Masquerading the truth: Diamonds are a Guy's Best friend

Diamonds are a Guy's Best Friend (2017) is a fictional, comedy script that focuses on the theme of deceit. Roommates, Tyler and Brody, decide to present a fabricated lifestyle in order to impress Tyler's Mother. This was my first comedy script and I thought that the idea of letting the audience in on the secret would be amusing for them to see how desperate people can get when they are caught up in a lie.

The World of the Story

I took inspiration from an Only Fools and Horses (1981 -1991) episode called "Yuppy Love". I took particular interest in the scene where Rodney pretends to Cassandra that he lives in a posh house in an attempt to try and impress her.

Only Fools and Horses - "Yuppy Love" (Series 6, Episode 3)

It made me wonder what could of happened if Rodney had taken his facade one step further and entered the house. Thus, I decided to create a narrative in which an insecure character is attempting to impress somebody important to him. However, unlike Rodney, the character is willing to go to the next extreme.

Tyler does not think that his present environment would impress his Mother and decides to relocate to Cheryl's house. He is so afraid of being ridiculed by his Mother for what he deems an 'unsuccessful lifestyle' and is willing to go to any means necessary to impress her. For example, Tyler and Brody live in a flat, but Tyler tells Brody that he told his Mother that he lived in a big house. Therefore, Cheryl's house is the perfect location.

Tyler and Brody struggle to adapt to their environment since they are not used to following such a opulent lifestyle. The audience can see this when Tyler decides to buy food from Mcdonalds because this is what he is accustomed to and the two men try to hide the bags from Joyce's view.

However, Tyler makes an attempt to fit in with his environment when Joyce first enters the house. He uses a picture of Cheryl as a cover-up for his "daughter". However, he has not prepared what he is going to say to his Mother about his daughter, hence why him and Brody give her two different explanations.

Characters

Tyler & Brody

Tyler is impulsive and his ideas are rather impractical. He even laughs at Brody's sensible suggestion of telling his Mother the truth and would rather create a false narrative.

Nevertheless, Brody continues to go along with Tyler's plan and dresses up as Tyler's fake wife 'Britney'.

Throughout the script, I have implied that the characters have unspoken romantic feeling for each other. For example, when Brody gets embarrassed about being addressed as Tyler's wife and when Tyler forgets to let go of Brody's hand. This is because I wanted to contrast two unconventional characters with the heterosexual, nuclear family, conventional lifestyle they are attempting to convey.

I thought of the two main characters before the story itself. This was because my main aim was to show the relationship between two characters with contrasting personalities attempting to work together to deceive somebody else. Tyler with his wild and enthusiastic persona in comparison to Brody's tame and reserved nature. The two characters are opposites which makes them clash at certain moments, yet they are both so caught up in their fake personas that they are forced to cooperate.

Cheryl

Cheryl is the rich lady who usually lives in the house that the men have broken into. However, she tells Brody that she be going on holiday which gives Tyler the opportunity to occupy her house while she is way. She is flirtatious with Brody, as implied when she texts him, but he does not seem to be romantically interested in her due to his sigh of irritation when he reads what she has to say.

Unfortunately for Tyler and Brody, their facade is disturbed when Cheryl comes home early due to a blizzard.

Joyce

Joyce is Tyler's Mother and the woman he has been trying to impress throughout the script. Tyler and his Mother do not appear to be very close with each other given the fact that Tyler believes he must go to extreme lengths to impress her. However, what also does not help their relationship is Tyler's refusal to be honest with her. The first interaction between them over the phone shows a small hint of Tyler's dishonesty because instead of telling his Mother he does want her to visit him, he makes an excuse that he is going to France.

However, Tyler decides to tell her the truth about who he is at the end of the script. Upon the revelation that he is homosexual, I thought that a comical twist in the story would be if the woman he is trying to impress the whole time revealed that she is similar to her son.

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