What’s Your Story About?

What is the inequity of Star Trek? Sometimes I feel like these conversations can get awfully abstract, so I'm trying to ground them so I can compare what I'm writing to the storyform. For now, I'm just trying to answer the question "what's your movie about?"
Inequities ARE abstract. They are not "things." They describe the imbalance that exists BETWEEN things. In an inequity, there are no "objective" right or wrong ways to resolve the inequity. Energy is required to create an inequity, and energy is required to resolve it. An inequity only remains an inequity if the force to resolve it meets with resistance. The collision of these forces (potential vs. resistance) creates flow (current) one way and/or another, which leads to a new balance that either describes resolution of the inequity or a new, balanced inequity. So what does this have to do with the latest movie version of Star Trek? Simple. SPOILER ALERT.
A tear in time/space brings superior, futuristic technology, its pissed-off wielder (Nero), and the object of his hatred (Spock as representative of the future Federation) into an alternative-universe. Unable to undo the destruction of his home world and family, Nero decides to do his best to prevent the same future from happening in this alternate universe by destroying them.
The inequity exists because Nero (et al) is in this alternate-Star Trek universe and he causes havoc. The meaning in the story comes from all parts of the story. For example, the Outcome/Judgment of Success/Good means that the efforts by everyone to overcome the inequity created by Nero end up succeeding, while also allowing Kirk to resolve certain personal issues that leave him in a positive personal place. Meaning is everywhere in the storyform, and the entirety of the storyform itself has meaning, in much the same way as genre affects an audience by changing their mindset (happy, sad, diverted, informed). "What is your movie about...", or "What is your STORY about...," is many things, general and specific. Your challenge is to find the right combination of story points that satisfies your definition. Here are several different examples for Star Trek.
  • The rebellious son of a starship hero finds a way to save the universe and fulfill his dreams of being a starship captain.
  • A distraught widower finds himself in a position to bring justice to the people responsible for his wife's death by travelling back in time and destroying his enemy's ancestors.
  • A brilliant commander and an upstart cadet form a life-long bond after a contentious, and sometimes life-threatening, struggle for power.
Each of these describe parts of Star Trek. I could go on and on, but my point is that YOU need to choose WHAT to describe when figuring out what your story/movie is about. This technique also is pretty good for creating a logline for your story. * This example emphasizes the Main Character throughline, and adds the Story Outcome and Story Judgment. ** This example emphasizes the Overall Story throughline, especially the antagonist. *** This example emphasizes the Relationship throughline between the Main Character and the Impact Character..

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