The Mystery Box Analysis

J. J. Abrams compares/contrast Roland Barthes' two codes for creating suspense hermeneutic and proairetic by explaining how each film has multiple “mystery boxes”. The “mystery box” is a combination of the hermeneutic and proairetic codes. He mentions that there is always question of who, what, how, and what happens next, which create suspense to keep the audience drawn into the story. His example was from Star Wars, the droid, R2-D2, who meets mysterious women, the audience does not know, that is one “mystery box”. Next Luke Skywalker finds the droid, it’s a hologram with a message, and the princess needs help from Obi-Wan Kenobi, well who is Obi-Wan Kenobi, which is another “mystery box”. In terms on how to influence the audience to care about the story, Abrams explains the TV five act structure. The first
J. Abrams explores are blank pages. Abrams explains that blank pages are like mystery boxes because the writer does not know what they are going to write. There are endless possibilities, what is the story going to be about, who are the characters, what is the length of the story and etc. He also mentions that mystery is like a catalyst for imagination. When Abrams mentioned that blank pages can be mystery boxes, it got me thinking. I agree with his statement because I am currently in the process of writing a new script. The questions I ask myself when I am brainstorming are, what kind of story do I want to write, what themes do I want to emphasize, what will the character’s background be and etc. I feel anticipation and excitement when I am in the writing process because I cannot wait to see the final drafts of my script. It’s a creative process that hold mystery because along the way I can decided to change the character’s name or the story around. As a writer, not knowing how the writing process and story is going to develop creates mystery. This is why I agree with Abram when he explore the “mystery box” of blank