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Dramatica Tip of the Month
January 2005

Why Only Four Throughlines?

Question: Why does the Dramatica Theory limit a story's perspectives/throughlines to four: namely, overall (objective story), main character, impact character (obstacle character), and main vs. impact (subjective story)?

Answer: The most direct answer is that there are only four perspectives we use in our everyday lives to solve problems.  In no particular order:

  1. The Inside view of the Inside; the personal, "I", first person perspective (Main Character perspective).

  2. The Outside view of the Outside; the objective, "They", third person perspective (Overall Story perspective).

  3. The Inside view of the Outside; the impersonal, "You", second person familiar perspective (Impact Character perspective).

  4. The Outside of the inside; the subjective, "We", second person plural perspective (MC/IC or Subjective Story perspective)

These are the only perspective we can use in life.  In our own life, we see the I, YOU, and WE perspectives directly.  We can only guess at the THEY perspective because we cannot stand outside ourselves and see how we fit into the "problem" objectively.  In the lives of other people, however, we can see the THEY, WE, and YOU perspective directly.  We can only guess at the "I" perspective because we cannot stand in other people's shoes.
 
Stories offer all four perspectives within a single context.  This is one of the reasons stories are so compelling--they offer us the sense of more "reality" that real life.

 

 

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Based on theories and materials developed by Melanie Anne Phillips and Chris Huntley
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