Dramatica Weekend Workshop Syllabus

2 Character

* 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
• Obstacle Character: Boo Radley
• Role of Narrator (v. Main Character): Author’s commentary

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

 

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.

• 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

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

 

Motivation Elements in The Wizard of Oz

* 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

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 Objective 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. Obstacle 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 Obstacle Character: The obstacle 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 Obstacle Character montage, “You and I are just alike.”

• Alternative Paradigms: To completely explore the issue at the heart of a story, an obstacle character must present an alternative approach to that pursued by the main character. The obstacle 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 Obstacle 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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Dramatica Theory

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