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Dramatica Theory Book
Chapter
24: Storytelling and Storyforming Structural Appreciations (Cont.)
For the Objective
Story Throughline:
When looking at the
characters in the Objective Story Throughline, identify them by the roles
they play instead of their names. This keeps them at a distance, making
them a lot easier to evaluate objectively. For instance, some of
the characters in Shakespeare's Hamlet might be the king, the queen,
the ghost, the prince, the chancellor, and the chancellor's daughter,
while the characters in The Fugitive might be the fugitive doctor,
the federal marshal, the dead wife, the one-armed man, and so on. By avoiding
the characters' proper names you also avoid identifying with them and
confusing their personal concerns with their concerns as Objective Characters.
Aren't the Main
Character and the Obstacle Character also part of the Objective Story?
The Main Character and the Obstacle Character will each have a role in
the Objective Story in addition to their explorations of their own throughlines.
From the Objective Story point of view we see all the story's Objective
Characters and identify them by the functions they fulfill in the quest
to reach the Objective Story Concern. The Objective Story throughline
is what brings all of the characters in the story together and describes
what they do in relation to one another in order to achieve this Concern.
It is extremely important to be able to separate the Main Character throughline
from the Objective Story throughline in order to see your story's structure
accurately. It is equally important to make the distinction between the
Obstacle Character and the Objective Story. Exploring these two characters'
throughlines in a story requires a complete shift in the audience's perspective,
away from the overall story that involves all the characters and
into the subjective experiences that only these two characters have within
the story. Thus, each of these throughlines should be considered individually.
The Main Character and the Obstacle Character will, however, each have
at least one function to perform in the Objective Story as well. When
we see them here, though, they both appear as Objective Characters. In
the Objective Story all we see are the characteristics they represent
in relation to the other Objective Characters.
So if your Main Character happens to be the Protagonist as well, then
it is purely as the Protagonist that we will see him in the Objective
Story. If your Obstacle Character is also an Archetypal Guardian, then
his helping and conscience are all you should consider about
that character in the Objective Story.
In every story, these two will at least be called upon in the Objective
Story to represent the story's Crucial Element and its dynamic opposite.
It is possible that the Main and Obstacle Characters could have no other
relationship with the Objective Story than these single characteristics.
The point is that their importance to the Objective Story should be thought
of completely in terms of these and any other Objective characteristics
which are assigned.
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