look at this fragile delicate flower of a man look at how precarious his value and identity is wonder at the marvel that is masculinity
The reason I post this is because it is full of visual information that fills readers with questions and confusion.
It’s obviously based on a trope that goes back to the first days of film that men who hold purses are pussies. So, okay, that’s how the joke technically works, here’s this guy dealing with a problem. I’ll even give you for free that it’s mechanically sound, but…
- Wouldn’t she NEED the purse if she was going into a store?
- Why is he so dramatic about it? Is the purse infected?
- If it’s that important to him, why doesn’t he just say no?
- Who are the approval guys? Would they also carry around plastic bags to put purses in? Why?
- Who is the writer of this joke trying to appeal to? Offend?
- Would it be more awesome if it flipped around on us and she was actually holding his purse? Because he’s an interesting character and there are interesting things about him to use for good story? And all of the different conflicts you could make out of it?
- What do we infer from his action? That he is pathologically non-confrontational? That he’s afraid of the woman? That he worries so much about the judgments of strangers that he strategizes about avoiding them?
- Purses are dog poop? Is it symbolic?
The questions are endless. And yes, it is possible to take this as it is meant, a commentary on how men can cleverly deal with perceived insults to their masculinity, and left there like that. But not in a script.
My point, now that I have finally arrived, is that there are ideas like this in your script, ideas that mean to say one simple thing, but can be interpreted in so many different ways that they end up working against you.
This is where notes come in. Listen to the notes. If you’re confusing your readers this way, you want to know so you can fix it.