Doubles in a Science Fiction Screenplay and Film: Alexander Payne's Downsizing as a Case Study in Doubling and Duality

Abstract: Frank Dietz notes that many scholars identify psychology as the best tool for analyzing doppelgängers and doubles in literature and film, although he goes on to argue that this critical lens is “insufficient for the field of science fiction” because the genre is founded on a presumption of science which can create narrative worlds in which “the existence of doubles is literal fact” (210). Alexander Payne’s screenplay and film Downsizing (2017) does just this by depicting a scientific breakthrough that allows people to shrink themselves to 1/5 of their original size. This in turn creates a mirrored set of societies, big and little. In addition, it is this same breakthrough that allows a tribe of shrunken humans to survive a global environmental disaster that makes life on the surface of the planet untenable, although this storyline is absent in the theatrical release of the film. There are two doubles of interest: the doubled societies of the big and the little, which is in both film and screenplay, and, in the screenplay only, the doubles between the present day main characters and the legendary figures of the future tribe of smalls:, most notably between Paul Safranek and his double Safrapül the Good (Matt Damon). Finally, the relationship between a screenplay and the produced film is a complex one in which the two versions of the same narrative are doubles with some profound differences; in this case, the differences between the available screenplay of Downsizing and the produced film may give clues to why this film is Payne’s least successful, both commercially and critically. In the case of Downsizing, there are numerous differences in the treatment of the theme of doubling between the doubled versions of the screenplay and the film. These differences both in terms of genre and theme result in much different texts and may help explain the film’s underperformance, especially compared to Payne’s other outings.