Four Throughlines

Why does the core inequity of a story fall into different Domains depending on the Perspective?

And by Perspective I mean Throughline...

Context creates meaning. It is the combination of the four perspectives with the four domains that collectively describe and allow us to identify the nature of an inequity. You need look no further than the Dramatica table of Genres to see how combining perspectives with domains creates meaning. For example, combine the situation domain with the "they" OS perspective and you get a situation comedy OS throughline. If you combine the same perspective with the activity domain, you get a physical comedy OS throughline. Yet you need all four perspectives bound to the four domains to have a complete exploration of an inequity, which is one of the foundations of a Grand Argument Story.

Why do all four Domains have to be explored?

Wouldn't it be just as good to look at the same Problematic Activity from the They perspective, the I perspective, the You and We perspectives so that one could understand what is truly wrong with that particular Activity?

An inequity is an imbalance between things, not the things themselves. It does not matter if the "things" are perspectives or domains in which the associated problems manifest because the inequity can be anywhere. The purpose of the problem-solving process is to identify, isolate, and address the inequity as best as possible. The largest areas in which the inequity can be identified are the perspectives and the domains. One way to identify the effects of an inequity is to look for conflict.

Conflict is the product of effort to resolve an inequity as it meets resistance. We look for conflict as we attempt to identify an inequity's source(s). If we neglect to look in all the possible places conflict can exist, we open ourselves (and the story) to missing the entirety of the conflict and a true understanding of the inequity, leaving the real likelihood of failing to resolve the inequity thoroughly. So, all four perspectives and all four domains must be explored in order to understand the nature of an inequity and the nature and source(s) of conflict generated by trying to resolve the inequity.

The storyform expresses the effects of an inequity differently in each domain because the context for each domain is different. The Situation domain shows the inequity in the context of an external state. The Activity domain shows the inequity in the context of an external process. The Fixed Attitude domain shows the inequity in the context of and internal state. The Manipulation/Psychology domain show the inequity in the context of an internal process.

Using different perspectives on the same domain shows the effects of the inequity within the different contexts of the perspective. This may give us a greater understanding of the difference in the perspectives, but it would not give us any greater understanding of the inequity as it is expressed in that single domain. Conflict does not exist BETWEEN a domain and a perspective, so shifting perspectives on a domain will not provide more insight into the nature of the inequity.

The true inequity of a story doesn't necessarily lie in one Domain or the other, but rather between all of them. An inequity can never truly be defined. One can't say, Well, the inequity of this story is injustice...You would need all four Domains to actually surround and approximate that inequity.

Can you provide a definition of the four throughlines?

There are four throughlines in every story: the Main Character throughline, the Objective Story throughline, the Relationship Story throughline, and the Influence Character throughline. When a story is written, all four of these throughlines are represented in it from beginning to end by the particular events and characters pertaining to each throughline. As the story moves from describing the Main Character point of view., to the Objective Story, to the Influence Character, etc., the story's throughlines are woven together so that the audience can feel them all unfolding at the same time. For a story to be completely illustrated, each appreciation from each throughline has to appear somewhere in it.

The Main Character Throughline contains all the appreciations in a storyform which describe how the story is seen when it regards only the Main Character. It is the part of the story which is felt by the audience as being the first-person, "I" point of view of the story.

The Influence Character Throughline covers all the appreciations which describe the growth of the impact of the Influence Character. This is felt by the audience as the second person, "you" point of view in the story.

The Relationship Story Throughline covers all the appreciations which describe the growth of the RELATIONSHIP between the Main and the Influence Characters. This is felt by the audience as the shared, "we" perspective in the story.

The Objective Story Throughline covers all the appreciations which describe the growth of the story which involves all of the Objective Characters. It is the analytical view of the story which is felt by the audience as if they were standing outside of the story looking in at "them." It is the third person, "they" point of view OF the story.

Look in the Theory book under Storyforming and Main Character, there will be plenty of material on this.