“There is a charm about the forbidden that makes it unspeakably desirable” – Mark Twain. Your character is doing something someone else has forbidden. Someone else discovers. Will there be a confrontation? Or will the discoverer be so uncomfortable that (s)he will ignore or throw hints instead?
This prompt reminds me of a recent movie I have watched, “Swing Kids”. We watch this in our communication major to discuss the theories of Cognitive Dissonance and Elaboration Likelihood Model. These two theories describe and explain the exact thought process behind the quote that says the forbidden is desirable. Anyways, the movie Swing Kids is about three friends living in Germany during the Hitler reign. In this case, the forbidden would be the Nazis and becoming one, or a member of Hitler’s Youth. Throughout the movie, one of the boys slowly becomes more acquainted with the idea of the Nazis and doesn’t think it’s so bad. He says hey look, if we join then we get lots of free stuff. They are forbidden to join, but that is just what makes him want to even more.
Another example from that movie is when one of the boys is given the task of delivering boxes to houses. The commander says he is not to open them at any means. He goes to deliver two boxes to houses marked as Jewish and hands them to the mother and kids. As he goes to deliver the third he stops and sits down at a bench. The curiosity got the best of him, and he opens it up. Inside he finds the ashes, and the wedding ring left of these poor innocent men. And he had just been delivering them to their families. An absolutely awful example of forbidden charm, but one that caused many conflicts for him. In this case, the discoverer was so uncomfortable that they turned to rage.
I would like to put my own spin on the character tension of this scene:
Peter sits down to open the box, unsure of what he had been delivering. Inside he finds ashes, they blow in the wind across his lap as he sits there crying, realizing the damage he has caused. Thomas comes from around the corner to find him sitting there with the open box. He whispers, “Peter what are you doing! They will kill you if they find out.” Peter slams the box shut and yells, “I don’t care anymore, they can kill me, just like they did these innocent people!” Thomas waves his finger in his face and says, “I’m tired of trying to cover for you, Peter. This is the last strike before I report you.” Peter punches Thomas in the face and runs away frantically. When he gets home he packs up his stuff and tells his brother and mother that he loves them and must leave. As he runs to the door, Thomas is standing there. “Please don’t go, I didn’t mean that. I won’t say anything, I promise.” Peter slams the door on him and his mother asks what is going on. “Don’t worry, it’s nothing”, says Peter. Thomas opens the door himself and steps inside….
The Writing Shack 