Matilda
Friday
200 lbs Beauty
Goodfellas
Coming to America
In today’s post, continuing my series of examining the story structure of my favourite movies, I’m taking a look at the 1995 coming-of-age hood classic Friday:
Here is Friday as analyzed through the Hero’s Journey:
Friday – The Hero’s Journey
- The Ordinary World: Craig wakes up and spends the morning squabbling with his family – his sister, his mother, and his father.
- The Call of Adventure: Craig’s parents discover that he was fired from his job on his day off; Craig must get a job or get kicked out.
- Refusal of the Call: Craig insists he was wrongly fired and rejects his dad’s offer to become a dogcatcher.
- Meeting the Mentor: Craig confides in his friend Smokey, who suggests he get high because “it’s Friday, he ain’t got no job, and he ain’t got sh*t to do”.
- Crossing the First Threshold: Craig gets high for the first time.
- Tests, Allies, Enemies: Local gangster Big Worm finds out that Craig and Smokey smoked his marijuana supply and threatens to kill them both.
- Approach to the Inmost Cave: Craig and Smokey devise a plan to steal from the next-door neighbour in order to pay back Big Worm.
- The Ordeal: Craig and Smokey must survive the night and avoid getting gunned down in a drive-by shooting.
- Reward (Seizing the Sword): Craig and Smokey catch and punish a bad teen who keeps knocking down their trashcans.
- The Road Back: Being outside leave Craig and Smokey open to attack and Big Worm’s thugs shoot at them in the neighbourhood.
- Resurrection: Craig must defend love interest Debbie’s honour and fight neighbourhood bully Debo without the aid of a gun.
- Return with the Elixir: Craig defeats Debo, gets the girl, and survives the crazy Friday.
And here is the plot of Friday through the Save the Cat beat structure:
Friday – Save the Cat
Beat #1: Opening Image (0-1%)
Craig wakes up in his bed on a Friday and starts his day by answering the door for some belligerent Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Beat #2: Theme Stated (5%)
Man in a Hole (?): Smokey wants to get Craig high because “it’s Friday, you ain’t got no job, and you ain’t got shit to do”
Beat #3: Setup (1% – 10%)
Craig teams up with Smokey and together they hang around and wait for Craig’s parents to go to work so they can smoke weed. Meanwhile, Smokey is also indebted to the neighbourhood gangster, Big Worm, and needs to sell his supply.
Beat #4: Catalyst (10%)
Smokey convinces Craig to smoke some of his weed.
Beat #5: Debate (10%-20%)
Craig has to make a decision to help the neighbourhood bully, Deebo, break into his uptight neighbour’s house.
Beat #6: Break Into 2 (20%)
Big Worm threatens to kill Craig and Smokey if they don’t come up with his $200. Smokey and Craig must then devise a plan to come up with the money before the end of the day.
Beat #7: B Story (22%)
Craig spends more time with Debbie, the love interest character.
Beat #8: Fun and Games (20% -50%)
Smokey and Craig smoke weed, break into people’s houses, and bear witness to some of the crazy things that go on in the neighbourhood during the day, like the affair between Pastor Clever and the attractive neighbour Mrs. Parker across the street.
Beat #9: Midpoint (50%)
With the day almost over, Craig and Smokey are no closer to getting the money for Big Worm. Craig pulls out a gun as protection, but Craig’s dad insists the gun doesn’t make him a man, and Craig insists he is a man without it.
Beat #10: Bad Guys Close In (50 to 75%)
Craig and Smokey make one more play to get the money by stealing it from Deebo while he’s sleeping at Felicia and Debbie’s house. But they fail and while they are outside, they get ambushed in an attempted drive-by shooting.
Beat #11: All Is Lost (75%)
The neighbourhood is brought out after the noise of the shooting. Then Debbie confronts Deebo about beating up her sister Felicia. Deebo then slaps Nia Long, angering Craig.
Beat #12: Dark Night of the Soul (75% – 80%)
Craig pulls out the gun and threatens to shoot Debo for his transgression, but the message from Craig’s dad plays in his mind. “You win some, you lose some, but you live. You live to fight another day (theme).”
Beat #13: The Break Into Three (80%)
Craig chooses not to shoot Deebo and instead challenges him hand-to-hand combat.
Beat #14: The Finale (80%-99%)
Craig wins the fight and the neighbourhood is no longer under Deebo’s tyranny.
Beat #15: Final Image (99%-100%)
Final image is two-fold; one is of Craig, who went through a dramatic character change by the time he lay in bed and Saturday rolled in with the clock striking 12:00 AM. Conversely, Smokey lays in his bed and tells Big Worm that he’s turning a new leaf and will no longer smoke weed, but then breaks the fourth wall to reveal “he was just bullsh*tting” and learned nothing from the day’s events.
Friday Story Structure – Verdict
Friday is the perfect example of a movie that proves a story does not have to span a large timeframe; all of the film’s events take place in less than 24 hours. Although I include the actions of both Craig and Smokey in my breakdown of story structure, this is ultimately Craig’s movie, as he is the only one who goes through any considerable growth or transformation in the movie. While he doesn’t replace his job by the end of Friday, Craig gains a greater appreciation for the values that truly make up a man. I may get pushback on my stance, but that is why I identify Friday as a coming-of-age story, despite the main character being in his early 20s.