In theory, MC Througline has its own independent story, but in fact, most of the works, Main characters and Protagonist are mixed into one, in this case, the MC story is very far fetched. So, I think that when MC and Protagonist are the same person, the MC story can be omitted.
The separation of OS from MC is only theoretical and beautiful, but the actual operation is very reluctant and only brings confusion.
I couldn’t disagree more. The MC throughline is about what’s happening to the main character independent of what everyone else is dealing with (and independent of the main character’s impact on the overall story.) Consider, for example, a classic mystery scenario in which an aging detective is called upon to track down a serial killer. Everyone in the story is concerned with putting a stop to the killer (Overall Story in Activities), but only the main character is dealing with what it’s like to be too old to do the things that once came naturally to him.
Or think of it from the classic Dramatica example of a war: everyone is concerned with how the war is going (OS in activity), but only the main character is wondering if she’ll survive the battle (MC in situation).
Both these examples are very much in the classic Hollywood action story, but of course you can find examples anywhere. Just focus on the question: what is the main character dealing with that the rest of the characters really aren’t? If you asked most of the characters in the story, “Hey, what’s going on here?” you’d get one answer and that’s the Overall Story. If you sat the main character down in private and asked, “Hey, what’s going on with you?” you’d get a different one.
Hope that helps.
@fly2spring Almost all stories have the MC being the Protagonist. So unless you are writing something non-mainstream, you can think of them as the same. There is no Protagonist Throughline, Protagonist is a role that is assigned. You can select which one of your characters is the protagonist on the Character’s page. There is a TYPE dropdown.
The OS and MC are different points of view, you need all 4 throughlines(POVs) for a grand argument story (GAS), that is kind of the whole point of using Dramatica. Though, you are the writer, you can leave throughlines out, it would just create a smaller story (Tale) that likely would not be as good.
The Overall story is what everyone in the story world is dealing with (Ex. The Immigration Apocalypse), the MC story is set within that larger story and told from a different perspective… the personal perspective (Ex. Donald Trump with only a baseball bat and a can-do Amerikan attitude to save the world… one dead illegal immigrant at a time). The MC is an avatar for the audience member to step into and experience your story. The audience can’t relate to the Overall story on that personal level.
Free showers will be offered after the movie for those wishing to wash the Trump Juice off themselves as soon as possible before it stains their psyche.
No illegal Immigrants were harmed in the making of this film.
And this is why so many films die on opening weekend.
It may be the majority, but I definitely wouldn’t go so far as to say “almost all stories”. Here is just one thread with some examples – and these only cover IC as Protagonist; there would be another class of stories where Protagonist is neither MC nor IC.
Also, be careful about lumping MC and Protagonist together even when they are the same player. Much of the power of stories like Star Wars comes from seeing how the MC’s Changed perspective on their personal issues connects to and impacts the Overall Story (or vice versa in a story like E.T.). Or in stories like Braveheart or The Fugitive, how the MC sticking to their guns on their personal issues plays out in the Overall Story.
Also, the Protagonist role can be handed off. I think that while Morpheus is the main Protagonist in The Matrix, Neo takes over that role when Morpheus is captured. “We need guns. Lots of guns.”
@fly2spring, can you share some examples of movies where you feel like the MC can be ommitted? Then we can try to look at the difference between the OS and MC throughlines and see both are needed.
Omitting the MC only creates a propaganda tale…yuck! Unless, that is your goal–to make a one sided statement. Like Sicko.
Just because a character serves two functions, it does not follow then that one is omitted. You still have to track both functions to deliver a Grand Argument Story. Don’t you want to deliver a full featured emotional argument?
One piece of advice from someone who also struggles with Dramatica is to not worry too much about whether the model seems perfect or not – or even whether it’s too rigid. I mostly use Dramatica to help get myself out of story jams by using the model to ask myself questions. For example, I’ll often wrestle with “How is my IC throughline different from the RS throughline? Why does this other character exist other than to be part of this relationship, or, conversely, why bother having this relationship at all if it’s just a way of showing this character’s point of view?” Just getting to the point where you have four discreet throughlines, each of which represent a different point of view on the story, can be tremendously powerful in making sure your final product feels complete and meaningful. And when the model isn’t working for me, I just move on for a while, convince myself I’ll never open up Dramatica again, and go to work on my story. Sure enough, a few hours, days, or weeks later I end up back in Dramatica having moved myself a bit further along and now finding I want to see what the model tells me about my story.
@decastell @Lulz4 @jhull @mlucas @Gregolas @crayzbrian thanks to everybody. Here is one of my explanations: Click here:)