Yes, kids don’t need to prove anything so they find Domains without the weight of preconceptions holding them down.
This might not be what you’re asking, based on subsequent questions, but just in case:
I have an extensive knowledge to the point where I have the entire model practically memorized (when giving blood, I superimpose it on tile ceilings to keep myself from passing out) and I know all the relationships to the point where I don’t need the application except for Plot Progressions–
–and even that is becoming second nature just because of the sheer amount of work I do with Dramatica day in and day out. In fact, about 30 minutes into watching Three Billboards this weekend I could recognize Signposts and Plot Progressions and I could start predicting what was going to come next.
Well, not the specific storytelling, but I knew what Element was up next and it was really crazy how it followed along exactly with a Dramatica storyform.
Sometimes, I get so caught up in the storytelling that I completely miss the storyform all together. This happened with The Shape of Water, I didn’t feel there was a storyform there, reason being (and this is likely what you meant by your original question) there is a sense of emotional fulfillment and logical completeness to the work in question.
It more often than not gets nominated for Best Screenplay or Best Picture, wins several awards for the writing, and has a higher Rotten Tomatoes scoring.
I was so distracted by the un-storyform notion of two cleaning ladies having access to highly classified top-secret assets that I found myself distracted from really listening to what the film had to say.
In addition, I was interrupted halfway through which is always a bad thing.
After it won Best Picture, I went back to see what I missed and within 15 minutes the storyform was super obvious that I’m not sure how I missed it the first time. Again, storytelling and reception can sometimes screw up hearing the message.
Dramatica essentially explains why a story is great and why it stands the test of time. Other theories/paradigms can find similar “beats” or sequences that fit their paradigm but completely ignore the fact that the film is saying nothing.
I once gave a class at CalArts where I went through the Hero’s Journey for the original disaster The Room and showed how you could likely attach swords and elixirs to Tommy Wisseau’s masterpiece.
You wouldn’t be able to find a complete storyform for it.
Rotten Tomatoes is a good barometer. For instance:
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Lady Bird 99% - complete storyform
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Get Out 99% - complete storyform
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Coco 97% - complete storyform
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Call Me By Your Name 95% - complete storyform
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The Shape of Water 92% - complete storyform
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Dunkirk 93% - incomplete storyform (no awards for writing)
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The Post 88% - haven’t seen it (don’t want to, one nomination for Screenplay from the Central Ohio Film Critics Association)
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Darkest Hour 86% - incomplete storyform (no awards for writing)
There are outliers - The Florida Project has a 95% rating and has an incomplete storyform, but no nominations for writing–it’s all the acting. There is a chance I incorrectly marked this as Incomplete (and yes, I do mark all analyses on my site as either Complete or Incomplete), as with distance from my first viewing and a better understanding of the final scene, I think there may be a storyform in there.
I would say a better barometer would be some mixture of the rating and the potential awards for writing.