MC who's not Antagonist or Protagonist

questions
#1

Trying to figure out how to model this, to fill in the holes in a story (narrative) I found on the web, as an exercise.
Story has 4 characters - man 1, man 2, woman 1, woman 2.
Man 2 is jealous of woman 2, digs up dirt on her. He convinces Man 1 and Woman 1 to help him teach her a lesson.
Man 1, Man 2, and Woman 1 kidnap Woman 2, and imprison her for two years.
Woman 2 is the POV character, we experience her imprisonment during acts 2, 3, and 4.
Like the count of Monte Cristo, there’s no way out, no one coming to rescue her. There’s nothing she can do but do what she’s told in order to survive.
Man 2 initiated the events, but once we move into Act 2, Woman 1 calls the shots on what humiliations are inflicted on woman 2.

Who’s the protagonist, antagonist, and what roles does the MC woman 2 play in the theory?
I find that in a lot of asian-based stories, the MC’s role is nothing more than to survive, which is different from the western story view.

#2

What is the goal of this story? If the Goal is to teach Woman 2 a lesson, Man 2 is Protagonist. If the Goal is to survive Woman 2 is protagonist.

#3

Mei (woman 2) is arrogant, and Kei (man 2), Oshi (man 1), and Ria (woman 1) have the goal to teach her not to be arrogant.
Mei (woman 2) undergoes humiliations by the others. Her goal is to survive, but she does learn to not be arrogant.
OS throughline is Activities (everything the people do is an activity).
Problem with this being eastern-based is that Mei (woman 2), once incarcerated, is not trying to escape, not trying to attack anyone, it’s all about doing whatever causes her the least pain, whether physical or emotional. She is NOT an active character, unlike western stories. They say jump, she jumps. They say eat dirt, she eats dirt. She knows to do otherwise means harsh floggings.
If I make her the protagonist, she’s got to be doing things that push the story forward. But she’s not moving anything along, she’s only reacting and surviving.
Kei (man 2) and Ria (woman 1) are the persecutors, subjecting her to the humiliations to rid her of the ignoble arrogance.
In the end, she’s merely happy to be released, appearing to have lost her arrogant behavior and become polite and respectful. All very oriental themes.

#4

How are activities the source of the problem? Isn’t the source of the problem somewhere around changing Mei’s attitude of arrogance?

#5

I assumed that the OS domain is activities - problems stem what the activities that are occurring, but the only “problems” resulting from Activities are the problems she faces in what is done to her.
The OS domain MIGHT be a situation or environment, the situation being that arrogance isn’t tolerated.
The OS domain MIGHT be a fixed attitude, they all have a fixed attitude about how to be.
The OS domain MIGHT be a way of thinking, they each have a belief regarding arrogance.

The MC domain seems to be a situation, because the external problem is her captivity. But her internal problem is either her Fixed Attitude about how to be, or her way of thinking that makes her arrogant.

The IC domain could be Activities because the activities they pursue cause her problems. Or the IC doman could be Fixed Attitude, since they have a fixed attitude regarding arrogance, and thus their impact on the MC and the punishment is an outcome of the fixed attitude. Or…

And that’s why this is frustrating.

And then it’s back to whether she should be treated as the protagonist - no, since she is not moving the story along. should she be the antagonist? closer than protagonist, she doesn’t want what’s happening, but she’s not externally doing anything to stop them, only internally disliking it and choosing to react with the least painful outcome.

If I can’t reliably map the character into Dramatica to find the holes to fill without changing the character into someone else, it does me no good. Which is why I posted this question in the first place :slight_smile:

#6

I’m going to throw out multiple points here. I’m not an expert, so keep that in mind.

Is being told to eat dirt the source of the problem? Or is the source of the problem someone trying to get her to change her behavior?

I could be wrong, but I only see one Throughline so far in your description of the story. That throughline includes things that are activities, situational, attitudinal, and behavioral, but all stem from the same source. Who do you see as the IC character, for example? And how is being captured and tortured a different throughline from teaching Mei a lesson by capturing and torturing her?[quote=“lazyhero, post:5, topic:1577”]
it’s back to whether she should be treated as the protagonist - no, since she is not moving the story along
[/quote]
Let’s figure out the Goal first. Then we can decide if she is the Protagonist. To figure out the Goal, we need to decide where the OS problems are coming from. Is it a problem for Mei to eat dirt? Or is it a problem for Mei to have these people trying to change her because it involves eating dirt? Is it a problem for the others to make Mei eat dirt? Or is their problem that Mei’s arrogance causes conflict which leads to them telling her to eat dirt?

Why do you need to know if she is the Protagonist or not? Wouldn’t it be more helpful to start by looking at what motivates her? For instance, is she driven to accept or tolerate what’s happening to her? If so, can she somehow accept her way out of it? Can she reject her way out of it? Is she driven to to behave accurately in order to get through the situation? If you can find her motivation within the OS, you can then you can start looking at what archetypes she most closely aligns with.

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#7

Having spent some time reading through “Dramatica for Screenwriters,” and the “Eight Essential Questions”…

  1. Will the Main Character hold on to their original motivation or change? Mei changes, so MC Resolve is Change.
  2. Will the Main Character be towards stopping or starting? Either she stops being rude or start being polite. I’m going to grab at straws and say Starts being polite.
  3. Action or Decision. Since they Decide she needs to be taught a lesson before acting and kidnapping her, and she must decide each time what to do before “training”, the driver is Decide.
  4. Outcome. Since she’s starting to be polite, a good thing, it’s a success.
  5. Plot Type. Saldana says that “Redemption plots” have the person being “saved” as the Main Character, and the one showing her the light as the Influence character. So that makes Mei the MC and the other woman the IC.
  6. Domain Types. Saldana says that Personal Dramas, such as Redemption plots, use the Overall Story Domain of Manipulation to show deep and complicated character evolution, and MC Domain is often Activities, since the activities they are involved in (Like Scrooge and the Ghosts are initiated by the Ghosts but cause problems for Scrooge.)

When he describes it like that, I can see it making sense, but it’s counter-intuitive to me to think of it that way.