We should probably end this soon, so we can make it an official storyform. We have one, yes?
Here is the one we basically ended up on:
STORY ENGINE SETTINGS: “A Man For All Seasons”
RESOLVE: Steadfast
IC RESOLVE: Change
GROWTH: Stop
APPROACH: Be-er
PROBLEM-SOLVING STYLE: Logical
DRIVER: Decision
LIMIT: Optionlock
OUTCOME: Failure
JUDGMENT: GoodOVERALL STORY (Bending to King Henry VIII’s remaking of church & marriage)
THROUGHLINE: Manipulation
CONCERN: Conceiving an Idea
ISSUE: Permission vs. Deficiency
PROBLEM: Certainty
SOLUTION: Potentiality
SYMPTOM: Acceptance
RESPONSE: Nonacceptance
CATALYST: Deficiency
INHIBITOR: Reappraisal
BENCHMARK: Playing a RoleMAIN CHARACTER THROUGHLINE
(Sir Thomas More)
THROUGHLINE: Fixed Attitude
CONCERN: Contemplation
ISSUE: Reappraisal vs. Appraisal
PROBLEM: Deduction
SOLUTION: Induction
SYMPTOM: Acceptance
RESPONSE: Nonacceptance
UNIQUE ABILITY: Doubt
CRITICAL FLAW: Expediency
BENCHMARK: Impulsive ResponsesIMPACT CHARACTER THROUGHLINE
(The Duke of Norfolk)
THROUGHLINE: Situation
CONCERN: The Present
ISSUE: Repulsion vs. Attraction
PROBLEM: Certainty
SOLUTION: Potentiality
SYMPTOM: Deduction
RESPONSE: Induction
UNIQUE ABILITY: Attempt
CRITICAL FLAW: Analysis
BENCHMARK: How Things are ChangingRELATIONSHIP STORY (“Old friends divided by oath-taking”)
THROUGHLINE: Activity
CONCERN: Gathering Information
ISSUE: Prerequisites vs. Preconditions
PROBLEM: Certainty
SOLUTION: Potentiality
SYMPTOM: Probability
RESPONSE: Possibility
CATALYST: Preconditions
INHIBITOR: Repulsion
BENCHMARK: DoingADDITIONAL STORY POINTS
GOAL: Conceiving an Idea
CONSEQUENCE: Gathering Information
COST: The Present
DIVIDEND: Contemplation
REQUIREMENT: Playing a Role
PREREQUISITE: Doing
PRECONDITION: How Things are Changing
FOREWARNINGS: Impulsive Responses
I think we were still waiting for some final agreement from @LunarDynasty, @Prish and @Rod but that seems to be the best candidate. Is it worth us listing the illustrations for the story points that we came up with during this discussion?
I don’t think the overall story had anything to do with making the church. I think that was just a fallout of trying to bend people’s will to allow the marriage.
@Prish, in that summary “Bending to King Henry VIII’s remaking of church & marriage” I was trying to incorporate the awesome illustrations that @LunarDynasty had mentioned for the Overall Story Concern of Conceiving within the Domain of Manipulation:
Henry works to persuade others to conceive of a church without the papacy, of an England where he can do what’s best for the country (and/or himself)
also
The problem is whether Henry can manipulate everyone (the Pope, the nobility, the whole of England) to accept his plan for the Tudor dynasty, marrying / divorcing whomever he wants at his behest.
I think it’s about more than just the marriage, though “Bending to the marriage” was a nice summary to get us started.
Changing the King’s power with church and marriage? I’ll mull this over with the thesaurus.
Yeah I know what you were getting at with bending to King Henry’s Will and I think it works great as a story encoding for the final storyform. I’m pretty sure everyone will agree on this one so I’ll check and see if we can add it in.
Thanks everyone!
Hey Jim, is there any point to trying to illustrate some of the story points? I could probably do a dozen or so encodings pretty quickly just by combing through the thread and copying what people already wrote when they were supporting their ideas. It would be cool to see some of those encodings on the site – BUT it would take way longer to try and encode all the points, so I’m not volunteering for that LOL.
I would say no. Chris already said its ok for me to post it, so I will sometime this week. Thanks!
1 Like
Sounds great! Thanks to everyone who contributed to the analysis … and especially to @LunarDynasty Brant for all of the guidance and teaching provided along the way. I really learned a lot from this thread.
1 Like
Yeah, this was fun and informative. Thanks everyone for participating!
Thanks for getting me on board with this, still a fantastic film 50 years later! I’m with you, kudos to LunarDynasty. This place is so much fun.
1 Like
Hey Jim, did you manage to post this analysis? I can’t find it on the site, but maybe my search-fu is poor.
No. October was quite challenging for me in terms of scheduling. I’m hoping to get back on track in November.
No worries, I was only asking because I wanted to brag to my friend (who loved this movie) that I contributed to the analysis! 
1 Like
Hey, everyone, our fantastic, brilliant, unforgettable Richard Rich of Man for All Seasons, the actor Sir John Hurt, has left us today. Such a loss…but we were so fortunate for his performance, which immediately came to mind when we did the analysis. Still fresh, after all these years.
1 Like
@jhull Hey Jim just a ping to see if you might want to add this storyform (this post) to Subtext…
(it was earlier approved by yourself and Chris)
Thanks!
1 Like
What? It’s only been a year…
I almost have it ready to go – want to help with the Narrative Argument bit? Switch out the following Elements for Storytelling (since I know you probably have the story memorized!)…
Ha! I actually started to do that in my previous post but wasn’t sure if you’d want MC Crucial Element or “steadfast MC keeps on MC Direction”. Looks like Crucial (Acceptance) gets deeper into the core of the argument compared to Direction (Nonacceptance). I dig that.
Here are a couple options:
- Vindication awaits those who accept death to preserve their conscience, even if it means learning one’s legal system is unjust.
- Vindication awaits those who accept death to preserve their conscience, even if it means teaching the country its government is corrupt.
Just on the Crucial Element thing again, it’s cool how More is basically Nonacceptance the whole film, until he must accept death as a result. (And I think there are hints throughout that he will accept death if it comes to it, which really drive the narrative.) Look at the acceptance in this quote near the end:
MORE: I am the King’s true subject… and I pray for him and all the realm. I do none harm. I say none harm. I think none harm. And if this be not enough to keep a man alive… then in good faith, I long not to live.
Excellent - thank you so much.
Yes, the Narrative Argument is based on the MC’s Crucial Element - which I believe in this case would be the Focus. Thanks!
Sweet! Great to see it up there.