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Contagonist

Posted: Oct 14, 2010 10:58 pm
by VTFischwire
I read or heard somewhere that the guardian's role in the story is to portray the author's moral view. Through the guardian more than any other character we see a broad blanket statement of how people should behave in the situation our characters have been placed in. Of course this is done objectively unless the guardian is the MC or IC.
If I understood this correctly, would that make the contgonist who is the guardian's dynamic pair best suited to describe how NOT to handle the stories problem or the wrong way of going about solving the story's problem? I know he represents temptation and possibly this could mean the temptation to take the easy road or conversely the temptation to take the more difficult road when an easy solution is available and would work better.
Also if this is true and he does indeed represent the wrong way to go about things according to the author's personal bias, would he work fairly decently as the IC?
Or how about a complex character that mixes the protagonist with the contagonist. Someone who is pursuing the goal but in the author's opinion doing things to hinder the goal and not really achieve it? Of course he probably wouldn't knowing hinder his efforts but perhaps be doing it subconsciously. The protag/contagonist would be either the MC or the IC so extra time could be spent on developing his pursue/hinder workings in the story.
Is any of this possible in Dramatica? And if so what are the benefits or risks of doing such a thing?

Re: Contagonist

Posted: Oct 15, 2010 1:44 pm
by Chris Huntley
I would not characterize any single character's role in the Overall Story as the author's moral view, since the entire story (all four throughlines) represents the argument the author makes to the audience.

The Guardian archetype is at minimum Help and Conscience. BUT, there is no particular agenda associated with those functions.

Similarly, the Contagonist archetype contains Hinder and Temptation. That character hinders and tempts (or represents the effects of hindering and temptation) irrespective of any particular party association.