Kyle at 2010-04-28 22:27:58:

most of these seem to be man vs god (fate) or man vs himself conflict, right?

aren't there 4 or 5 different types of conflict?

man vs man
man vs himself
man vs society
man vs nature
man vs god (fate)

am i missing one? and aren't all of these possibilities to be a nemesis?

Shawn at 2010-04-29 08:11:19:

I think to some extent this article goes back to a post I had here:

http://www.gointothestory.com/2010/04/reader-question-are-there-movies-where.html

Basically, if the design of the story does not allow for an external / physical / literal Nemesis, then the Internal Conflict ("The Need") takes on the sole function of Nemesis.

Essentially, whatever it is psychologically driving the character in the wrong direction--whether it be a misconception about love like in 500 Days of Summer OR a misconception about commitment as in Up In The Air--the story is designed to emphasize how this particular psychological flaw / misconception causes external conflict in any number of ways.

It's like the major components that allow for a Character Arc are what drive the story--not an external device which is usually plot related.

So you're Protagonist has got a psychological or personality problem (Nemesis) and this generates all the Conflict externally as he/she figures out they got a psychological or personality problem and (possibly) corrects for it.

Blah, blah, blah...