Clothes Emphasis

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prish2
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Clothes Emphasis

Postby prish2 » Jun 04, 2014 10:55 pm

The Main Character is focused on developing a certain kind of clothing as a form of identity, through the story. The Impact Character is forced into a certain kind of clothes by family pressure, but he really wants to wear a different kind. At the end of the story, he shows up to warn the MC about something, wearing what he wants. The MC is steadfast and has refused to go along with IC enticements, demands, and veiled threats. The warning is after, right at the end, with the IC having walked away from pressures on himself, having been influenced by the MC.

I noticed the emphasis on different kinds of clothing going through my story, after watching The Story of Film: An Odyssey New American Cinema by TMC. There was an example of clothing being important, and reference to narcissism (which I don't know if I agree with that point) in the films Performance and Mean Streets. Chas in Performance "keeps checking himself in the mirror, his hair, nails, waistline...Mean Streets...clothes are the gangster's uniform. Movie gangsters have often been about display." I noticed that in my developing a storyform and screenplay I have this display mood with clothes in different characters' stories.

My question: Where would this importance and emphasis on clothing be registered in the storyguide/storyforming? Would it be a class, type, variation, or element? Which one, or could it be one of several? I am staring at the storyform I chose, and I realize I do not know where it would be (if that makes sense). Any help is so appreciated.

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Chris Huntley
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Re: Clothes Emphasis

Postby Chris Huntley » Jun 24, 2014 2:58 pm

It may or may not be a part of the storyform, depending on what YOU want clothes to represent. Sometimes a cigar is a cigar, to borrow a phrase. If you WANT it to represent something in your storyform, then figure out what you think clothes mean to you and then use your characters to express that through the storyform. My guess is that clothes only represent something else, which are likely to be found at the Variation level if they reveal theme, the element level if they reveal character function, the Type level if they reveal plot, the Class / Domain level if they reveal genre, or anywhere if they are specifically part of the MC, IC, and/or Relationship throughlines.
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