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1. Character

Hero is a four letter word

-- Video Clip: Familiar central characters/"heroes"

Protagonist -- the prime mover in the objective story throughline

Main Character -- the character through which the audience experiences the story

-- Video Clip: Examples of characters from To Kill A Mockingbird.
Main Character: Scout
Protagonist: Atticus
Antagonist: Bob Ewell
Impact Character: Boo Radley
Role of Narrator (v. Main Character): Author’s commentary

Overall Story Characters vs. Subjective Characters:

Central to Dramatica’s theory of character are the notions of objective and subjective characters. An overall story character is defined as a specific collection of dramatic characteristics that remain consistent throughout the story. Overall story characters fulfill dramatic functions in stories and subjective characters invite audience points of view. Dramatica divides overall story characters into two basic types: archetypal and complex. Subjective characters represent internal conflict played out by the main character and impact character. The overall story characters present the story to the audience and the subjective characters allow the audience to participate in the story.

 

Overall Story Characters: Motivation Characteristics

Motivation Elements

Overall Story Characters are created by combining character elements together, or by assigning each of them singly to a "Player," a person, place or thing that will perform the functions of the Overall Story Character. Most Overall Story Characters in stories are simple groupings of elements (archetypal characters), or complex groupings of elements (complex characters).

 

Archetypal Characters: Motivations

Eight Archetypes: In Dramatica, there are eight archetypal characters: Protagonist, Antagonist, Guardian, Contagonist (a term unique to Dramatica), Reason, Emotion, Sidekick, and Skeptic.

Archetype
Star Wars
Wizard of Oz
Protagonist
Luke
Dorothy
Antagonist
Empire
Wicked Witch
Reason
Leia
Scarecrow
Emotion
Chewbacca
Tinman
Sidekick
R2D2 & C3P0
Toto
Skeptic
Han Solo
Cowardly Lion
Guardian
Obi Wan
Glinda
Contagonist
Darth Vader
Wizard of Oz

 

Sixteen Motivation Elements: Each of the eight archetypal character contains an action characteristic and a decision characteristic. These sixteen characteristics, termed motivation elements, describe what actuates the archetypal characters to achieve or prevent the achievement of the story goal. The goal is not necessarily an object; rather, it can be many other concerns such as a state of mind, degree of knowledge, or a certain feeling.

 

Motivation Elements in Star Wars

Archetype
Character
Action
Decision
Protagonist
Luke
Pursue
Consider
Antagonist
Empire
Avoid (Prevent)
Reconsider
Reason
Leia
Control
Logic
Emotion
Chewbacca
Uncontrolled
Feeling
Sidekick
R2D2 & C3P0
Support
Faith
Skeptic
Han Solo
Oppose
Disbelief
Guardian
Obi Wan
Help
Conscience
Contagonist
Darth Vader
Hinder
Temptation

-- Video Clips: Archetypal characters in Star Wars: protagonist, sidekick, skeptic, guardian, reason, emotion, contagonist, antagonist.

 

Motivation Elements in The Wizard of Oz

Archetype
Character
Action
Decision
Protagonist
Dorothy
Pursue
Consider
Antagonist
Wicked Witch*
Avoid (Prevent)
Hinder
Reason
Scarecrow*
Uncontrolled
Logic
Emotion
Tinman*
Control
Feeling
Sidekick
Toto
Support
Faith
Skeptic
Cowardly Lion
Oppose
Disbelief
Guardian
Glinda
Help
Conscience
Contagonist
Wizard of Oz*
Reconsider
Temptation

-- Video Clips: Archetypal and non-archetypal characters in The Wizard of Oz: protagonist, sidekick, skeptic, guardian, reason, emotion, contagonist, antagonist.

Character Dimensions

 Four Dimensional characters: Motivation, one of four dimensions necessary to flesh out a character, drives characters to achieve their goal. Characters also aspire to different purposes, exercise different methodologies in the effort to achieve those purposes, and use different means of evaluation to determine the effectiveness of their efforts. Fully realized characters are four-dimensional and possess an action and decision element in each dimension

Table: The Four Dimensions of Archetypal Characters


Motivations


Methodologies

Means of Evaluation


Purposes

Protagonist

Consider
Pursuit

Certainty
Proaction

Proven
Effect

Knowledge
Actuality

Antagonist

Reconsider
Avoid

Potentiality
Reaction

Unproven
Cause

Thought
Perception

Emotion

Feeling
Uncontrolled

Possibility
Protection

Hunch
Test

Desire
Self-Aware

Reason

Logic
Control

Probability
Inaction

Theory
Trust

Ability
Aware

Skeptic

Disbelief
Oppose

Induction
Non-Acceptance

Non-Accurate
Process

Chaos
Change

Sidekick

Faith
Support

Deduction
Acceptance

Accurate
Result

Order
Inertia

Guardian

Conscience
Help

Reduction
Evaluation

Expectation
Ending

Equity
Projection

Contagonist

Temptation
Hinder

Production
Re-evaluation

Determination
Unending

Inequity
Speculation

 

Complex Characters

Complex Characters: Complex characters contain one or more problem-solving elements in a non-archetypal arrangement.

Characters Vs. Players: In the Dramatica theory, a character represents the elements and how the elements function. The player is a vessel into which a character (and therefore a set of character elements) is placed.

Two Overall Story Characters in the same player: To avoid confusion, a player should never contain two or more characters at one time, unless an author wants to create a character like Sybil or Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. If more than one character inhabits a single player, the player will appear to have multiple personalities.

 

Subjective Characters

 Main Character Vs. Impact Character

The Main Character: The main character is the central character of the subjective storyline who allows the audience to experience the story emotionally and who also holds the key to resolving both the objective and subjective story problems.

The Impact Character: The impact character is the subjective character who blocks the main character’s path and forces the main character to address personal problems.

-- Video Clips: Main and Impact Character montage, "You and I are just alike."

Alternative Paradigms: To completely explore the issue at the heart of a story, an impact character must present an alternative approach to that pursued by the main character. The impact character throughline is the advocate of this alternative paradigm and the manner in which its impact on the main character develops.

-- Video Clips: Examples of Impact Characters: The Ghosts in A Christmas Carol, Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs, Belloch in Indiana Jones Subjective Story #1 from Raiders of the Lost Ark, Sala (et al) in Indiana Jones Subjective Story #2 from same.

 
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Copyright © 1994-2009 Write Brothers, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Based on theories and materials developed by Melanie Anne Phillips and Chris Huntley
Dramatica is a registered trademark of Screenplay Systems Incorporated. Patent #5,734,916; #6,105,046