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