Do-er that Feels Like a Be-er

I understand that definitionally, but not operationally. This notion of ‘prefer’ loses a lot of its meaning in the context of a story. The typical action hero usually just wants to be left alone, to live his life. He gets pushed, he walks away, or puts up with it, or gets drunk, or whatever. It’s only when he’s pushed too far – when the writer has defined the rules of the story world such that there is no option to accept the situation – that the action hero then seeks to change the world around them.

How many times does the character have to try to change themselves internally before going out and kicking ass to still fit the definition of a “be-er”?

Referring back to my “Billy and the Kung Fu School” example, is that explicitly casting a do-er, or could that example also refer to a be-er?

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It depends on Billy’s personal problem. If everyone is getting bullied because “that’s just the way it is here,” that sounds like an OS problem, in which case we don’t have enough information to know. Let’s say it’s OS: Situation.

If Billy’s a Do-er, then his throughline, Activity, focuses on the self defense training itself as he Learns martial arts. This throughline focuses on “registering at a self-defence school.”

If Billy’s a Be-er, then his throughline, Psychology, might focus on him Conceiving of what he needs to do until he finally enrolls in the school. This throughline focuses on “considering all the other possibilities.”

It’s really about what you want to focus on and where the problems come from. So, the answer is either, but it’s not a matter of some token consideration. Even if Billy is enrolled in kungfu school for most of the story, if he’s a Be-er he’s going to struggle because he’s only Playing the Role of bubblegum-chewer and ass-kicker or because he’s afraid that’s what he’ll Become. Or Do-er Billy might not enroll until the end and spend the story struggling with Doing against or despite the bullies until he Learns he’ll have to get additional training.

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I’m only responding here to work through this and see if I understand.

Continuing on the Netflix/Marvel kick:

Daredevil is blind (Situation). The majority of his personal throughline problems come from his inability to stop himself from going out and fighting crime. This causes him huge interpersonal issues, and he wants to stop, but he just can’t. So Do-er.

Danny Rand (Iron Fist) is missing and presumed dead, along with this parents (Situation). He returns to New York to find out what happened to them, and repeatedly refuses to take no for an answer when people to tell him to stop looking, even though this causes problems. Do-er.

Jessica Jones has problems from her past as well, but this manifests more in terms of bad memories, impulsive rage, drinking, etc. Overall though, she only starts investigating and digging into her past when those around her push her to do so out of concern for her psychological well being (i.e. you need to deal with your s*&t.) Be-er.

I still haven’t watched all of Luke Cage, but my sense is that he is a Be-er – at the beginning of his series, he just wants to work in the barber shop and keep his head down. He also really tries to avoid violence. But then this could be an Avoid problem or something so I’m not sure.

Does any of this map to things like the “Refusal of the Call” from the Hero’s Journey? Or is this just an example of where the Hero’s Journey doesn’t have the fine-grain resolution of Dramatica?

And none of this responds to your Billy and the Kung Fu School question which I’m not sure about.

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Like you, I haven’t watched all of the series. But I got this impression too. He’s worried about who he might become if he begins hurting people. He only begins because he sees others getting hurt worse and feels he must step in. He’s concerned about Be-ing a better person, not so much Do-ing.

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To answer the original question, in the fourth book of my main series, the MC is a Logical Do-er with a Concern of Understanding: she wants to understand why she’s being framed. Because she’s in house arrest (and can’t Do anything) and has no one to bounce ideas off of, she’s forced to not Do but rather think about her case, how she might help the case, and things she might do once she’s freed, which does make her feel like a Be-er.

Or more like an angry bee in a bell jar at times, but I love what’s building up for the next book in the series.

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It’s a matter of context. I believe you’re still blending the functions of an objective (OS) character with the perspectives of a subjective character (MC) when trying to understand how this works.

In Dramatica terms, a ‘hero’ is a protagonist/MC.

The MC Approach only relates to the MC part of the ‘hero’, so Billy trying to fit in as the new kid is his personal issue (or however you want to define his personal issue). That’s the part to which I applied the preference description. Perhaps the ‘prefers’ isn’t the best word, but when you blend the approach by the MC and the driver of the OS, it seems the MC approaches resolving (personal) problems that may or may not be compatible with the most effective approach to resolve problems in the OS (Story Driver).

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Just a guess. I’m going to say the required number of times one must be before they can do is zero, but that they should prefer to be every time. “I would prefer to be a pacifist, but it appears I have no choice but to fight back.” Something like that.

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Let’s work on the assumption that Billy being bullied and ending up in Kung Fu lessons is entirely within the MC domain and isn’t directly connected to the overall story.

The problem is that’s literally what almost all action heroes say. They’re off living alone, trying to avoid trouble, but then they get dragged back into it. Yet I’m sure we’d identify the vast majority of those characters as do-ers.

I know Jim has labeled Bruce Wayne in Batman Begins a Be-er.

As to the rest of them, I’d need a storyform in front of me, but maybe some of those characters would prefer to do but have decided not to, and are getting called back to action. Maybe their problem hasn’t quite started yet and so their preference isn’t yet relevant.

Just an example. OS Physics, MC Universe. Superheroes are all fighting. MC is getting too damn old for this. Rather than saying I can’t be a fighter anymore, he has instead surrounded himself with a quieter, easier environment. He’d be adjusting the external world so that he doesn’t have to put up with all the fighting anymore rather than changing his internal self, wouldn’t he? But as an audience, might this look to us like he was trying to just be?

That’s because most Hollywood scripts have them as Do-ers, not Be-ers, and/or emphasize the OS over the MC throughline.

That said, the importance of knowing these storyform story points is that it give an author the choice (chance) to make the distinction if they want in order to give depth to the character. Once the throughlines are blended through storytelling and storyweaving it can be difficult to pull apart those threads.

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