In a Dramatica grand argument story, it is the influence character that has the most impact on the main character. The influence character, wittingly...
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October celebrates horror. It is only fitting then, that this is the month in which Stephen King's novella, Apt Pupil, will finally be released as a...
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Introduction "When you just give love, and never get love You'd better let love depart. I know it's so, and yet I know I can't get you out of my...
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Media produced constructed reality is addressed in The Truman Show, written by Andrew Niccol and directed by Peter Weir, and Wag the Dog, written by...
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Pensione Bertolini The window to Miss Lucy Honeychurch's (main character) room does not open to a view. The dank back alley that confronts the young...
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Saving Private Ryan, screenplay (principally) by Robert Rodat, directed by Steven Spielberg, is an epic WWII film without a Dramatica grand argument...
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Jersey Films presents Get Shorty and Out of Sight as slick film adaptations of Elmore Leonard novels, written for the screen by Scott Frank. The...
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In the X-Files episode, War of the Coprophages, Scully and Mulder engage in typical conversation: SCULLY Mulder, I think the only thing more...
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Uncovering the Dramatica storyform in any story can be quite an undertaking--at times headache inducing. Fathoming order (mc solution) in the chaos...
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Bastards. That's whose company we keep In the Company of Men, writer/director Neil Labute's in your face psychological (objective story domain)...
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Frank Capra's Arsenic and Old Lace ". . . is a Halloween tale of Brooklyn, where anything can happen and it usually does." Mortimer Brewster,...
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"I can't write." said Chance. Steigler smiled deprecatingly. "Of course-but who can, nowadays? It's no problem. We can provide you with our best...
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Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature defines the short story as: Brief fictional prose narrative to be distinguished from longer, more...
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A story's topic, or theme, is the "dominant idea of a work" (Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature 1105). An author's expression of an idea is...
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IL Postino recounts the story of a diffident postman and a world renown poet, set against a backdrop of conflicting political, societal, and...
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The buzz on film at the turn of the millennium-loud and clear-touts this time as artistically ingenious and financially flush. A collage of popular...
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Writer/director Baz Luhrman's 1996 adaptation of Romeo and Juliet invigorates Shakespeare's first tragedy. The experimental filmmaking with its...
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Aliens is the second installment in what is, at this time, a four part "Slimy monster from Outerspace" (Videohound, 1998, p. 49) story. Written and...
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James Whale, as dapper in death as dressed for dinner, is the main character in Bill Condon's Gods and Monsters. He is conscious (mc...
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Jack of all trades, master of none. Sometimes a story just tries to do too much. Often when creating a work, an author will be inspired by a bit of...
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What is it about The X-Files that has attracted such a following? Is it the blend of New Age philosophy and hard science fiction? Could it be the...
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This historical event continues to compel the imagination and provide material for documentaries and fictional accounts. The latest film offering,...
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RANDY There are certain rules that one must abide by in order to successfully survive a horror movie. For instance: One: You can never have sex....
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Human sexuality will not be bound to societal mores. Incomprehensible and unpredictable, grotesque or beautiful, it is inextricably tied to the...
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The House of Yes and Love and Death on Long Island are two recent indie presentations that have more than 90210 cast members in common. Without...
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Jurassic Park is wonderfully entertaining. The concepts are intriguing, the visuals stunning. Everything it does, it does well. Unfortunately, it...
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I am the critic, LessTact. I feed upon the creative efforts of others. Unlike many of my kind, I never prey upon the naive or creatively challenged,...
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Grease is the word that has maintained its 50's presence in pop culture vocabulary for the last 20 years. With its current re-release, the film and...
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Guilty as (Sin) Charged Warning: This article contains material that may offend your sensibilities. Proceed with caution. Indicted, tried, and...
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Your first look at a Storyform can be baffling. "This is my story?" you ask yourself, holding your Story Engine Settings report close to your face....
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So, what exactly is Dramatica? Dramatica is a whole new theory of Story. Because it wasn't based on any pre-existing theories, much of what it has to...
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