Unlocking the Secret to Mastering Exposition Like Never Before
Ever found yourself cringing at a scene where characters just stop and dump background info like it’s a history lecture? Yeah, exposition—sometimes the most necessary yet dull-as-dishwater part of storytelling. But what if I told you there’s a way to make exposition not just bearable, but downright gripping? Take a peek at Season 1 of The Last of Us—a masterclass in peeling back layers of backstory while keeping viewers on edge. Joel and Ellie don’t just stand there talking; they walk, reveal hidden scars, and drop truths that hit like emotional gut punches. So, how do you take exposition from snooze-fest to spotlight-stealer? Stick around, because this scene is a blueprint for turning dry info into riveting narrative gold. LEARN MORE
From Season 1 of The Last of Us.
I’m currently teaching my one-week online course called Handling Exposition. As I state right up front in Lecture 1:
It starts off promisingly enough with the root word expose. A few possible meanings: “to lay open to danger, to reveal, to unmask.” That all sounds exciting. Then you hit upon the definition of the word exposition as it relates to writing a story: “dialogue, description, etc., that gives the audience or reader the background of the characters and the present situation.” Exciting? Not so much.
And here the dichotomy writers must live with is laid bare: On the one hand, we need to provide exposition to tell a story and yet most exposition is far from entertaining.
One of the writers taking the class cited this scene from Season 1 of the HBO series The Last of Us.
Here’s what I wrote analyzing why the scene works so well handling exposition: (1) History just after the the zombie breakout. (2) Joel makes two “confessions,” one from his personal backstory, and one happening in the present between he and Ellie.
This scene from The Last of Us (Season 1) is an excellent example of how to handle exposition:
— As per Tip #5 (Put the scene on the move), Joel and Ellie “walk and talk” at the beginning of the scene. Even something as simple as characters in motion is better than a static scene with talking heads.
— Visual exposition: Kudos to the production designer and team for creating an authentic setting which works in tandem with Joel’s dialogue to provide an expansive sense of time and place, and a piece of history just after the zombie breakout.
— Exposition as Revelation: And the scene builds toward the big reveal (spoiler alert: Joel tried to kill himself, but failed).
This is an example of backstory as exposition and crafting it as a Revelation is an excellent way to imbue this fact with an emotional wallop.
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