We are all snowflakes - Lewis Black

I've always been a massive fan of Jung. I think his contribution to screenwriting will outlive his contribution to psychobabble. I'll throw in Inception and Bourne as being classic scripts where the Protagonist must engage with his own shadow before he is ripe for transformation. My fav Jung quote: "One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, only by making the darkness conscious". That should be on the new Star Wars poster! And best said by an actor with a British accent.

This is such a valuable, if seemingly obvious perspective. We always talk about making the protagonist active throughout the story-- most often the overall note especially in early drafts is "make the protagonist more active". But that can lead to a very "forced" action unless there is the intrinsic underlying thinking, of a living, breathing, individual who exists in the confines of this story world but simultaneously "aspires" to something by the end of it all. An aspiration that is wholly the characters and not a manipulation of the writer. When that's achieved in character, is when I feel completely satisfied as a viewer (no matter what the journey).

Michael, that is an awesome quote. Do you know what of his writings that's from? But it SO TRUE of most Protagonist journeys in movies. The shadow helps to define the Core Essence of a character's psyche and it's that Authentic Stuff which is what generally bubbles up from unconscious to conscious state (Deconstruction to Reconstruction).

Great point, Deborah. At least, we need to see story structure as having an equal balance between Physical Plot and Emotional Plot. They should work in tandem to create a coherent sense of the Protagonist's Transformation. Event --> Process --> Reaction --> Event --> Process --> Reaction --> Look at each Event as a plot point. Look at each Process as how the Protagonist responds to each Event. Look at each Reaction as what the Protagonist chooses to do in the Plotline. There is an ongoing thread back and forth between the External World and Internal World so that one informs the other. So instead of action and plot feeling forced, there is an inherent integrity to it because every scene and moment is tethered to the emotional journey of the characters. That's all pretty heady language. In reality, we feel our way through this process when writing our story. This dynamic in the story results from an intuitive sense of things. But it can be helpful to keep in mind the connection between the two aspects of our story structure.

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hey, Scott, how’s it going? This essential quote is from Collected works #13 Alchemical studies. There’s a proof link http://www.shmoop.com/carl-jung/quotes.html (I’ve verified the quote with the source, it’s there alright DD).

Gold Star to you, Roman! Thanks for sourcing that. I didn't doubt it was a Jung quote at all. Sounds just like him. I had never read that particular aphorism before. Of course, Jung's writings are extensive and I haven't worked through all of them yet. Thanks!