Pieces of Story (Putting it all together)

Today, we discuss story and its pieces.
I want to discuss protagonists and their different varieties.
But, today will start with a primer on story and what pieces are necessary and where.

Part 1: Stasis

Stasis is the world as it is.
Stasis: inactivity resulting in a balance between opposing forces.
It can continue infinitely in the same direction without deviation.
It is continual and boring (first ten minutes of almost every film).

(The Shire)

Part 2: Protagonist

Protagonist is the central character of a story. 

To this day my favorite and guiding definition of a protagonist comes from Red Letter Media's review of Star Wars the prequels.

In it he defines Protagonist as:

• someone who is down on their luck
• in a bad place in their lives
• or someone who everything doesn't go perfectly for them

A Protagonist can be summed up in one defining character trait: 

• Uniquely unsuited for the world in which they find themselves

Often a Protagonist will have some ability or skill or quirk that makes them an outsider

This is their hamartia

Hamartia from the Greek hamartein means "missing the mark"

So a protagonist misses the mark in some way that brings about the resulting conflict.

Part 3: Conflict

Conflict is the antagonistic forces of the universe that attempt to bring the protagonist into line with its norms.

This can be manifested in any number of ways:

• As a single over-arching antagonist (Emperor Palpatine)
• As opposing forces of the world (plague and death in Oedipus)
• Or even their mind/body (Gregor Samsa's transformation in Metamorphosis)

The Protagonist represents a force of change in the universe.

The universe likes its status quo and will fight to maintain it with all the resources at its disposal, up to and including universal forces (ever seen Gurren Lagann? you should)

Part 4: New Stasis

The New Stasis is just that.

Either the Protagonist or Antagonistic Forces win and create a new equilibrium

This can happen in a number of ways:

• The Protagonist wins and the world changes as a result (not sure...Naruto?)
• The Antagonist wins and the protagonist changes as a result/dies (1984/Brave New World)
• Both are changed as a result (Avatar: The Last Airbender/Harry Potter)

Not every story requires all of these elements.

But, as a basis for story, these are useful definitions to know when discussing it in an objective sense.

Because then you can start making all kinds of fun arguments like

• Who is the protagonist of this story?

Arguably antagonists are protagonists of their own stories.

Therefore, you may choose to side with whomever you most associate with (The Terminator perhaps?)