I Am Number Four (2. Edit. Storyline. Extraordinary teen John Smith (Pettyfer) is a fugitive on the run from ruthless enemies sent to destroy him. Changing his identity, moving from town to town with his guardian Henri (Olyphant), John is always the new kid with no ties to his past. In the small Ohio town he now calls home, John encounters unexpected, life- changing events- his first love (Agron), powerful new abilities and a connection to the others who share his incredible destiny. However, the law enforcement officers, referred to as Sheriff (and one assumes deputy), are not dressed as Sheriffs and Deputies in the State of Ohio, who wear a black top with gray pants. Also, Sheriff's vehicles in Ohio are all black. Understanding the Seven Basic Plots. By Glen C. Strathy. A comparison of Christopher Booker's theories of story with Melanie. Anne Phillips and Chris Huntley's theory of Dramatica. Christopher Booker's book, The Seven Basic Plots: Why we tell. A short summary of Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus. This free synopsis covers all the crucial plot points of Doctor Faustus.So please consider what follows as an. I will add more detailed analyses of aspects of the book in other articles (which will link from this page) at a later date. However, lets begin with the part of the book of most interest to writers.. I Am Number Four (2011) cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more. The book is told by various members of the Garde: Number Four (John Smith), who is on the run with Sam, Six, and Bernie Kosar (aka Hadley, a Lorien. The 7 (or 1, or 9, or..) Plots Themselves. As you can guess from the title, The Seven Basic Plots argues that there are. It's not that I. disagree with the conclusions these approaches reach. Undeniably. good stories share many common structural features. What I dislike is. It may be useful from the. But from a. writer's point of view, making stories appear “all the same”. Drama, excitement, and emotional. That is not a. particularly useful perspective for a writer who is trying to develop. One of the reasons I like Dramatica is that, while it fully. And, to be fair, Booker's theories are not quite as. A. Despite calling the book, The Seven Basic Plots, Booker actually identifies nine basic. Overcoming the Monster: in which the hero must venture to the. Rags to Riches: in which someone who seems quite commonplace or. The Quest: in which the hero embarks on a journey to obtain a. Voyage and Return: in which the hero journeys to a strange. Comedy: in which a community divided by frustration. Tragedy: in which a character falls from prosperity to. Rebirth: in which a dark power or villain traps the hero in a. Rebellion Against 'The One': in which the hero rebels against. Mystery: In which an outsider to some horrendous event (such as. Today, of. course, Mystery plots have become quite popular. Rebellion Against. The One' is still less common, but I would argue that some great science fiction stories are based on it – especially versions where. The. Prisoner, The Matrix). Booker does make it clear that he has much more respect for the first seven basic plots than the last two. Nonetheless, I think it's a little snobbish to say that Mystery stories are somehow inferior to Overcoming the Monster. B. Booker acknowledges that each of the seven basic plots comes in several variations, including dark (or less satisfying) versions, depending on. For instance, Overcoming the. Monster has a number of variations including.. Western (town threatened by outlaws)Melodrama (hero threatened by scheming villain)Thrillers (world threatened by madman)War stories (world threatened by Nazis or equivalent)Science Fiction (world threatened by aliens or a man- made. Sympathetic Monster (e. Booker acknowledges that many stories incorporate elements. However, unlike with Dramatica, Booker does. In this, he echoes Aristotle, Freytag, and Shakespeare. Booker's five stages are.. Anticipation: in which the initial setting is established and. Dream: in which the hero embarks on the road toward a possible. Frustration: in which the hero's limitations and the strength. Nightmare: in which a final ordeal takes place that determines. Miraculous Escape/Redemption/Achievement of the Prize or (in. Tragedy) the Hero's Destruction. Booker uses various. But in all cases. Resolution. For a more detailed description of Booker's seven basic plots (including the other two) click here. Comparison to Other Story Models. Though it is tempting to say that Booker's seven basic plots follow a five- act structure. I've pointed. out elsewhere that the W- Plot is actually a four- act structure, even. I think. Booker makes a similar error. After all, each of these story models. So they should all coincide. There are two other reasons why I think Booker makes a mistake when he describes the seven basic plots in terms of a 5- stage structure. First, Booker frequently mentions “The Call” as an important. The Call is an event that occurs early in. Hero aware of the possible resolution or. Hero on the road to achieving it. Even. though Booker regards The Call as important and distinct enough to be. Instead, he attaches it to either the start or the end. Anticipation stage, depending on which of the seven basic plots is being followed. Like The Call, the Resolution is. Dramatica would call the. Outcome of the story). So why are The Call and the Resolution single events, while the. And why is one. considered a stage and the other not? Here's what I think is going. The Dramatica model and others (such as the W- Plot) divide stories. Each stage begins and ends with a key event which. Dramatica calls a Driver. Other terms for these key events are. Turning Points (ala Michael Hague), or Trigger Events (ala the. W- Plot). Regardless the term, each of these events are changes that. Similarly, Booker's fifth stage appears to be. Fifth or Final Driver. Booker doesn't refer specifically. In the following chart, I've tried to. Booker, Dramatica, Michael Hague, and the. W- Plot users. I've also included some alternate terms for some of. As you can see, these models all describe. Hence, the overall. Story Goal (the thing. Dramatica allows for an infinite number of. How this conflict is resolved. Story Goal is achieved. Booker, on the. other hand, believes there is only one universal goal of a good story. Self. Or, to. put it another way, the story problem is always about an imbalance. The masculine. principle has become dominant to the point that it threatens the. This change must be internal. The hero (or more rarely heroine) must change –. Most of. Booker's basic plots end happily because this change occurs. Tragedy. ends unhappily because it doesn't. But. is this really fair? Many of the stories Booker uses as examples of bad storytelling have been exceedingly popular (Star Wars, for. Certainly, readers and audiences have found them. It seems rather unfair to say. Should writers really abandon. Booker's seven basic plots? Let's look a. little more closely at the terms feminine and masculine and see if. Dramatica can shed some light on what's going on. Feminine and Masculine Values. Booker describes. The feminine. values, he describes as: 1) Selfless. Intuitive. understanding (“the ability to see whole, making for connection. Dramatica. similarly says that main characters can be either holistic (feminine). Most male characters (and most men). It allows that some male. Agents Sculley and Mulder from. The X- Files). In fact, earlier versions of Dramatica assigned. Dramatica gives. writers more options to play with. For instance, you can create a. Such a character would hardly. Story Goal. Rather. On the other hand. In fact, the conflict between the holistic and linear ways of thinking often play out in the relationship between the main and impact characters. If one is holistic, the other tends to be linear, and vice versa. The impact character is a concept unique to Dramatica, but Booker comes close to it when he observes that male characters are often saved by union with a female, and vice versa.)Dramatica also. In some stories, staying steadfast is the choice that will. Story Goal. The fact that neither. Booker doesn't seem to allow for steadfast heroes. Archetypal Characters. In addition to the seven basic plots, Booker describes a number of. Some of these will be familiar to everyone. Some are similar to archetypal characters. Dramatica. For instance, Booker's Wise Old Man and Anima. Dramatica calls the. Guardian. Similarly, Booker's Tempter and Trickster are good and evil. Dramatica calls the Contagonist. The difference I notice is that Booker interprets stories from a psychoanalytic perspective in which many characters symbolize fathers, mothers, and siblings. For this reason, many of his archetypes. Unlike Booker's Wise Old Man, Dramatica's. Guardian doesn't have to be old or male. The Guardian role could be. It may seem that I am being rather. Booker, but that would be unfair. Booker did not write The Seven Basic Plots for the benefit of writers but as a work of literary scholarship, particularly for those interested in psychoanalytic theory. Booker has obviously spent much time struggling to uncover patterns in literature, and his book provides a vast survey of the. There is certainly something to be learned from his description of the seven. And in future. articles, I plan to examine these in more detail. However, as a practical theory for. I feel that Dramatica puts fewer limits on a writer's. It is also more suited for today's culture, which is becoming increasingly liberated from sexual stereotypes. For information on other model story structures, click here. Return to Home Page.
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