The Spinster

I found an old outline for a not yet drafted story. I typed this out years ago when moments of mental clarity were brief, unexpected, and not sustained.

Based in the contemporary practice of swapping character attributes in the name of diversity without consideration for how those changes impact the story. I decided to gender swap a story to consider how that alteration should impact the story.

I chose the movie “The Family Man” in which Nicholas Cage as a successful business shark goes through a magical “It’s a Wonderful Life” style flashback of a different life based on different choices; he learns the importance of love and family in contrast to his materialistic hedonism.

What happens if the Cage character is a woman? Within the realm of reality and contemporary commentary, what would a relevant story look like with a woman as the lead? It would focus on a single middle-aged woman with an unfulfilling job facing never finding her husband nor having a family.

1. Cafeteria discussion with peers (other single career women)
a. The other women are a Greek chorus
b. Younger women represent her past
c. Now older there is a gap between her and the younger women
d. They tease her for cyberstalking her ex from college
e. She works in journalism, watching other people live

2. Slingback
a. Meets ex
b. Tries to get him back
c. Play up the spanks/corset flab control
d. She kisses him to try to ignite the spark
e. He rejects

3. Confronting ex’s Wife
a. This is a dialogue between her and who she could have been
b. They had been friends in college
c. The ex’s wife has been a stay-at-home mom, but is starting her own business on the side w/ funding by husband
d. Contrast a mature woman (the wife) with an overgrown adolescent (the spinster)
e. She tells ex’s wife that she will steal her husband and the wife laughs at her
f. She lies about the kiss attempt [issue of whim vs. honesty]

4. Advice from Grandfather as he fixes something in her apartment
a. Dialogue between a problemed individual and reason
b. Her conflict over failing to find her perfect prince when she has failed to perfect herself
c. Promotes virtue and self-development
d. End with the choice to be made between repeated failure and self-development
e. This should be like “The Allegory of Africa” sculpture by Bartholdi, capturing the moment of choice between rising and collapsing