Deadwood: An Unlikely Partnership Between Foes
June 22, 2007
Using this theory to analyze great films or TV series is not always an easy thing to do. Unlike other story paradigms which simply seek to find out whether any “commandments” or rules are broken, Dramatica is chiefly concerned with deciphering the author’s original intent. It’s always nice then when you can have your analysis verified by the original writers…
Two sides of the same coin. Mirror images of each other. Two characters who start out so unalike, yet in the end discover they are virtually the same. Where have we heard this before? Hmmmm….
Oh yeah! Those lines are all over the Impact Character Video Montage.
Quick recap: Those familiar phrases clearly describe the Subjective Story relationship between the Main Character and Impact Character. These characters are both very much alike and very much different, depending on which way you look at them.
Previously I wrote about how I thought the writers of Deadwood were exploring that concept in the relationship between Swearengen and Bullock. I was pleased to find out that they were:
For some reason I never really thought of them as having a father/son relationship, but when I think about it now, I guess I always felt it.
This is just a small clip of the 20-minute bonus feature The Education of Swearengen and Bullock - The Making of a Remarkable Relationship. If you’re at all interested in story or great writing, I highly suggest you pick it up.