Hi, again.
In our last video, we looked at plot using
what's generally called Freytag's Pyramid,
because it was developed in the 19th century
by a guy named Gustav Freytag.
In this video, I want to review the idea of
character, especially in terms of protagonist
and antagonist, but I also want to get you
thinking about how plot and character work
together.
I said in the last video that wo things I
want you to keep in mind while thinking about
plot are NORMALCY and CONFLICT, and as we
reviewed the idea of dramatic structure, we
used those ideas to guide us.
A narrative starts in a state of normalcy,
often described by the author in the exposition
(but not always).
The rising action begins when the main character
first faces some conflict, and throughout
the rest of the plot, we see the character
dealing that conflict.
Finally, the story ends with the denouement,
which gives us a sense of the new state of
normalcy.
Now we need to think about who is living this
once normal life and from where this conflict
comes.
In any good narrative -- fiction or nonfiction
-- plot is important, but plot is what happens
to someone.
Every story will have a protagonist.
We often think of this as the hero, but that
term has become problematic in recent years.
The protagonist, in the most simple terms,
is the person at the center of the story -- the
person on whom the author has chosen to focus.
In terms of normalcy and conflict, the protagonist
is the character who faces that conflict.
Often -- but not always -- we also have an
antagonist.
The antagonist is the character who causes
the conflict that the protagonist has to struggle
against.
The antagonist upsets the order of the protagonist's
life, and the story often develops around
the protagonist's efforts to regain that balance.
In other words, the antagonist disrupts the
protagonist's sense of normalcy.
If you get these confused, just focus on the
prefixes.
PRO means FOR.
ANT means AGAINST.
Think about politics.
However, we should consider that not all narratives
have an actual character as the antagonist.
Sometimes, what disrupts the normal life of
the protagonist is not any one person, but
rather a situation or event or just a change.
We don't always have Darth Vader making things
difficult.
Sometimes it's nature, as in Jack London's
short story "To Build a Fire".
Sometimes it's the whole society, as in Ray
Bradbury's novel Fahrenheit 451.
Sometimes it's technology, as in the movie
2001.
As I said, plot is all about normalcy and
conflict.
So is that all there is to it?
Sometimes, yes.
Most Hollywood movies are all about the plot
-- what happens next?
Great literature, though, is much more interested
in how the plot affects the characters.
So we have Freytag's Pyramid to help us think
about plot.
But we want to draw a big arc over that pyramid
-- from Point A (the exposition) to Point
B (the denouement).
What this arc represents is the transformation
the characters undergo as a result of the
plot.
How do the events -- all that tension -- change
the protagonist?
What happens to any of us when we go through
a crisis?
We change -- for the better, we hope.
So we want to think about that too, a lot,
actually.
Call it the Character Arc -- the way in which
the character changes as a direct result of
the plot of the story.
Ultimately, it's not the plot of the story
that we care about -- rather, it's how that
plot has caused a character we care about
to change.
Not all characters change in a story.
These minor characters are often called static
characters for that very reason -- they remain
the same throughout the story.
Let's go back to the Star Wars examples.
Luke Skywalker, in the original film, changes
as a result of that story's plot.
Both Rey and Finn change as a result of the
plot of The Force Awakens.
But what about Chewbacca?
Or R2-D2?
They're important to the story, yes, but they
don't change in any significant way.
So we've talked about who the characters are
and how they change as a result of the plot.
Let's wrap this up by considering how the
creators of a comic can make a unique character
we will care enough about to follow through
the course of the story.
Characterization is the term we use to describe
the ways in which an author or illustrator
helps us see the characters, especially the
protagonists, as real people, as people we
like and care about.
In Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud talks
a lot about how comics creators use the idea
of icons to help us connect with their characters.
This, again, is an important advantage that
comics have over purely textual narratives.
But we can also see how the character behaves
in different situations.
We can see how the character dresses.
How she decorates her dorm room.
The kinds of movies she likes to watch and
books she likes to read.
All these small details help develop the most
important characters.
Another technique is diction.
In terms of literary characters, diction is
basically how the character speaks.
What kinds of words does she use?
Does she have a large and complex vocabulary
or a rather limited one?
Does she have an accent?
Does she use certain phrases repeatedly?
So, when reading comics, pay attention those
speech bubbles -- not just what is said, but
how it is said.
All right.
Once again, thanks for watching.
Remember to take Video Quiz 2 on Brightspace
before our next class.
