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Day 7 Assignments
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7 Replies
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Tom’s Show Empathy/Distress
What I observed from this lesson is that the character work we are doing is building into plot work. I could see how the other exercises that allowed me to experiment with different relationship patterns, led to pulling out some of the better choices, equating here to broad strokes of empathy and distress.
ASSIGNMENT 1:
Big Picture Empathy/Distress Situations in The Good Place:
Eleanor was incorrectly placed in the Good Place
Jason was also misplaced in the Good Place but is far less bright/cunning than Eleanor putting both the soul’s of he and Eleanor at risk
Eleanor was matched up with Chidi as her soul mate meaning that he cannot actually meet his real soul mate
Chidi has decided to help Eleanor become a better person thus putting his ability to stay in the good place in jeopardy
Tahani doesn’t even know that Jason (her soul mate) is a fraud and is constantly trying to get him to open up
Every time Eleanor does something in line with the values of the good place it causes an environmental catastrophe placing other residents of the neighborhood in danger
Unable to determine the route of the problem, Michael blames himself and decides he must retire (which in this world means an eternity of torture)
ASSIGNMENT 2:
My Show:
Undeserved misfortune – all of the group members are there because they are experience a profound loss directly or indirectly from the pandemic
External character conflicts – Eddie and Claire are conducting an experiment on the group without them realizing it, forcing characters with conflicting opinions to find common ground
Plot protruding on life – Claire and Eddie are trying to see if they can alter a future incident where Jenny will die as an innocent bystander caught in the cross fire when a political protest becomes violent. The major players of the incident, who are assembled in the group, are diametrically opposed to helping one another
Moral dilemmas – If Trish and Eddie can’t find common ground it will ultimately result in Jenny’s life; they are forced to sit directly across from their future victim
Forced decisions they’d never make – Florida Man, Angela, FM, and Jenny are forced to take a stand in their personal lives, and become players in the fate of Jenny’s life at a place and time they would have otherwise just been observers.
Undeserved misfortune – Jenny finds out she is going to die at some point in the near future for something she had no part in
Forced decisions they’d never make – Trish and Eddie must put their differences aside to stop a riot from occurring at their competing protests
Undeserved misfortune – Florida Man realizes that he has been abducted in the past as a result of being aware of that he is currently in the middle of an abduction
Moral dilemmas – Florida Man must decide whether to tell the rest of the group that they have been abducted
Plot protruding on life – When Florida Man does tell the group they must decide if they believe a man who has been on a tirade since they met about conspiracy theories
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Megan’s Show Empathy/Distress – Part 1
What I learned doing this assignment is… that every episode has moments of empathy and distress. (I even noticed it on episodes of the reality TV show Survivor.) However, finding big picture empathy and distress requires multiple episodes to pick up on. I still don’t know whether the instances I’ve picked up on in Riverdale are episode empathy / distress or big picture.
TITLE: Riverdale
A. Undeserved misfortune:
Betty: her sister Polly unfairly put into an insane asylum to hide her illegitimate pregnancy
Veronica: people judging her based on her imprisoned father; her mother forging her signature and making her feel like she has nothing
Jughead: his father’s role in the Serpents and alcoholism cause him to leave home and live at the drive-in; accused of killing Jason Blossom because of his seedy background
B. External Character conflicts:
Veronica / Archie: her mother is dating Archie’s father even though her dad is in prison
Veronica / Hermione: her mother forged Veronica’s name and now Veronica wants pay back
Veronica / Betty: occasional friendship struggles
Archie: his dad not as supportive with music as he was with football
Betty: her parents are forcing Polly to put the baby up for adoption against her wishes
C. Plot intruding on life:
Cheryl: her twin brother’s murder
Betty: finding out her sister was pregnant and that her parents intentionally sent Polly away; knows where Polly is hiding
Jughead: the drive in is sold, forcing him to live in the school locker room; brought down to police station under suspicion of the murder of Jason Blossom
D. Moral dilemmas:
Archie: Having to decide whether or not to keep the gunshot a secret when revealing it would also give away his secret romance with a teacher
Betty: telling Polly that Jason Blossom had been murdered, even though she knew it would hurt her sister; hiding Polly’s location from her parents
Jughead: trying to stand behind an alcoholic screwup father who constantly fails him
E. Forced decisions they’d never make:
Archie: Lying to his dad to pursue a music career; lying to his friend Jughead to pursue Mrs. Grundy
Betty: forced to stand beside her parents unwillingly against the Blossoms; working with Cheryl and the Blossoms to keep Polly’s baby (and Jason’s baby) safe
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Megan’s Show Empathy/Distress – Part 2
What I learned doing this assignment is… I need more ideas. I seem to be circling the same dozen ideas with each of these assignments, but I’m not sure where to go other than here. I’m also struggling to stay in the vein of comedy when the show I’m analyzing is clearly teen drama.
TITLE: Dear Future Self
A. Undeserved misfortune:
Lexie: alcoholic father
Betsy: her father abandoned her family
Cerise: mother died of cancer
Alexis: her best friend stole her fiance
B. External Character conflicts:
Lexie: conflict with her siblings to be viewed as successful by their parents
Betsy / Cerise: competition over friendship with Lexie
Lexie / Betsy: conflict over Betsy’s cheating to stay in athletics and their diverging priorities
Alexis / Sterling: work conflict
Alexis / Brett: romance conflict
C. Plot intruding on life:
Alexis: begins changing at work the more she gets to know Lexie; she second guesses ruthless decisions she never would have flinched at in the past
Lexie: becomes more courageous; she begins engaging in riskier behavior with a sort of superhero syndrome since discovering Alexis
Betsy: failing math; threatened to be kicked off the basketball team
Cerise: finally has a way to connect with Betsy: by helping her pass math, even if it means cheating
Lexie and Betsy’s friendship falling away / Lexie and Cerise’s friendship blossoming
D. Moral dilemmas:
Betsy: cheating on academics to stay in athletics; Cerise is helping; Lexie knows but is friends with both girls and doesn’t want either to get into trouble
Lexie: supporting her father despite his alcoholism and occasionally embarrassing antics
Alexis: wanting to use her new connection with Lexie to her advantage
E. Forced decisions they’d never make:
Lexie: considers leaving home
Betsy: owning up to her cheating and getting kicked off the basketball team?
Cerise: standing up to her overprotective father
Alexis: agreeing to a date with Hunter . . . in front of Brett, whom she constantly rejected saying she had sworn off dating
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Binge-Worthy TV – Lesson 7
What we learned during this assignment is the big picture empathy and distress for each character keep showing up in all sorts of situations during each episode.
Example Show: The Righteous Gemstones
ASSIGNMENT 1: Example Show
1. Watch the next episode of your Example Show and focus on the Empathy/Distress that shows up in this episode and throughout the season so far.
2. Notice the difference between Big Picture Empathy/Distress and detail-oriented Empathy/Distress. Big Picture will have an impact across multiple episodes.
Eli’s wife dying
Judy being overlooked/overshadowed
Jesse not being good enough to take over from Eli
Jesse being blackmailed
Jesse has to admit to his wife about the video
Gideon not having his parent’s support for this dream
Baby Billy is lost without his sister
Kelvin trying to be more than a youth minister
Keefe dealing with his demonsASSIGNMENT 2: Your Show
Our Show: Couple Goals
1. Make a list of BIG PICTURE difficult situations and decisions your characters could make because of the main conflict of this series.
Just ask: “Knowing the concept, what are the big picture Empathy/Distress situations that could occur?”
A. Undeserved misfortune
Liz’s Father dies
Liz is emotionally abused by her MotherB. External Character conflicts
Liz and Teresa in competition (perfect sister vs black sheep sister)
Liz and her Mother hate each other
Liz confronts and Eric avoids it
Liz wants to be out about their swinging, but Eric doesn’t
Michelle getting divorcedC. Plot intruding on life
As more people find out about Liz and Eric being swingers, it intrudes on their vanilla life.
D. Moral dilemmas
Liz’s Mother stays married because of her religious beliefs, but her husband is secretly a cross-dresser
E. Forced decisions they’d never make
Liz tells Michelle that she’s a swinger without Eric knowing
Liz giving swinger, sex, and relationship advice without Eric knowing -
What I learned doing this assignment is…the possibilities for character/plot complications are endless.
Sharilyn’s “Big Little Lies” Big Picture Empathy/Distress
ASSIGNMENT #1
1. Madeline’s 17yr. old moves out and in with her dad Nate and his new wife & family
2. Celeste goes singly to the marriage counselor, who encourages her to leave Perry
3. Jane makes up w/Renata for accusing her son of stangularization
4. Madeline admits her feelings for Joe and reveals her one-nighter with him
Sharilyn’s “8Bytes” Big Picture Empathy/Distress
ASSIGNMENT #2
A. Undeserved misfortune
1. Erin loses a baby and told by doctors it was due to her weight
2. Patty’s parents subject her to a homosexual exorcism
3. Walley forced to film and upload for $$ his stepfather(?)/”uncle” abuse his mom
4. Mi-Ya not allowed to join the Kindergarten Circle of Sisters
5. Ms. Chen forced out of the local Filipino community after fighting her abusive husband
B. External Character Conflicts
1. Walley hacks Erin’s phone, uploading and posting her daily hygiene and eating habits
2. Patty makes a deal with the Porn Press to get more footage of Erin if they would advertise her make-up artistry
3. Mi-Ya stages a fat fashion show for Erin only
4. Chubby Chasers fetishize Erin
5. Food sabotages Erin’s weight loss efforts
C. Plot intruding on Life
1. Erin gets rejected from the teacher certification program b/c of her porn involvement
2. Erin doesn’t lose weight b/c she believes her own fat fetish hype and fears she won’t be able to have children
3. Fake birth parents show up for Erin
4. Patty falls for Gina leaving Erin out
5. Erin is the only success for Walley
D. Moral Dilemmas
1. If Erin goes for weight loss surgery, she loses $$ from her porn fame and it may mean she cannot have children due to the undue stress on her body
2. Continuing in the porn industry is her only stream of income but is also means she cannot teach
3. Choosing to search for her birth parents opens Erin up to a host of weirdos who lead her down a road of more self-loathing
Forced Decisions they’d never make
1. Erin would never leave her bedroom but is outted by Walley’s hacking
2. Erin would never be a porn star but is made in to one by Chubby Chasers
3. Patty would never betray Erin but she does b/c she’s desperate to show up her parents
4. Walley would never hack but he didn’t finish high school and can’t do anything else/keep any other job where he feels important
5. Ms. Chen would never come down so hard on Erin if she could communicate with her own daughter
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Suzanne’s show Empathy/Distress Part 2
What I learned in this assignment is … these are glorified bulletpoints. There’s so much to discover! For every sentence here I have a page of notes as I play with options and ideas …
A. Undeserved misfortune: Gulf Coast in general, because of impending storm; Maelle/loss of her best friend; Dadpilot’s sentence of ghosts; Zephyr/lost everything when she followed her guides; Handler/marital consequences of taking this job; when they escape, everyone they ever talked to will be investigated/accused;
B. External Character conflicts. The development/investigation into the Gulf 7 and changes within NOLA as the threat escalates and the storm approaches
C. Plot intruding on life: weather/politics
D. Moral dilemmas. How much of your history do fellow conspirators deserve to know? What they don’t know could hurt them HOW?
E. Forced decisions they’d never make. Dadpilot/spy & betrayals; Zephyr/leave her guides;
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BWTV/M1/L7/Assignment 1 – Big Picture Empathy/Distress – “Big Little Lies”
This assignment helped me to learn how to make characters relatable to viewers by placing them in life situations of distress that cause them to act in certain ways, so we can empathize with them, but I think I’ve gotten too detail oriented at this stage.
Undeserved misfortune – Celeste keeps getting beaten up by Perry. Ed keeps getting goaded on by the passive aggressive behavior of Nathan who is projecting.
External character conflicts – Tori drives by Madeline’s house to see if she’s there or with Joseph. Tom banishes Gordon from his pub when Gordon harasses Jane and Madeline about Jane’s attack on Renata. Ed and Nathan spar at the fundraising party.
Plot intruding on life – Perry finds out Celeste has rented an apartment and plans to leave him. In the car he pleads with her not to go, saying he will change, but Celeste says it’s too late. Celeste flees from the car and goes to the party after Renata and others see them in the car. Celeste goes to Jane. Perry is killed while attacking Celeste and her friends, sparing Celeste from having to leave him and removing her boys from him. Brilliant directing = we see Perry lying dead at the bottom of the stairs, and the detective saying that it’s murder and that she thinks Celeste pushed him when he beat her, but we don’t see who it did until later, which increases the tension we feel as viewers. The murder was the big climax to the 1st year’s series.
Moral dilemmas – Should Ziggy tell Jane who really hurt Amabella? He finally points to the culprit in the school photo. Jane tells Celeste that Max did it and Celeste is shocked. Madeline feels guilty about her affair and resists telling Ed about it. Madeline tells Abigail she doesn’t know if she will allow her affair with Joseph to blow up her life. At the party, when Ed sings a song that illustrates how deeply he feels about her, Madeline runs off in tears because of her guilty feelings and because she knows how hurt he will be if he finds out about the affair.
Forced decisions they’d never make – Celeste finally decides to leave Perry after she learns that Max hurt Amabella. She confronts Perry about his violence making him a bad role model for their boys. She gets out of their car and runs to her friends at the party, but Perry follows her. Renata apologizes to Jane when she learns it was Max who hurt Amabella.
BWTV/M1/L7/Assignment 2 – Big Picture Empathy/Distress – “Opera Aloha”
Mira Santiago
A. Undeserved Misfortune: 1) As children, Mira and her twin brother were in a plane crash that killed their parents. 2) Mira’s boyfriend ends their relationship in a way that causes Mira to swear off men forever. 3) To sabotage Mira,someone injects a date rape drug into a box of chocolates from Opera Aloha’s Opera Guild and leaves them on Mira’smakeup table in her dressing room backstage. Mira eats one, passes out, and misses the dress rehearsal.
B. External Character Conflicts: 1) Mira fights with her agent over his bullying. 2) A fight with the stage director almost gets her fired. 3) Mira resists Wyn’s advances until ….
C. Plot intruding on life: 1) To save her reputation and career, Mira must fight the Stage Director, Conductor & Costume Designer over staging, musical tempi, costumes & wigs.
D. Moral Dilemmas: 1) Should she yield to temptation and have a romantic relationship with Wynston Trapnell? 2) Should she tell the elderly conductor that his young wife is cheating on him? 3) Should she use subterfuge to foil the director’s staging?
E. Forced decisions they’d never make: She’s forced to accept a job as a last-minute substitute in an opera role that could end her career.
Jake Sutherland:
A. Undeserved Misfortune: Every woman he has ever loved either dies or leaves him. At age 7 his mother took him to Bayreuth, Germany with her and made him sit through an entire Wagner Ring Cycle, which turned him off to operaforever, until ….
B. External Character Conflicts: He can’t bear it when a man deceives or takes advantage of a woman, so he takes an instant dislike to Wyn.
C. Plot intruding on life: Daphne Dee’s betrayal caused him to spiral into depression, lose self-confidence, drink too much & gain a lot of weight. Now, he must shape up.
D. Moral Dilemmas: Should he tell Mira that Wyn is two-timing her, and would she believe him? How can he save Mira from Wyn without offending her or being considered a stalker? What can he do to compete with Wyn for Mira’s love?
E. Forced decisions they’d never make: To go see an opera as a favor to his friend Kris.
Daphne Dee Bliss
A. Undeserved Misfortune: Her evangelical pastor father disowned her when she was 16 after she got pregnant and had an abortion.
B. External Character Conflicts: She tries to hurt Mira when she finds that Wyn is wooing her.
C. Plot intruding on life: The FBI is after her.
D. Moral Dilemmas: None. For her, the ends justify the means.
E. Forced decisions they’d never make: To give up her lucrative business as an interior designer targeting wealthy bachelors and selling them counterfeit art and antiques.
Wynston Irving Trapnell
A. Undeserved Misfortune: His first ex-wife divorced him and took their 2 kids back to the mainland. He divorced his 2nd wife because she wanted to have children. The third wife, an actress, ran off with a film director who promised to make her a star. He misses his kids, but volunteers at the Shriners Hospital entertaining sick children, in an effort to assuage his guilt and to make up for neglecting his own kids when he was married to wife #1.
B. External Character Conflicts: He likes to engage in brief, commitment-free affairs with opera singers in Honolulu because the singers are freelancers who are only there for a month and always leave after their gig with Opera Aloha is over.
C. Plot intruding on life: He is tricked into marriage by Daphne Dee who claims she is pregnant with twins by him.
D. Moral Dilemmas: Should he continue to lie to Mira that he is the anonymous sender of flowers, poems and chocolates that get delivered to her after her performances?
E. Forced decisions they’d never make: He gets married for the 4th time.
Kris Van Kampen
A. Undeserved Misfortune: Her wealthy ex, a plastic surgeon, refuses to pay child support.
B. External Character Conflicts: She despises Daphne Dee Bliss for taking advantage of Jake and becomes an informer for the FBI to help them nab her.
C. Plot intruding on life: Kris tries to warn Mira not to get involved with Wyn because of his bad track record with women, but it’s too late, as Mira is already infatuated with him. She tells Jake about Daphne Dee’s criminal enterprises, but he doesn’t believe her until she presents him with proof.
D. Moral Dilemmas: Should she tell Jake that the FBI is after Daphne Dee for her criminal enterprises?
E. Forced decisions they’d never make: She feels guilty about cooperating with the FBI to nail Jake’s ex, Daphne Dee.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 9 months ago by Evelyn Petros. Reason: I corrected typos
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This reply was modified 2 years, 9 months ago by Evelyn Petros. Reason: I corrected typos
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This reply was modified 2 years, 9 months ago by
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