different steadfast characters

May 27, 2005

Over the course of a story, their Justifications will be either Built Up or Torn Down.

Chris has gone over this a couple of times over the years, but I always wanted something in print that I could refer back to. If you go to the Dramatica MP3 Page, and scroll down to the third tape entitled “Plot,” you can hear Chris himself describe character justifications. I tried to get him to elaborate on it:

Let’s take two Steadfast Characters - Dr. Richard Kimble (Harrison Ford) in The Fugitive, and Josh (Tom Hanks) in Big. Although their Resolves are shown to be the same, the way those Resolves are developed are different.

In The Fugitive, Kimble’s resolve at the beginning is strong but is actually Built Up even greater over the course of the story. As the world around him closes in, it becomes more and more imperative that he doesn’t change.

In Big, Josh’s resolve (to be young again) is Torn Down over the course of the story. The temptations to remain an adult grow bigger and bigger until at the climax it looks like he might decide to Change and stay an adult.