Deborah Klika

THE BIND, ITS THEMATIC PREMISE AND FINDI+B4NG THE FUNNY WHEN TWO OR
MORE LANGUAGES ARE IN PLAY

University of Greenwich, UK

This presentation takes a scene from a feature film in development to explore the nature of
the bind and reflect on how it operates in the fifth sequence. It asks does the existence of two
or more languages assist with imbedding the bind and/or comicality?

Czech in the Rear View Mirror is a black comedy based on actual events. It is about two
Czech migrants who set off to drive across the top end of Australia in pursuit of fulfilling
their dreams only to find that some dreams come at a price and that running away from one
oppressive regime does not ensure freedom.

This paper explores the nature of the bind, born of a fatal flaw that is denied, and how comic
tension is underscored when two or more languages are in play.

Utilising Marks, “The actions of the protagonist serve the function of expressing the theme,” I
analyse the thematic premise of the film to ask if the theme is evident in this scene and to
ponder if the bind, a notion I proposed at the 2023 conference, when the main character’s
want or goal is undermined by their flaw, is informed by the thematic premise
Dara Marks notes that “The Fatal Flaw is a struggle within a character to maintain a survival
system long after it has outlived its usefulness.” (Inside Story, 2007, 114)
The fatal flaw of the main character in this black comedy is that the female protagonist
cannot lie – and in this scene she is confronted with the fact that in order to survive
sometimes we need to learn to lie.

In showing a scene from the film I explore how language can enable the comic tension, and
further discuss if the scene fulfils the theme of the film – displacement teaches lying – and
whether this has been succeeded – if so how and if not why not.

Deborah’s area of research is screen comedy and screenwriting pedagogy. For her PhD by
creative practice at the University of York, she examined the nature of plotting in screen
comedy, specifically when transposing a sitcom to a film and then a film to a sitcom.
Deborah is currently on the next draft of her feature film script, a dark comedy about her
Czech parents driving across the top end of Australia in 1960, when her mother could neither
drive nor speak English.