Elf Storyform Analysis

[jhay]

And do you feel the lightness there? That’s a Start story.

I just went looking through the Subtext storyforms for 'Start' and 'Stop' comedies, and it's surprising how well that lines up. Start comedies feel a lot more 'pleasant' than Stop comedies.

In fact, a lot (maybe not all) of the Stop comedies involve high-stakes, dramatic or dangerous scenarios (the gangsters could kill the guys in Some Like It Hot), whereas the Start comedies are pretty gentle (There's Something About Mary is just about guys competing for the love of a woman, and Paddington 2 is downright delightful).

Never would have thought to look at it like that.

[glennbecker]

I definitely see how it feels lighter than Home Alone. Not that I'd think to describe Home Alone as heavy.

[jhull]

But some of that mother/son stuff and the neighbor and his son - that's a little more "heavy" right?

Great - so OS in Psychology, MC in Universe.

Which puts the IC in Mind

and the RS in Physics

With that in mind - who takes care of the IC and who takes care of the RS?

I LOVE doing this backwards - where you find domains/perspectives first - THEN look for the players representing those perspectives. The last couple of years I've watched Elf and tried to figure out the storyform and I could never get it to feel quite right, and then last night it all fell into place - just by doing it this way.

[glennbecker]

But some of that mother/son stuff and the neighbor and his son - that's a little more "heavy" right?

Yeah, definitely.

The father definitely has the bad attitude.

There could be a few relationships, right? The Romantic one seems like an obvious choice.

[jhay]

IC is definitely Dad. He's on the naughty list and everything, super negative.

RS is probably Romantic between Buddy and Jovie. There's also the rekindled father/son dynamic between he and his Dad, and the friendship between Buddy and the son (I can't remember his name) but I don't remember as much about that one.

Those are the big three. But Romantic is the most significant, I think.

[glennbecker]

Right. Don't the Son and Buddy have the big snowball fight? That's a nice Physics bonding thing.

[jhull]

Right, as I was watching it last night I was thinking - well, that was a nice hand-off!

Previously, when I would watch I would think, well, there doesn't seem to enough of a relationship between Buddy and his Dad, not throughout the whole thing - whereas the Romantic relationship really takes center stage, then probably father/son, and then "step-brothers" (But not as good as the actual Step-Brothers!)

But yeah, definitely IC is all Dad.

So Character Dynamics -

Resolve is super easy....

We already have Growth
We already have Approach

Story Dynamics:

Drivers
Limit: Optionlock
Outcome:
Judgment:

The last two are super easy given the Genre...

[glennbecker]

I think we're all good on Steadfast / Success / Good, right?

@jhay Do you think you could rattle off drivers from memory?

[jhay]

Steadfast/Success/Good for sure. Drivers are actions, I think.

I think, from memory, the first driver would be when Buddy overhears he's a human? But that's probably the MC throughline.

Actually, if the OS is to do with Christmas spirit, the first driver is probably when Buddy finds out his Dad is on the naughty list. And then that forces his decision to go to New York and help.

I'd have to rewatch to place the middle two.

I think the fourth driver is when the sleigh crash-lands, and the fifth would probably be when the sleigh gets powered up again -- or, more specifically, when Walter joins in with the singing.

[jhull]

Awesome.

Now, let's skip over everything and get right to the point.

What is presented as the problem in the story, and how is it solved?

[glennbecker]

I'm think good with that.

[jhull]

Hint: they ripped it off another movie.

[jhay]

I have no idea what that other movie is.

I know there's a moment that they ripped off of It's a Wonderful Life, but I don't know if that's what you mean.

I keep coming back to the line 'the best way to spread Christmas Cheer is singing loud for all to hear,' which feels like a very unsubtle OS Solution line.

So I'll take a swing and say that the problem is that everyone is pretty miserable and cynical and unpleasant, and the solution is for them to simply open their hearts and be joyful.

EDIT: Actually I just remembered that the son shows Santa's book at the end to get everyone onboard, so it's probably going to be that the solution is getting everyone to believe in Christmas/Santa?

[glennbecker]

I'd say it's that no one believes in Santa Claus / Christmas. They're cynical. The song is definitely the solution.

I was thinking of the Peter Pan where everyone has to clap to bring Tinker Bell back to life.

[jhull]

Why won't Santa's sleigh fly?

[jhay]

Why won't Santa's sleigh fly?

It lost its engine (probably not the answer you wanted).

It can't fly because there's a shortage of Christmas spirit.

[jhull]

Which they present as?

[jhay]

Oh, it has to be disbelief, right?

Because he goes around talking about Santa all the time and everyone thinks he's nuts.

And then the solution is to read Santa's book, convince people he exists and then the more people believe, the more spirit there is.

[jhull]

No. How do they represent it in the story (storytelling) ?

[glennbecker]

Is it more along the lines of oppose? Then everyone comes together.