Lethal Weapon and Character Chemistry
A valuable lesson on making characters feel like they fit together.
One of the most endearing elements of the classic Lethal Weapon movie franchise is the onscreen chemistry and comradery of its two protagonists, Riggs and Murtaugh. Watching those two bounce off of each other is as entertaining as watching the them shoot, fight and blow up the bad guys. Many stories written with co-leads depend on the level of chemistry between the protagonists to carry the brunt of the story. It could be two lovers in a romantic comedy, or two heroes in a buddy cop story or even two archenemies that are constantly pitted against each other, these two characters' interactions with each other are the glue that holds the narrative together. Getting the relationship between these characters just right is important to making the flow of your narrative consistent.
Defining Chemistry
Chemistry is basically the interaction between characters; how they respond to each other and how they play off each other in various situations. You can tell when characters have chemistry because they appear to naturally interact with each other, and each interaction is organic and unforced. This helps the flow of your stories because it makes the characters more human and is easier to invest in the characters and how they develop alongside each other. It is an element you definitely want to pay attention to as you craft your narrative.
How to Show Chemistry
The primary way to show chemistry between characters is with dialogue. Pay close attention to how these characters speak to each other and how they respond to each other. Use of wit, jokes and references both parties would understand (and sometimes only those parties) shows familiarity and trust, or at the very least that they can relate to each other. Keep the pacing of their conversations in mind. Faster-paced conversations with shorter sentences and less wording in between their sentences indicates a comfort the characters have with speaking to each other, and that they don't have to devote a lot of time thinking of what to say with each other.
There is also nonverbal chemistry to take into account. Characters can fidget certain ways around each other, invade each other's personal space, and move around each other in ways that suggest a familiarity. How they look at each other, the facial expressions they make, and the other nonverbal tics they exhibit around each other can add to the natural, organic flow of how they interact with each other.
However you show the chemistry between characters, there is a flow of how they interact, and it should be evident to you when you read your text back to yourself.
Contrasting Personalities vs Like-Minded Individuals
What makes Riggs and Murtaugh work so well is the way their personalities and lifestyles, despite being polar opposites, complement each other. Riggs is the wild, devil-may-care guy who shoots first and asks questions later, while Murtaugh is the reserved family man that is too old for this sh*t. Their differing perspectives and methodologies play well with each other and it is entertaining to watch them clash and eventually find common ground. You can achieve this by examining your two primary characters and seeing where their differing way of seeing the world parallel each other. the more perfect the contrast is, the easier it will be to tap into that and play off of it. It’s why the by-the-book partner working with the make-it-up-as-you-go-along partner is such a well-worn trope, as it the “mind” character teaming up with the “muscle” character.
You can also develop chemistry in like-minded individuals. Dr. Frasier Crane and his brother Niles share the same snooty, elitist attitude and tastes in the finer things. That familiarity and shared ethos is the foundation for how they communicate with each other. There can be a shorthand for like-minded individuals depending on their shared interests that you can tap into to build their chemistry. Comic book characters Cable and Bishop, despite being former adversaries, can still work together and communicate as two old soldiers from the future that have seen way too much war for one lifetime. You simply need to find points where your characters share common traits and experiences and build their interactions off of that.
Chemistry Can Be Antagonistic, Too
Characters that oppose each other can also have chemistry. If the back and forth of their clashes with each other feels natural and unforced, then that is because of the chemistry you have created between them. When showing chemistry you want to look at the both the parallels and contrasts of the characters' backgrounds and personalities, and play off of that whenever they clash against each other. In my previous article on writing archnemeses, I mentioned how the best archnemeses are mirror images or opposites of the protagonist (i.e. Batman vs. Joker = order vs. chaos, Wolverine vs. Sabertooth = controlling the beast within vs. embracing it). This also plays into how the enemies interact with each other. Your foes are going to be constantly pushing each others' buttons and leaning into their differences. Think what your foes could say to get the most volatile reaction out of each other, or on the flipside, make the characters pause and rethink something. If the foes have more in common than not (think Sherlock Holmes vs. Prof. Moriarty), then you can play with their differing approaches to the things they have in common. Even their opposing personalities and styles can be used to create engaging interactions with each other.
The Chemistry of Attraction
Then there is sexual chemistry, which is the crux of almost every story involving love and romance. In addition to showing the rapport your characters are building with each other, you also need to take into account the physical attraction between the two, and how their bodies move with each other. Body language is important here, so you want to make sure to describe how they move around each other physically and how they react to that physicality. You can also show attraction in everything from the way they look at each other (even describing what they see when they look at the other character in flowery terms) to the tone of voice, phrasing and language they use when they speak to each other. Most people act very differently around people they are attracted to in comparison to people that don't attract them, and you can do a lot with that in your stories.
Lack of Chemistry Can Also Be Useful
On the flip side, you can also build a dynamic off of characters' inability to fit together. It might be a challenge to write characters whose interactions don't feel natural or feel awkward, but it is possible and you can use that to build memorable character interactions. Characters that don't feel comfortable around each other can create interactions that make the reader also feel uncomfortable, which is a great way to build tension. This disconnect is used most often for comedic effect, like in Monty Python's Holy Grail, when a castle owner gives instructions to a guard that the guard is hellbent on misunderstanding.
The trick is that when writing you have to make a conscious effort to disrupt or avoid the natural rhythm and progression of character interactions, even at the base level. Characters with chemistry are on the same page, even when they are at odds with each other. To show a lack of chemistry, your characters are not only NOT on the same page (even when they agree), you can tell they're not even reading the same book, and might not even be in the same library. It can be characters talking over each other like Radar and the doctors he interacts with in the M.A.S.H. movie. or a character in love not knowing what to say or how to act to win over the object of their affection. That awkwardness and lack of chemistry can be a powerful driving force in the plot.
Conclusion
Ultimately what determines chemistry is how well characters communicate with each other both verbally and nonverbally. Once you take the time to delve into how your characters relate to each other and the nature of their relationship, you should be able to create interactions that feel natural and work with both of their idioms.
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