Adapation's stories and lack thereof

Adaptation follows several stories throughout it's plot. First, it follows the story of Susan Orlean, and her relationship with John LaRoche. Secondly, it follows the story of Charlie Kaufman, specifically his work on the script, and his relationship with his twin. Third, it follows the story of Donald Kaufman, the aforementioned twin's work on his own script and career.

As an aside, here, it's worth noting that some of the plot points in this film correspond to real life, and others don't. Charlie Kaufman did write the script, he did write Being John Malkovich, Susan Orlean did write an article and later a book on John LaRoche. However, Charlie Kaufman does not have a twin, orchids can't be turned into drugs, Susan Orlean did not have a sexual relationship with LaRoche. Normally I don't like to mix facts from the real world in with facts from films. I only note them to make sure that viewers understand that this movie is a work of fiction, even if it's presented as being otherwise.

Now, two out of three of our main stories follow a relatively similar structure. In the case of Susan Orlean and Charlie Kaufman, the first part of their story does not follow any particular plot. Events just meander between each other with no overall connection to what moviegoers typically expect from their stories. Orlean's story is treated with much more dignity, however. The first two thirds of her story is basically a long introduction to John LaRoche, his life and work. We get some information about her, and some about flowers, but it's mostly La Roche. Charlie Kaufman's story follows a similar pattern. The first two thirds of his story are basically an introduction to Kaufman. We also get some information about the movie industry and the craft of writing, but we mostly see his insecurities, his fantasies, and his hang ups. In both cases, though, there is no real story. It's more akin to a sprawling documentary.

The last third, however, we see a change. Both stories have a trigger. For Orlean, it's her trip to the swamp to see a ghost orchid. For Kaufman, it's McKee's seminar on screenwriting. The change we see is that now we have a story to follow. All the information we've been getting about our characters in the first two thirds of the movie comes to light here. So what are the stories? In Kaufman's case, he finally builds the courage to meet Orlean. In Orlean's case, she embraces her relationship with La Roche. Kaufman emerges as the protagonist. He is the one who grows as a person. His experience hunting down Susan Orlean gives him the courage to kiss his love interest. He mourns his brother's death, but not in a crippling way. Susan Orlean emerges as the antagonist, who's largest role is to oppose the protagonist. She literally holds a gun to his head, forcing him to do her bidding, in this case meaning driving them both to the swamp, where she intends to kill him.

All the things Kaufman said he did not want to do at the beginning of the movie occur now. The romance, the guns, the drugs, the artificial plot, the sidelining of the flowers themselves, all show up in the last 15 minutes of the movie. Does this mean he betrays his principles? Is Kaufman a failure in his own eyes? We've two more subjects to touch on to enlighten these questions.