Got it. So you mean more like…
OS Issue: Interdiction (the town, the company that made the bus are going to cover things up, we need to act fast if we’re going to stop them)
OS Problem: Inequity (we’re the victims here, an injustice has been made)
Yes that certainly sounds stronger. What about the MC?
MC Issue: Instinct (Mitchell’s paternal instinct, to protect his child, has gone haywire)
MC Problem: Thought (Mitchell is gnawing at the issue of children dying, being used, running off the reserve, etc.)
Thank you, BTW, I think I’ve been approaching it wrong all along. Lots of huge steps toward a better understanding of Dramatica and story today.
You’re welcome!
Thought as a problem would imply that if he just knew something then he would be resolved. What would that knowledge be?
He says it at the end, doesn’t he? Sorry, I know quoting screenplays isn’t the rage right now, but I can’t help it. They’re so darn beautiful.
MITCHELL
Right now, the thing you've got
to worry about, is why she lied.
Now any kid who would do that to
her father - is not normal, Sam.
In other words, Mitchell would have his case, a full story to bite into. He would have a child to save and a perpetrator to punish.
I’d like to make a case for MC Issue: Instinct (as @Jerome wrote, paternal instinct) and MC Problem: Ability. Just because Mitchell is able to go and save his daughter or file a lawsuit it doesn’t mean it should be done. In his case both abilities could be more a curse than a blessing because in the end, those actions are not beneficial to him, Zoe or the townspeople.
However this would create:
OS Problem: Fate - The parents seem to assume the loss of their children is Fate, a terrible circumstance at a particular point in time, but they will continue their lives - their Destiny. Unlike Mitchell, who it seems to me, thinks has only one Fate and is stuck with it, saving Zoe over and over again,
OS Problem: Order They parents lived a very ordered life, the accident created chaos for all of them.
@Alejandro, what if it were the other way around? I don’t see how Order could be their problem (their lives are anything but ordered), but Chaos might work. Their lives are destroyed by a random accident, something they had no control over and that happened for no apparent reason.
OS Issue: Fate (the accident)
OS Problem: Chaos (there’s no apparent reason why it happened)
MC Issue: Instinct (father instinct)
MC Problem: Desire (Mitchell wants to protect all the children, punish those who are negligent)
¡¡MC Solution: Ability (Mitchell grows wings and becomes the patron saint of all children – not going to happen)!!
Also, since the MC is steadfast, then the IC, the townspeople, gain a certain sense of order to the whole thing when Nicole lies. She “reveals” why the bus crashed. Of course, this forces Dolores to move out, she’s the sacrificial lamb needed to give the town its peace of mind – which explains the closing shots where she’s moved to the city, banished from her home town.
In the software, it looks like this:
IC Issue: State of Being (the town is being torn apart)
IC Problem: Chaos (people are making double deals, counter suing, greed is taking over)
IC Solution: Order (Nicole puts the blame squarely on Dolores’ lap, ending this and other law suits for good, bringing order back to the town)
RS Concern: Memories (the case hinges on the recollection of the survivors)
RS Issue: Truth (the case will, hopefully, reveal what really happened)
RS Problem: Chaos (accounts contradict one another, Billy refuses to testify)
@Jerome: Indeed, Chaos seems more fit. The one thing I’m not sure is about MC’s Problem Ability or Desire. Both seem good choices to me.
I’ll argue for Ability because Mitchell talks about all the things he has done to save Zoe and the desire part would seem to me more implicit.
@jhull: Could a problem of Order (or any other element in any throughline) mean a lack of that element? (Lack of Order causes the problem here) or just the existence of that element? (Existence of Order causes the problem). Thanks.
Yes, but all those things he’s done to help Zoe, has any of it worked?
No, they haven’t worked. And that’s precisely why it’s the MC’s Problem. This would be tied with Failure/Bad/Steadfast.
However, MC Problem Desire would also be a good candidate for what motivates / drives him. I’m still undecided between them. I do think we see Mitchell doing things and not desiring them. But the desire may be implicit in his conversations to Zoe and Allison.
A MC Issue of Instinct would presuppose that his instincts are wrong or somehow screwed up. Going back to his Concern what problems does he create in Understanding?
And then let’s look at the four groups of elements we have and see which ones sound more like the story.
For Overall Story we have either:
- Knowledge, Thought, Order, Chaos or
- Desire, Ability, Inequity, Equity
And for Main Character we have:
- Knowledge, Thought, Ability, Desire or
- Chaos, Order, Inequity, Equity
And knowing that we have a Steadfast character the two elements shared between the two Throughlines will have the same Symptom and Response. And these are the things that the characters actually think is the problem. They’ll talk about them all the time.
Which group of two get bantered about consistently in this story?
He wants everyone to understand that an injustice has been perpetrated and that something must be done about it.
He wants everyone to understand that he can find whoever’s guilty for the loss of their children and make them pay.
Symptom of Inequity, Response of Equity?
I think Mitchell doesn’t see the larger picture for both the Zoe and parents situation. I don’t think he fully understands the parents or Zoe. He tries to compare his pain to the parents’, this is stated when he talks to Billy about losing their children to malls, etc. But Zoe is still alive.
He is unable to understand the situation between him and Zoe, and even though he may try to understand the parents, he really doesn’t know what it is like to lose a child (Yet).
As a lawyer part of his job is to understand the case and his clients in both reason and emotion, but he doesn’t even understand himself and his daughter.
So maybe MC Issue is Interpretation His interpretation is that he has lost Zoe, but she’s still alive. Yes, in an dire situation but maybe she can be saved. Maybe. The children in the bus can’t be saved. Period. And this is also reflected in the OS, he tries to force his interpretation of negligence on what seems to be just an accident.
I was looking for a choice paragraph to quote here but they all sound amazing and spot on …
and I think that gets us down to ONE STORYFORM. To recap we have:
- Steadfast
- Do-er
- Linear
- Action
- Optionlock
- Failure
- Bad
- Situation
- The Past
- Interdiction
- Desire
Some things I really like about this. First, the one I love is the Main Character Problem (or Drive) - Chaos. Mitchell has no idea when his daughter will call, and it is that chaos that drives him forward throughout the whole story. This Chaos has driven him towards a certain Understanding of the world and an Interpretation of events that he tries to force on others.
As far as Desire as a Problem in the Overall Story. There seems to be an overwhelming sense of Desire weighing everyone down - those behind the suit want a better situation, they want retribution or revenge. Those against it have a lack of desire, a lack of wanting things to be better. They’ve given up and essentially sit in their own lost Desires.
If they somehow were able to bring their children back or at the very least able to make someone pay perhaps they could get over the Past, but they can’t. And the Consequence for all is the Memories of those they lost. All the examples above where Memory was thought of as a Concern - these were all Consequences, some already in place that they could never escape.
Desire too as a Problem can be seen in the relationship between father and daughter. A Desire that set a tragedy every bit as devastating as the loss of a bus full of children into motion. Nicole’s act of revenge, when she is finally Able to remember the events of the day represents her Changed Resolve. The children have become every bit as predatory as their parents.
A fantastic bit of story and a wonderful example of a solid storyform. I’ll try and get this one put up on the main site. Thanks!
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Some interesting bits from the DVD commentary with writer/director Atom Egoyan and novelist Russell Banks:
“A decision was made not to show any religious figure, so Mitchell (the lawyer) is a ‘priest’ and a ‘devil’”
"In the novel, everyone speaks in first person. Because no one in the town could be Mitchell’s friend, this character (Allison) was created. To give Mitchell’s version, a repository of his past. "
"Mitchell is trying to comfort himself by saving other people’s children. "
"Mitchell is so good with other people yet so inept with others. "
“Mitchell runs from physical violence yet refocuses it. ‘Let me focus your rage’”
"Nicole realizes his father’s motivations are darker – not just about money, but people trying to reward themselves. "
"Nicole is being used, first physically to satisfy his father’s desire, now for money. "
“Nicole’s father is in denial. The film (is about) politics of denial. The system (legal) is about denial. Her rage isn’t for what his father did (incest) but rather because of his denial, he cannot confront that.”
“Mitchell will never know what happened between Nicole and her father. Nicole will never know what happened between Mitchell and his daughter. Nicole is the only one capable of change.”
So if I’m getting it right, some of the characters in the Overall Story (or any throughline) could have the problem. because they have/act on that element and others because they lack it or act against it?
Yeah, I think that’s how it works. You can either be for it, against it, indifferent to it, or in need of it.
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Not sure if all of these are accurate, but here’s my first batch of interpretation for some of the elements. Shall we aim for a comprehensive analysis with this one? Quality of the work would seem to justify it.
CHARACTER DYNAMICS
MC Resolve: Steadfast: Mitchell remains staunch in his quest to save his daughter and find the reason behind every tragedy. He never comes to accept that some things are simply accidents.
MC Growth: Stop: The audience is waiting for Mitchell to stop pursuing the class action lawsuit and upsetting the families of the victims.
MC Approach: Do-er: Mitchell goes door to door, soliciting the townspeople to join the lawsuit. He flies to wherever his daughter is to rescue her from her latest predicament.
MC Style: Linear: Mitchell works his way through the town one by one, soliciting each family to join the lawsuit. He also presents his cast in a very linear fashion, as with Wanda and Hartley when he explains, “Someone calculated ahead of time what it would cost to sacrifice safety. It’s the darkest, most cynical thing to imagine, but it’s absolutely true. And now, it’s up to me to make them build that bus with an extra bolt, or add an extra yard of guard rail. It’s the only way we can ensure moral responsibility in this society. By what I do.”
PLOT DYNAMICS
Driver: Action: The bus accident sets the story in motion. During the investigation, the discoveries Mitchell makes regarding what happened constitute the act turns. The story ends with Nicole lying on the witness stand, destroying the lawsuit.
Limit: Optionlock: Nicole’s lie and the death of the class action lawsuit marks the climax of the story.
Outcome: Failure: The lawsuit falls apart.
Judgment: Bad: Mitchell remains haunted by the tragedies that surround him.
STATIC PLOT POINTS
Goal: The Past: Everyone in the story is trying to get over something that happened to them. The townspeople are either trying to get over the bus accident, or trying to make sense of it, or trying to profit from it. Mitchell’s focused on finding out who’s responsible and making that person, or company pay. Nicole is focused on getting even for her father’s abuse.
Consequences: Memories: Should they fail to win the lawsuit, the townspeople will be left with only the memories of their loved ones.
Cost: Developing a plan: The townspeople and Mitchell have to prepare for the hearing and go over what they’re going to say.
Dividends: Understanding: While Mitchell draws more and more people into the lawsuit, the Townspeople come face to face with who they really are.
Requirements: The Present: The lawsuit can only move forward if people are on board with it.
Prerequisites: Contemplation: Before signing on, the Townspeople understand none of them will get their children back and no one is going to go to jail. In the end, all they’re going to get is money.
Preconditions: Conceiving an Idea: Nicole states she won’t lie and Billy threatens to beat Mitchell so bad he’ll piss blood.
Forewarnings: Gathering Information: As Mitchell gathers information, evidence mounts that Dolores is to blame for the accident. Dolores’ memory is inaccurate (something on the road) and she was distracted, focusing a lot of her attention on the children in the back of the bus (she loved her kids), and not so much on her driving.
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Wow! These are great @Jerome thanks! This is enough for a partial, but if you want to do a complete comprehensive by all means do.