So, I’m a screenwriter. One of the most important lessons you learn as a screenwriter is how language choice informs character. And there’s a few language choices in here that speak volumes.
First, Warren talks about feeling, at age 18, like the world was “closed off to her.” This is heartbreaking, but if I were writing this scene, I’d also say it’s a highlight of how different an 18 year old woman’s expectations of her life were than those of her male competitors.
I bet if you asked Biden, Sanders, etc this question, they would not talk about how at age 18 they felt trapped by their circumstances and that even their smallest dream - being a school teacher - felt unreachable.
It’s an incredibly meaningful contrast.
It’s an incredibly meaningful contrast.
But second, Warren’s word choice around her path to where she is is incredibly indicative of how she thinks and functions. She doesn’t describe her successes using the language of entitlement. She doesn’t say “I DID this and I EARNED this and I WON this”
She speaks about it outside of the first person. She doesn’t say “I opened a door.” She says “A door opened.”
She recognizes that she got lucky - that she had an open door *granted* to her - in a system that wasn’t built for her to succeed.
She uses the language of humility.
She recognizes that she got lucky - that she had an open door *granted* to her - in a system that wasn’t built for her to succeed.
She uses the language of humility.
If I was writing Elizabeth Warren as a film character, what this vulnerable answer would tell me is that she’s a person who understands that power isn’t an inborn right, it’s a system where if you aren’t the right kind of person - maybe you get lucky, maybe you don’t.
It also shows me she doesn’t grant power or success respect just for existing, because she recognizes the playing field is tilted. And she has been on the end where you feel like there are no open doors for you, and you better just hunker down and try to survive.
If I were writing a movie about someone trying to shake apart a corrupt system and rebuild it, this is exactly the type of character I’d want to cheer on.
