We’ve just uploaded some new storyforms to the Dramatica library: one for Iron Man and two for the very first Pirates of the Caribbean (which explains why that first film is so rich with storytelling!)
In the past I’ve said that Iron Man was two Storyforms — the first half in the cave was Change, and the rest was Steadfast. After doing an analysis with Chris Huntley we realized it’s really just a single Change Storyform–it’s just that Tony changes a lot earlier than at the end, and you’ll see that reflected in the Storyform.
What does this mean in terms of a human mind solving a problem? Would this be the equivalent of taking a new path before old justifications have been torn down or new ones built up? If so, is the rest of the story still tearing down old justifications and building new ones up to reinforce the change? Or would it be tearing new justifications down and building old ones up in order to protect the change? Or does that line of thinking even make any sense?
I think what you’re picking up on is less a matter of justification or problem-solving at the Storyform level and more an issue of execution in the original screenplay. In other words, it’s a Storyweaving / Story Reception thing, not something that breaks or contradicts the underlying argument.
Tony’s “early” shift isn’t the story changing its mind — it’s the film distributing the beats in a way that front-loads the personal turn and then spends the rest of the narrative expressing, reinforcing, and challenging that change through the external plot dynamics. The architecture underneath is still a unified Change Storyform; the placement of that pivot just sits earlier in the timeline than we typically see.
So the model holds. The presentation is what feels unconventional.
i didn’t mean to suggest anything broke or contradicted the argument. I just assumed the Signposts (both MC and IC) were also part of the journey of tearing down the MCs old justifications and building new ones for Unproven and that the entire journey was what led to that change. If the change happens before all 4 signposts were explored, i figured it the remaining signposts were still working “against” old justifications and “toward” new ones. But I can also see that being a faulty assumption.
