Author Archives: Melanie Anne Phillips

Examples of Female Mental Sex Main Characters

Female as the Mental Sex — The Main Character favors a holistic approach to problem-solving. For example, female mental sex characters try to hold it all together while male mental sex tries to pull it all together; a mother whose family is breaking up does everything she can to make family life look more attractive to her kids; female mental sex looks for motivations while male mental sex looks for purposes; a detective sees that the kinds of stores being hit in a seemingly random string of robberies betray the motives of the criminal behind them and allows the police to narrow down the list of suspects; etc.

Excerpted from
Dramatica Story Development Software

Examples of Male Mental Sex Characters

Male as the Mental Sex — The Main Character favors an analytical approach to problem-solving. For example, male mental sex looks at purposes while female mental sex sex looks at motivations; a detective sees that the pattern of stolen tools adds up to the culprit attempting next to rob the downtown bank; male mental sex tries to pull it all together while female mental sex tries to hold it all together; a father whose family is breaking up grounds his kids and gives them curfews until they come to their senses; etc.

Excerpted from
Dramatica Story Development Software

Writing with Female Mental Sex

A Female Main Character’s psychology is based on assessing balance. The female Main Character resolves inequities by comparing surpluses to deficiencies.

The manner employed in resolving the inequity will involve creating a surplus where a surplus is desired, creating a deficiency where a deficiency is desired, creating a surplus so a deficiency is felt elsewhere, creating a deficiency so a surplus will be felt elsewhere. Through the application of one’s own force, hills and valleys can be created and filled either to directly address the inequity or to create a change in the flow of energies that will ultimately come together in a new hill or disperse creating a new valley. These are the four primary inequity-resolving techniques of an female mental sex character.

It is important to note that these techniques are applied both to others and to oneself. Either way, manipulating surplus and deficiency describes the approach. When selecting female or male, typically, the choice is as simple as deciding if you want to tell a story about a woman or a man. But there is another consideration that is being employed with growing frequency in modern stories: putting the psyche of one sex into the skin of another.

This does not refer only to the “sex change” comedies, but to many action stories with male mental sex female Main Characters (e.g. Aliens) and many decision stories with female mental sex male Main Characters (e.g. Prince of Tides and The Hunt for Red October). When an author writes a part for a woman, it would intuitively use the female psyche for that character. Yet, by simply changing the name of the character from Mary to Joe and shifting the appropriate gender terms, the character would ostensibly become a man. But that man would not seem like a man. Even if all the specific feminine dialog were changed, even if all the culturally dictated manifestations were altered, the underlying psyche of the character would have the female, female bias, rather than the male, male bias.

Sometimes stereotypes are propagated by what an audience expects to see, which filters the message and dilutes the truth. By placing the female psyche in a male character, preconceptions no longer prevent the message from being heard. A word of caution — this technique can make a Main Character seem “odd” in some hard to define way to your audience. So although the message may fare better, empathy between your audience and your Main Character may not.

Excerpted from
Dramatica Story Development Software

Writing with Male Mental Sex

The male Main Character solves problems by examining what cause or group of causes is responsible for an effect or group of effects. The effort made to solve the problem will focus on affecting a cause, causing an effect, affecting an effect or causing a cause.

This describes four different approaches. Affecting a cause is manipulating an existing force to change its eventual impact. Causing an effect means applying a new force that will create an impact. Affecting an effect is altering an effect after it has happened. Causing a cause is applying a new force that will make some other force come into play to ultimately create an impact. These are the four primary problem solving techniques of the male minded character.

It is important to note that these techniques can be applied to either external or internal problems. Either way, manipulating cause and effect is the modus operandi. When selecting female or male, typically, the choice is as simple as deciding if you want to tell a story about a man or a woman. But there is another consideration that is being employed with growing frequency in modern stories: putting the psyche of one sex into the skin of another. This does not refer only to the “sex change” comedies, but to many action stories with male mental sex, female Main Characters (e.g. Aliens) and many decision stories with female mental sex, male Main Characters (Prince of Tides).

When an author writes a part for a man, it would intuitively use the male psyche for that character. Yet, by simply changing the name of the character from Joe to Mary and shifting the appropriate gender terms, the character would ostensibly become a woman. But that woman would not seem like a woman. Even if all the specific masculine dialog were changed, even if all the culturally dictated manifestations were altered, the underlying psyche of the character would have the male bias, rather than the female bias.

Sometimes stereotypes are propagated by what an audience expects to see, which filters the message and dilutes the truth. By placing the male psyche in a female character, preconceptions no longer prevent the message from being heard. A word of caution — this technique can make a Main Character seem “odd” in some hard to define way to your audience. So although the message may fare better, empathy between your audience and your Main Character may not.

Excerpted from
Dramatica Story Development Software

Writing with Mental Sex

How can we illustrate the Mental Sex of our Main Character? The following point by point comparison provides some clues:

Female Mental Sex: looks at motivations

Male Mental Sex: looks at purposes

Female Mental Sex: tries to see connections

Male Mental Sex: tries to gather evidence

Female Mental Sex: sets up conditions

Male Mental Sex: sets up requirements

Female Mental Sex: determines the leverage points that can restore balance

Male Mental Sex: breaks a job into steps

Female Mental Sex: seeks fulfillment

Male Mental Sex: seeks satisfaction

Female Mental Sex: concentrates on “Why” and “When”

Male Mental Sex: concentrates on “How” and “What”

Female Mental Sex: puts the issues in context

Male Mental Sex: argues the issues

Female Mental Sex: tries to hold it all together

Male Mental Sex: tries to pull it all together

In stories, more often than not, physical gender matches Mental Sex. From time to time, however, gender and Mental Sex are cross-matched to create usual and interesting characters. For example, Ripley in Alien and Clarice Starling in The Silence of the Lambs are Male Mental Sex characters. Tom Wingo in The Prince of Tides and Jack Ryan in The Hunt for Red October are Female Mental Sex characters. In most episodes of The X Files, Scully (the female F.B.I. agent) uses a(n) Male Mental Sex and Mulder (the male F.B.I. agent) uses a(n) Female Mental Sex, which is part of the series’ unusual feel. Note that Mental Sex has nothing to do with a character’s sexual preferences or tendency toward being masculine or feminine.

Sometimes stereotypes are propagated by what an audience expects to see, which filters the message and dilutes the truth. By placing a female psyche in a physically male character or a male psyche in a physically female character, preconceptions no longer prevent the message from being heard. On the downside, some audience members may have trouble relating to a Main Character whose problem solving techniques do not match the physical expectations.

Excerpted from
Dramatica Story Development Software

The Concept Behind Mental Sex

Much of what we are as individuals is learned behavior. Yet, the basic operating system of the mind is cast biologically before birth as being more sensitive to space or time. We all have a sense of how things are arranged (space) and how things are going (time), but which one filters our thinking determines our Mental Sex as being Male or Female respectively.

Male Mental Sex describes spatial thinkers who tend to use linear Problem solving as their method of choice. They set a specific Goal, determine the steps necessary to achieve that Goal, then embark on the effort to accomplish those steps.

Female Mental Sex describes temporal thinkers who tend to use holistic Problem solving as their method of choice. They get a sense of the way they want things to be, determine how things need to be balanced to bring about those changes, then make adjustments to create that balance.

To be sure, we can go a long way toward counter-balancing those sensitivities, yet underneath all our experience and training, the tendency to see things more in terms of space or time still remains. In dealing with the psychology of Main Characters, it is essential to understand the foundation upon which their experience rests.

Excerpted from
Dramatica Pro Story Development Software

Story Point: Mental Sex

Every Main Character should have a Mental Sex. Whether your Main Character is a horse, a house, a person, or an alien, the audience will not be able to empathize with it unless that character possesses a Male or Female mind. If you want your Main Character to tend to look for linear solutions to its problems, choose Male Mental Sex. If you want your Main Character to tend to look for holistic solutions to its problems, choose female mental sex.

NOTE: A character’s Mental Sex need not match its Gender.

Mental Sex: A differentiation between male and female problem-solving techniques.

Excerpted from
Dramatica Pro Story Development Software

Stories with Do-er Characters

STORIES that have Approach of Do-er:

A Clockwork Orange: Alex acts impulsively doing whatever he wishes. On whims, Alex beats the tramp, attacks Billy Boy’s gang, steals a car and runs others off the road, rapes Mr. Alexander’s wife, has serendipitous sex with two teenagers. He does not deliberate over these actions as is apparent when the consequences he has not even considered catch up with him.

All About Eve: Margo is a woman of action: Initially she’s protective of Eve, and takes her into her home the first night they meet; she becomes jealous of Bill’s attention to Eve, chews Bill out about it, and gets drunk at his birthday party; suspicious of Eve’s true motives, Margo asks Max to employ her in his office; upon learning that Eve has secretly become her understudy, Margo immediately accuses Lloyd, Bill, and Max of a conspiracy against her.

All That Jazz: When faced with a problem, Joe takes action. At a loss for staging ideas or faced with problems editing The Standup, he works late into the night–exhausting himself rather than giving up; when Katie confronts him about their relationship, he tells her he loves her to head off a break-up; and so forth.

Apt Pupil: Once Todd thinks he may have spotted a Nazi war criminal, he sets about tracking him down; instead of accepting his poor grade report he changes it with the help of ink eradicator; when confronted by Rubber Ed, he kills him; and so forth.

Body Heat: Ned prefers to resolve problems physically. To address his lust for Mattie, he smashes through the glass to get to her; when Mattie comments on how her husband’s death would solve HER problems, Ned suggests that they murder him; Ned goes through complex machinations (goes to Miami, rents a car, etc.) to establish an alibi; he physically threatens Mattie when he believes her actions will expose their involvement in Edmond’s murder; etc.

Boyz N The Hood: Tre looks for physical solutions to his problems: As a kid he gets into a fight with his classmate without regard to the consequences; he tries to coax his girlfriend, Brandi, into bed without thinking it through; after his run-in with the police, his first instinct is to high-tail it out of LA; when Ricky is murdered, he rushes to seek revenge without stopping to think about the consequences until after he’s in the car with Doughboy and the gang.

Braveheart: Unlike the Scottish lords, who “do nothing but talk,” William’s first approach to conflict is to take action. While the Scottish nobles are quibbling over the rightful successor to their throne and “squabbling over the scraps from Longshanks’ table,” Wallace prepares for battle and the invasion of England.

Bull Durham: Not one to sit back and wait for life to happen, Annie constantly takes control of her environment. Note the way she ties her charges to the bed and reads them poetry. In fact, whenever she sees something wrong in her external environment, she fixes it, whether sending a note with the correct procedure to individual team members, correcting Millie’s misconceptions “You were not lured. Women are too strong and powerful for that,” or physically seducing Nuke, when she thinks he’s ignoring her.

Charlotte’s Web: Wilbur tries to make friends to ease his loneliness on Zuckerman’s farm; when Charlotte informs him he is not capable of spinning a web, he still makes an attempt to perform this feat; and so forth.

Chinatown: “Act first, pay the consequences later,” could easily describe Jake’s general approach. When given a choice, he clearly prefers to solve problems by doing something (e.g. jump the fence near the reservoir, tear the page out of the county land registry, trespass on the land in the San Fernando Valley, slap Evelyn to get the truth, etc.).

El Mariachi: El Mariachi travels from town to town soliciting work as a mariachi; when pursued, he is not afraid to fight back; when he finds out Domino is looking for him at Moco’s ranch, he goes after her at risk to himself.

The Fugitive: Dr. Kimble responds by acting first, thinking later, which often puts him into dangerous situations.

The Godfather: Michael prefers to problem solve externally. He has just come back from WW II as a veteran hero, then he insists that he can solve the “Turk”(Sollozzo) problem by killing Sollozzo and the police captain. When he falls in love with Appollonia from afar, he proposes marriage before even meeting her. He is virtually unable to cope with problems internally, always finding a way to solve them externally. This leads to many murders such as the “baptism of blood” when Michael secures his family’s seat of power by having all other threats eliminated during his godson’s baptism.

I Love Lucy: Lucy attempts several different ways to divulge the news to Ricky about her pregnancy, and does not give up until she has accomplished her goal.

Klute: When his friend Tom goes missing, Klute goes to New York City to find him; When Bree won’t talk to him, he surreptitiously tape-records her conversations; Seeing a prowler through Bree’s skylight, Klute runs to the roof and gives chase; When the scared Bree moves back in with Frank, Klute physically attacks him; etc.

Lawrence of Arabia: Lawrence tries to mold Arabia to suit him through his strength of character, charisma, and leadership qualities: Provoked to give the Arabs:

FEISAL: What no man can provide, Lieutenant. We need a miracle.

(Bolt and Wilson, p. 52)

Lawrence goes and takes Akaba, crossing the impossible-to-cross Nefud desert; he solves the Auda-Ali tribal dispute by executing the wrongdoer, his friend Gasim; he competes with Allenby to reach Damascus first; etc.

Othello: Othello is a man of action: His reputation as an effective warrior and leader earns him a command against the Turks and a position as governor of Cyprus; he seizes his chance at happiness with an expedient, secret marriage to Desdemona; he quickly determines Cassio’s drunken brawling is a disgrace to his rank and strips him of it; once he’s convinced of Desdemona and Cassio’s guilt, he orders Iago to execute Cassio and he kills his wife himself.

The Philadelphia Story: When she hears about the reporters in her house, Tracy’s first reaction is to give them “a picture of home life that will stand their hair on end.” When she sees George at the stables looking “too clean,” she knocks him down and dirties him up. When Uncle Willie shows up, Tracy automatically refers to him as “Father,” just to stir things up. When Dexter tells her he’s planning to name his next boat the “True Love II” she promises to “blow you and it right out of the water.”

The Piano Lesson: Berniece’s approach to solving problems is to take action: After her husband died, she moved to Pittsburgh with her daughter, and got a job to support them both. When Avery proposed, she refused him, acting upon her feelings. When Boy Willie barges into her house unexpectedly, she tells him to leave. After he ignores her orders and tries to remove the piano from the house, she threatens to shoot him. When Sutter’s ghost attacks her brother, Berniece summons her ancestors’ spirits to exorcise it.

Platoon: There are a number of examples illustrating how Chris prefers to deal with situations externally, and looks for physical solutions to his problems. For instance: Chris drops out of college and enlists in the military to do something positive for his country; He shoots his rifle at the feet of a young, retarded man he finds hiding. This is done as a means of releasing the tension and frustration that has built up from horrific ordeals he and his platoon have recently experienced; While his platoon pillages a small village, Chris rescues a young village girl from being raped by some of the men in his platoon; When Sgt. Elias is missing in the jungle, Chris sets out to find him until he’s stopped by Sgt. Barnes; Chris attacks Sgt. Barnes when Barnes confronts him and others about killing Sgt. Elias; In the film’s climatic battle, instead of relying on the safety of his foxhole, Chris leaves to engage the enemy in hand to hand combat; Ultimately, he ends up murdering Sgt. Barnes in an act of revenge for Elias and for himself.

Pride and Prejudice: Elizabeth’s tendency to solve a problem is to handle it through activity. For example, after learning that Jane has taken ill at the neighbor estate of Netherfield Park, Elizabeth is not content to stay at home until she is assured of her recovery. Instead, she braves a rainstorm and lengthy journey on foot to personally tend to her sister’s health.

Quills: Abbe de Coulmier takes on his responsibilities with great energy and enthusiasm. He actively looks for positive ways to solve problems, as illustrated in his conversation with Dr. Royer-Collard regarding rehabilitating The Marquis:

Coulmier: I implore you, do not insist that I negate my principles. Let me continue in my charitable course. (Wright 20)

Rain Man: When bureaucratic red tape threatens his car deal, Charlie appeases his customers and knocks $5,000 off the price of the cars. When his father’s lawyer refuses to reveal the identity of the beneficiary of the will, Charlie goes to the bank and finds out who it is. He goes to Walbrook, discovers he has a brother, then kidnaps Raymond, and finally demands half of the inheritance.

Rear Window: Though seemingly a passive observer (because of his physical predicament), Jeff will risk his neck (or rather leg) to get the best photo. Eager to go on a big assignment despite his injury, he asks:

JEFF: Okay. When do I leave? Half-hour? Hour?

GUNNISON: With that cast on – you don’t.

JEFF: Oh, stop sounding stuffy. I can take pictures from a jeep or a water buffalo if necessary.

To get the goods on Thorwald, he brings in Doyle, Lisa, and Stella to do his legwork.

Rebel Without a Cause: Jim tries to solve his problems by first taking action. For example, when he’s called a chicken, he puts his fists up; his concern for Plato compels him to run into the planetarium at the risk of being shot (by the police or by Plato); interestingly, he tries to change his tendency to fight first and reflect later by stalling when he is challenged by the gang “I don’t want trouble” (Stern 41) but when backed against the wall he fights “All right–you want it, you got it” (Stern 43).

Reservoir Dogs: When the cops close in on Mr. White, he empties both guns into them rather than figuring a way to escape the conflict. He pulls his gun on Mr. Blond instead of arguing with him. He forces a shoot-out with Joe and Mr. Nice rather than re-evaluate his beliefs about Mr. Orange.

Revenge of the Nerds: Lewis’s first response to a problem is to do something about it. He immediately starts looking for a house for the nerds, he finds the house, he asks Betty out the first time he talks to her, he invents a robot to clean up for him, etc. He actively tries to change his situation to one that suits him.

Searching for Bobby Fischer: Josh tries to accomplish his purposes by engaging in activities. For example, despite the advice from all corners, he determines his own course.

The Silence of the Lambs: As a child, Clarice took action by kidnapping the lamb to save it from being slaughtered; she actively joined the FBI to go after killers, like the ones who killed her father; encountering Buffalo Bill, she tries to apprehend him herself.

The Simpsons Christmas Special: Homer looks for a physical solution to his problems. It is really his only option, as his mental capabilities are limited, and he is emotionally immature.

All Good Things (Star Trek: The Next Generation): In the beginning, even though Picard is not exactly sure why he is time-shifting and there is a possibility that he (in the future) is suffering from the mental disorder, he urgently seeks helps from his friends and colleagues to figure out what is going on.

Star Wars: Luke is frequently acting first, thinking later. He chases after R2D2 into dangerous parts of the Tatooine desert and gets captured by the Sand People; he rushes to rescue Princess Leia without a plan of escape; he blasts the shield door closed and strands Leia and himself on a ledge without an escape route; etc.

The Sun Also Rises: Jake first looks for a physical solution when faced with a problem. For example, when Robert Cohn insults him, he throws a punch:

“At the Cafe Suizo we had just sat down and ordered Fundador when Robert Cohn came up. ‘Where’s Brett?’ he asked. ‘I don’t know.’ . . . ‘I’ll make you tell me’–he stepped forward–‘You damned pimp.’ I swung at him and he ducked” (Hemingway 190-91).

Sunset Boulevard: Joe takes action to solve his problems: When he needs money to make his car payments, he immediately hustles to raise the it; when the finance men chase him, he races up Sunset Blvd. and hides his car in Norma’s garage; when he’s offered the chance of a job, Joe grabs it, embellishing on his experience and pay rate; when Norma comes on too strong on New Year’s Eve, Joe leaves her house, hitches a ride, and finds people his own age to party with; when he discovers that Norma is harassing Betty, he takes charge of the situation, tells Betty to come see him, then tells her the truth.

Taxi Driver: When he can’t sleep nights, Travis goes out and gets a job driving taxis; attracted to Betsy, he walks into her office and volunteers in order to be near her; seeing a stick-up man holding up the deli, he shoots him; feeling down, he goes to Wizard for advice; etc.

To Kill a Mockingbird: Scout attempts to solve a problem by first taking action, an approach that often gets her into trouble. As an example, she is reprimanded when Miss Caroline wants to lend the poor but proud Walter Cunningham lunch money, and Scout jumps in to explain that it is not the Cunningham way:

I would have saved myself some inconvenience and Miss Caroline subsequent mortification, but it was beyond my ability to explain things as well as Atticus, so I said, “You’re shamin’ him, Miss Caroline. Walter hasn’t got a quarter at home to bring you, and you can’t use any stovewood.” Miss Caroline stood stock still, then grabbed me by the collar and hauled me back to her desk. “Jean Louise, I’ve had about enough of you this morning,” she said. “You’re starting off on the wrong foot in every way…” (Lee, 1960, p. 24)

Tootsie: When Michael is faced with a problem, he immediately takes action: He disagrees with a director’s orders and walks off the production. When Sandy needs to be angry to get her part right, Michael accompanies her to the audition and enrages her with insults. After he learns that another actor got a part he was promised, Michael bursts into his agent’s office and demands an explanation. When his agent declares that no one will hire him, Michael dresses in drag and lands a role on the soap opera. When he can’t break his contract, Michael reveals himself as a man on live television to get out of it.

Toy Story: Woody is a very active, take-charge kind of cowboy. He calls meetings, plots strategies, mobilizes other toys, and approaches all problems by jumping into the fray, even if it means starting an unpleasant confrontation. He is loath to check his attitudes at the door, and that often gets him in trouble.

The Verdict: Frank acts impulsively and often regrets his actions which frequently forces him to make uncomfortable decisions.

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?: Rather than trying to “cope” with the impact of the mind games by adjusting himself to those around him, George externalizes his problem solving by actively manipulating or “psyching-out” those around him.

When Harry Met Sally: Harry’s first approach to dealing with a problem is to work it out externally. When his wife asks for a divorce, instead of accepting her reasons he secretly follows her to determine what she has really been up to; when he unexpectedly runs into his wife at a later date, instead of bottling up his hurt and resentment for a more appropriate time he lets out his anguish at what is supposed to be a friendly house warming for Jess and Marie:

Sally: Harry, I know you’re upset, but do we have to talk about this right now?

Harry: What’s wrong with right now? It’s a perfect time to talk about this. I just want them to see. (he’s becoming more and more upset) I just want them to see the realities of what this leads to. Everything’s fine, everybody’s in love, everybody’s happy–and before you know it, you’re screaming at each other about who owns the stereo. (Ephron, Reiner, & Scheinman, 1988, p. 78)

The Wild Bunch: Knowing that the bounty hunters are waiting for him, Pike pushes the Paymaster out the door first; When the buckshot Buck can’t go on, Pike executes him; When his stirrup breaks, Pike heaves himself back into the saddle without it; Concerned about being double-crossed by Mapache, Pike booby-traps the gun wagon with dynamite; etc.

X-Files: Beyond the Sea: In spite of the grief over her father’s death, Scully continues to work. She accompanies her partner to the prison to assist him with the case. When Scully sees the landmarks Boggs described as leading to the kidnapper’s lair, she immediately investigates the warehouse and finds valuable clues. She takes over the lead in the case when her partner is shot; threatens Boggs when she believes he set her and Mulder up to be murdered; tries to obtain a deal for Boggs in order to get information to save Jim Summers; leads the chase after the kidnapper.

Excerpted from
Dramatica Pro Story Development Software

Stories with Be-er Characters

STORIES that have Approach of Be-er:

A Doll’s House: As a child in her father’s home, and as a wife in her husband’s home, Nora does everything in her power to adapt herself to her environment-even to the detriment of her self-esteem and peace of mind:

“It’s perfectly true, Torvald. When I was at home with Papa he told me his opinion about everything, and so I had the same opinions; and if I differed from him I concealed the fact, because he would not have liked it. He called me his doll child, and he played with me just as I used to play with my dolls. And when I came to live with you…I was simply transferred from Papa’s hands to yours. You arranged everything according to your taste, and so I got the same tastes as you-or else I pretended to.” (Ibsen, 1879, p. 195)

The Age of Innocence: Newland prefers to internalize his problems instead of resolving them externally. Rather than act to change May into a more enlightened wife, Newland internally acknowledges that she’ll never be an intellectual partner, and resigns himself to living within a boring marriage.

NARRATOR: Archer had gradually reverted to his old inherited ideas about marriage. It was less trouble to conform with tradition. There was no use trying to emancipate a wife who hadn’t the dimmest notion that she was not free.

Amadeus: Salieri prefers to deal with his world indirectly, internally. He manipulates his world. He waits years to get the job of First Kappelmeister. He is willing to flatter; to be self-deprecating. Even with Mozart, in his war with God, he prefers to manipulate those around him rather than challenge Mozart directly. When he has the opportunity to sleep with Constanze, he refuses, preferring to adapt to his new sense of his world. This harkens back to his statements that he always wanted to sleep with his pretty students, but because of his bargain with God, he had to be chaste.

Barefoot in the Park: Paul prefers to adapt himself to his environment:

Mother: I worry about you two. You’re so impulsive. You jump into life. Paul is like me. He looks first.

Corie scathingly remarks to Paul:

Corie: Do you know what you are? You’re a watcher. There are Watchers in this world and there are Do-ers. And the Watchers sit around watching the Do-ers do. Well, tonight you watched and I did.

Being There: Chance accepts any situation he finds himself in; he adapts himself to the environment:

“Chance did what he was told” (Kosinski, 1970, p. 7).

Blade Runner: When Deckard’s picked up by Gaff, he goes along rather than fight; Recruited by Bryant to blade run again, he adapts to the system that walks all over “little people”; When questioning Salome, he pretends to be a petty bureaucrat, fighting and killing her only as a last resort.

Bringing Up Baby: In the opening shot, David is sitting on a scaffold, in perfect imitation of Rodan’s famous “Thinker” sculpture. Although he does quite a bit of protesting, David rarely takes direct action to get what he wants. He quietly accepts Alice’s proclamation that they will have no children. He grudgingly goes along with Susan’s story that his name is David Bone and that he recently suffered a nervous breakdown. When Alice leaves, calling him a butterfly, he simply mutters to himself and lets her go.

Candida: As an example of James Morell’s approach as a be-er, when Eugene Marchbanks announces Candida is better off with himself rather than the clergyman, Morell accepts him as a threat instead of dismissing the poet’s youthful foolishness. He then puts the burden of settling the crisis upon Candida, avoiding handling the matter himself.

Casablanca: Rick allows his club to be an open house for a wide variety of patrons, from refugees to Nazis to Vichy French. Whichever way the political wind blows, Rick will bend with it.

The Client: When there are problems, Reggie prefers to internalize them over trying to resolve them externally. When her husband left, taking the kids, she became an alcoholic; to gain Marcus’ trust, she becomes motherly; when she is verbally attacked and accused of being an alcoholic, she swallows her hurt and doesn’t offer an explanation; when Marcus tries to hitchhike from her house, she waits for him inside; etc.

The Crucible: John would prefer to wait out a problem–hoping it will resolve itself–rather than to take immediate action. An example of this is when he first hears of the young girls in town making accusations of witchcraft:

Proctor: Oh, it is a black mischief.

Elizabeth: I think you must go to Salem, John. I think so. You must tell them it is a fraud.

Proctor: Aye, it is, surely.

Elizabeth: Let you go to Ezekiel Cheever–he knows you well. And tell him what she [Abigail] said to you last week in her uncle’s house. She said it had naught to do with witchcraft, did she not?

Proctor: (in thought) Aye she did, she did.

Elizabeth: God forbid you keep that from the court, John. I think they must be told.

Proctor: (quietly, struggling with his thought) Aye, they must, they must. . . .

Elizabeth: I would go to Salem now, John–let you go tonight.

Proctor: I’ll think on it.

Elizabeth: You cannot keep it, John.

Proctor: I know I cannot keep it. I say I will think on it! (Miller 53)

Four Weddings And A Funeral: Charles prefers to solve problems by changing his mind or adapting to a given situation rather than doing something about it. For example, Charles makes no move to change tables at Lydia and John’s wedding, even after seeing that he will be sitting at a table filled with “Ghosts of girlfriends past;Ó When he is stuck in the closet of Lydia and Bernard’s honeymoon suite, he chooses to quietly adapt to the situation and wait it out, rather than disturb the newlyweds; finally, he almost convinces himself to marry someone he doesn’t love because it is easier for him to pretend it is OK than to tell everybody that the wedding is called off.

The Glass Menagerie: Laura approaches problems by internalizing them. This often paralyzes her–keeping her from being able to do ANYTHING.

The Graduate: Ben is most definitely a ponderer. From the first frame of the film, his preference is clearly to think out situations before taking action.

The Great Gatsby: Nick Carraway deals with personal issues internally — he prefers to adapt himself to his environment:

“I am slow-thinking and full of interior rules that act as brakes on my desires…”

Hamlet: Hamlet is a gifted thinker that is incapable of positive action–“the native hue of resolution/Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought” (3.1.92-93).

Harold and Maude: Harold reacts to his mother’s domineering ways by pretending to be dead, instead of fighting her or leaving home; when Maude steals his hearse, he passively lets her drive him home; he modifies his new sports car into a hearse like his old one; etc.

Heavenly Creatures: Reluctant to be in the school photo, Pauline adapts to the situation by hanging her head down rather than running away; Pauline responds to Juliet’s tuberculosis by wishing illness on herself and refusing to eat; when her mother threatens to not let her see Juliet again, Pauline’s initial response is to wish herself dead; she responds to threatening authority figures internally by having them killed by Diello in the 4th World of Borovnia.

Lolita: Humbert prefers to approach his problem internally and adapt himself to his environment (like a chameleon). “Years of secret suffering have taught me superhuman self control” (Nabokov 28). He puts up a romantic front for Charlotte: “Bland American Charlotte frightened me . . . I dared not do anything to spoil the image of me she had set up to adore” (Nabokov 78), and he internalizes and compartmentalizes his lust for Lolita by keeping a detailed diary.

Romeo and Juliet: Romeo’s first preference in approaching a conflict is to adapt himself to the environment, for example, he lacks interest in the (contentious) ” . . . activities of his gang of friends, whom he accompanies only reluctantly to the Capulet feast: ‘I’ll be a candle holder and look on'” (1.4.38) (Paster 258); After making Juliet his wife, he tries to placate Tybalt rather than fight him; and so forth.

Rosemary’s Baby: Rosemary tries to accommodate everyone before herself. She agrees to the dinner invitation with the Castevets, even though she doesn’t want to go. Then she feels obligated, but tells Guy that it’s all right if he doesn’t want to attend. When Rosemary learns she is pregnant, she lets the Castevets push her into giving up a doctor she likes for one they recommend. Even though she is in great pain, she finds a way to adapt to it rather than confront her doctor:

Tiger: You’ve been in pain since November and he (Dr. Sapirstein) isn’t doing anything for you?

Rosemary: He says it’ll stop.

Joan: Why don’t you see another doctor?

Rosemary shakes her head.

Rosemary: He’s very good. He was on “Open End.”

Sula: From childhood, Nel copes with problems internally:

“…the girl became obedient and polite. Any enthusiasms that little Nel showed were calmed by the mother until she drove her daughter’s imagination underground” (Morrison, 1973, p. 18).

When Nel finds Jude and Sula naked in her bedroom, she thinks:

They are not doing that. I am just standing here seeing it, but they are not really doing it…I just stood there seeing it and smiling, because maybe there was some explanation, something important that would make it all right. (Morrison, 1973, p. 105)

After Jude leaves Nel, she winds up her anger into an imaginary gray ball so that she may function.

Unforgiven: Munny has lost the hair-trigger response of his youth, preferring to work problems through peaceably: though taunted by Kid Schofield over his reputation, he lets it slide and tries again to solve the hog problem; provoked by Little Bill in the bar, Munny bides his time:

LITTLE BILL: Well, Mister Hendershot, if I was to call you a no good sonofabitch an’ a liar, an’ if I was to say you shit in your pants on account of a cowardly soul… well, I guess then, you would show me your pistol right quick an’ shoot me dead, ain’t that so?

MUNNY: I guess I might… but like I said, I ain’t armed.

(Peoples, p. 76)

After a kicking by Little Bill, Munny doesn’t even seek revenge; this doesn’t happen until Ned is killed.

Washington Square: When faced with a problem, Catherine’s preference is to solve it internally, as illustrated in a conversation between her father and Aunt Almond:

“‘And, meanwhile, how is Catherine taking it?’ ‘As she takes everything–as a matter of course.’ ‘Doesn’t she make a noise? Hasn’t she made a scene?’ ‘She is not scenic.'” (James 69)

Once her father refuses her lovers’ suit, Catherine contemplates:

The idea of a struggle with her father, of setting up her will against his own, was heavy on her soul, and it kept her quiet, as a great physical weight keeps us motionless. It never entered into her mind to throw her lover off; but from the first she tried to assure herself that there would be a peaceful way out of their difficulty. The assurance was vague, for it contained no element of positive conviction that her father would change his mind. She only had the idea that if she should be very good, the situation would in some mysterious manner improve. To be good she must be patient, outwardly submissive, abstain from judging her father too harshly, and from committing any act of open defiance. (James 81)

Witness: Rachel adapts to the situations she finds herself in: she accepts being detained by Book and taken to his sister’s house:

SAMUEL: But do we have to stay here?

RACHEL: No, we do not. Just for the night.

Rachel accommodates Book’s presence on the farm; she remains in the Amish community, even though she has doubts about her faith; etc.

Excerpted from
Dramatica Pro Story Development Software

Using Do-er and Be-er Characters

Do-er and Be-er should not be confused with active and passive. If a Do-er is seen as active physically, a Be-er should be seen as active mentally. While the Do-er jumps in and tackles the problem by physical maneuverings, the Be-er jumps in and tackles the problem with mental deliberations.

The point is not which one is more motivated to hold its ground but how it tries to hold it.

A Do-er would build a business by the sweat of its brow.

A Be-er would build a business by attention to the needs of its clients.

Obviously both Approaches are important, but Main Characters, just like the real people they represent, will have a preference. Having a preference does not mean being less able in the other area.

A martial artist might choose to avoid conflict first as a Be-er character, yet be quite capable of beating the tar out of an opponent if avoiding conflict proved impossible.

Similarly, a school teacher might stress exercises and homework as a Do-er character, yet open its heart to a student who needs moral support.

When creating your Main Character, you may want someone who acts first and asks questions later, or you may prefer someone who avoids conflict if possible, then lays waste the opponent if they won’t compromise.

A Do-er deals in competition, a Be-er in collaboration.

The Main Character’s affect on the story is both one of rearranging the dramatic potentials of the story, and also one of reordering the sequence of dramatic events.

By choosing Do-er or Be-er you instruct Dramatica to establish one method as the Main Character’s approach and the other as the result of its efforts.

Excerpted from
Dramatica Pro Story Development Software