The DUG meeting began at 7:10 p.m. Chris Huntley, the meeting's moderator, made the following announcements:

• The Dramatica Writers Group (Tuesdays, 7-9 p.m.) was discussed. It's moderator, JD Cochran, was introduced.
• The FREE 9 week Dramatica course was well underway but still open to anyone interested (Mondays, 7-10 p.m.). The instructor, Katy Monahan Huntley, was introduced.
• The Dramatica Mail List again was highly recommended as a source for Dramatica discussion and information. Visit the Dramatica website (dramatica.com) for instructions on signing up.

From approximately 7:15 to 7:45 p.m., Chris answered various Dramatica theory and usage questions and led discussions on the topics requested. One topic discussed was about identifying the Subjective Story throughline and, once chosen, understanding its relationship to the other areas of the Dramatica model. Chris likened the process to a rock dropping in a pond. The choice you make should be like the place the rock falls--the source of the disturbance--and its effects will be felt as ripples through the other areas in the structure.

About 7:45 p.m., the DUG began its analysis of the film, "Arsenic and Old Lace" [See related article Arsenic and Old Lace for a detailed story analysis].

STORY THROUGHLINES

We started by trying to identify and describe the four throughlines in the film. Identifying the Objective Story throughline (the "Big Picture") proved to be illusive. After coming up with over a half dozen different one-line descriptions, we decided to put that on hold and move on.

The Main Character was easily identified as Mortimer Brewster (Cary Grant) by a unanimous vote.

The Obstacle Character proved more elusive. There were four suggestions made: Jonathan, Mortimer's creepy brother; the Aunts (together treated as one); the Brewster family (as a whole excluding Mortimer); and Elaine Harper, Mortimer's new wife. It was determined that none of these were particularly obvious as Obstacle Character, so we went on to determine the subject matter of the Subjective Story. There didn't appear to be many examples of Subjective Story in the film, so none of the relationships between Mortimer and the potential Obstacle Characters seemed overtly stronger than the others (though Jonathan was pretty much ruled out as OC by this point).

It was determined that we should figure out the Main Character's personal issue/perspective as a way to better identify the intended Obstacle Character and Subjective Story. We decided that Mortimer's personal issues grew from being newly married and the author of two books against marriage, with another one (unknown to his new wife) in development. With this as his defining issue, it became apparent that Elaine, his new wife, was the most likely candidate for the Obstacle Character and their marriage the subject matter of the Subjective Story throughline.

CHARACTER DYNAMICS

Most everyone agreed that Mortimer is a Change character. His secretiveness in public while getting a marriage license at the beginning of the film is contrasted greatly by his whooping and chasing Elaine into her house (and off to their honeymoon) at the end of the story.

When it came to the question of the MC Growth, Stop or Start, the group was split with a slight majority favoring Stop. Instead of a drawn out debate, we decided not to answer this and to move on to the next question.

Without any dissension or argument, the group determined that Mortimer is both a Do-er and possessed a Male Mental Sex.

STORY DYNAMICS

The Story Driver of Action v. Decision was determined to be Action--no discussion.

The Story Limit was also decided to be an Optionlock without much discussion. Chris, playing devil's advocate, pointed out that there was a one hour timelock introduced at the beginning of the story (the amount of time Mortimer and Elaine have before the train leaves), but that it was quickly dismissed and therefore would not qualify as a story limit.

The Story Judgment was easily identified as Good.

Though the "feel" of the Story Outcome indicated that it was a Success, the lack of a clear Objective Story throughline and Concern suggested that the group leave this one unanswered until later.

THEMATIC CHOICES

It seemed clear to most people that Mortimer was a Universe Main Character -- his problematic situation being a newly married man who is also author of two well known books against marriage and favoring bachelorhood. This made Elaine a Mind Obstacle Character which fit but wasn't terribly compelling--she's just not in the story that much.

This left us with the struggle to determine where the nebulous Objective Story (and Subjective Story) would be found. Initially, the group leaned toward Physics due to the extremely large amount of physical activity in the film--burials, digging "canals," comings and goings, fights, etc. Chris then asked a question that related to some of the theory discussion earlier in the evening, "Are the crazy activities causing the crazy thinking of the characters, or is the crazy thinking of the characters causing the crazy activities?" In other words, which is the source of the difficulties and which is its effects? The nutty thinking is clearly the source of the whacky behavior. Given that frame of reference, the group quickly latched on to Psychology (Dysfunctional Family) as the Objective Story Domain with a Subjective Story Domain of Physics (Getting Hitched).

The remainder of the evening was spent in an attempt to narrow the storyform down further without much success. There were many good arguments for a wide variety (and incompatible) storyforms. The bottom line was that the film has LOTS of Objective Story storytelling, but severely lacks storyencoding of the three other throughlines.

The last ten to fifteen minutes of the DUG were used to discuss ONE of the possible storyforms for Arsenic and Old Lace. [See Arsenic and Old Lace Storyform for the Dramatica story engine settings.]

Next month's film, "In The Company Of Men."