Art Fox
Forum Replies Created
-
Art Fox engaging main characters
o what I learned doing this assignment: This is an excellent recipe for breaking down the main characters and starting to figure out their goals, needs and vulnerabilities, which will lead to the conflicts that will drive the story. I also relearned it’s better to write something down that’s incomplete than to write nothing and wait for inspiration.
Module 1 – lesson 3: Engaging Main Characters
· Homework assignment 1:
o Watch an episode of Mr. Robot to see what makes Elliot intriguing and give answers to the engaging profile questions for him.
§ Role in the show: Elliot: Main character, 20 something computer engineer by day, vigilante computer hacker by night. Also Mr. Robot, an alternate personality.
§ Unique purpose/expertise: He has a split personality as both Eliot and as his dead father, who used to own a computer repair store called Mr. Robot. He can hack into any computer system without a trace, finds out the deepest secrets of anyone he wants to.
§ Intrigue: His Mr. Robot personality wants to destroy the biggest company in the world by destroying the value of money worldwide.
§ Moral issue: When he is the dead father/ Mr. Robot persona, he’ll harm anyone, destroy anyone’s life, reveal their secrets to the world if they get in his way. As Elliot, he Is horrified by his other personality’s actions.
§ Unpredictable: He can’t control which personality is in control and flips back and forth. As Elliott, he is a morphine addict, and he wants to connect with other people, especially the woman he secretly loves, but is unable to. As Mr. Robot, he is brash, outgoing, controlling and able to connect with anyone.
§ Empathetic: He is a victim of his own insanity, tortured by his own misfiring brain. He is a Jekyll/Hyde archetype we all connect with; our desire to be good and fit in, constantly warring with our desire to be completely selfish without regard to consequences.
o Name and Engaging profile of at least one character from Mr. Robot
§ Role in the show: Krista Gordon, Elliot’s psychiatrist
§ Unique purpose/expertise: She is trying to help Elliot give up his morphine habit and manage his anxieties, but at least in the beginning episodes, she doesn’t know about his Mr. Robot personality. Her expertise is in knowing how to get people to communicate their innermost secrets and desires, and to help them heal from trauma.
§ Intrigue: When will she find out about his Mr. Robot personality? On the outside she is very professional but seems to have a lot of secrets of her own, so when do we get to see them? Is she in league with the secret cabal Elliot is after?
§ Moral issue: She knows Elliot can break into anyone’s electronic life because he’s done it to her and told her about others. He’s extremely dangerous, so should she turn him in or retain client/doctor privilege?
§ Unpredictable: She’s fascinated by Elliot, sees him as a challenge, but also is terrified of him because of what he can do. He could wipe out her finances, destroy her record as a doctor, ruin her life, and she can’t get away from him, so she has to try everything she can to get him on her side, even illegal or unethical things.
§ Empathetic: She is victimized by Elliot’s power over her. She didn’t ask to be his shrink but now she’s stuck with him and struggling to do the best she can. She wants to do good by him, she is trying to remain professional and ethical – the good person we all aspire to be.
· Homework assignment 2
o Describe the journey of my show: The genie is trying to find his place in the world. Is he a genie, is he human, is he both, is he neither and something new? The psychiatrist is trying to help him on that journey but is in completely uncharted waters
o Who are the main characters that will sell the show: The genie and the psychiatrist
o Answer these questions for each of those characters
o Genie
§ Role in the show: Main character. The show is about his journey.
§ Unique purpose/expertise?: He’s a genie with substantial powers.
§ Intrigue: what is the secret beneath the surface? He’s half human, born to a human woman.
§ Moral issue: what moral boundaries are they crossing? His genie side loves his power and has a certain morality, but it doesn’t align with human morality. His human side is trying to use the power for good, but doesn’t always succeed and doesn’t always want to.
§ Unpredictable; what will they do next? The genie is young and is still discovering what he can and can’t do. He is also trying to connect with the genie world, but because he’s half human, he gets rejected by them, but he keeps trying.
§ Empathetic: why do we care? He trying to find his tribe and can’t find a way to fit in with either humans or genies.
o Psychiatrist
§ Role in the show: To help the genie find his place, overcome his anxieties, use his powers for good.
§ Unique purpose/expertise? He’s the only one the genie confides in and has the ability to help the genie do the right thing – sometimes.
§ Intrigue: what is the secret beneath the surface? Does she want some of the genie’s powers for herself, or at least to manipulate him into giving her things and people she can’t get on her own? Influence, fame, love? Is she in love with the genie?
§ Moral issue: what moral boundaries are they crossing? The genie offers to do things for her she knows she shouldn’t want or accept, yet she does sometimes, then feels terrible about it. She strives to maintain professionalism in the face of extreme temptation, but also has a selfish, controlling side he taps into. And if she loves him, that’s totally wrong professionally, compromises her objectivity.
§ Unpredictable; what will they do next? Will she accept gifts and power? Will she admit her love? Does she even love him or is it just his power?
§ Empathetic: why do we care? She is tempted by power but is trying to remain professional and not give in to her baser self. She, like the genie, has trouble finding a tribe. She is brilliant and doesn’t relate well to others.
-
What I learned from this assignment is that it’s an excellent process for thinking beyond the central characters and making their world feel more real to me, even though I know I need to add many more characters. It got me over the idea that I had to know all the characters to get started. I now know I can add, subtract or alter characters as the story evolves.
Module 1, Lesson 2: Assignment 1 – Example show circle of characters: “Mr. Robot”
· Main character circle
o Elliot Alderson
o Mr. Robot
· Connected circle
o Darlene Alderson
o Angela Moss
o Tyrell Wellick
o Gideon Goddard
o Ollie Parker
o Krista Gordon
· Environment circle
o Joanna Wellick
o Elliot’s mother
o Shayla
o Romero
o Trenton
o Fernando Vera
Module 1, Lesson 2: Assignment 2 – My show circle of characters: “The Genie’s Psychiatrist”
· Main character circle
o The Genie (name TBD)
o The psychiatrist (name TBD)
· Connected circle
o People Genie grants wishes to (various)
o Psychiatrist’s secretary
o Marid, a powerful and malicious genie
o The Wizard (name TBD, who tries to control the genie for his/her own selfish purposes)
o The Ruler (the entity that imprisons and controls all genies)
· Environment circle
o Doorman in psychiatrist’s office building
o Cleaning lady in psychiatrist’s office building
o Psychiatrist’s spouse
o Genie’s various lovers
Character descriptions:
· Genie: a powerful but extremely unhappy supernatural being who is a rare genie that likes humans and is trying to fit in to the human world but who is pursued by the Wizard so he can harness the Genie’s powers for his own ends.
· Psychiatrist: A regular human who gets trapped into trying to help the genie solve his emotional problems while also trying to come to terms with the existence of a supernatural world.
-
Title: The Genie’s Psychiatrist
Plot line: An innocent on a mission in a strange world.
Unique hero: He (or she, or it) is a Genie (yep, the “3 wishes” kind of genie)
Secondary hero: The psychiatrist, who has to upend his/her fact-based, scientific view of the world to believe in the genie’s supernatural world and that he can help the genie.
Transformational journey: The genie hates his life. He’s sick of granting wishes to humans he considers to be idiots and gets so fed up he repeatdly tries suicide. However, being immortal, he fails to kill himself, so instead resorts to visiting a human psychiatrist in hopes of learning to deal with his despair. Even though he is extremely powerful in our world, he is controlled by a system that keeps him a prisoner, unable to pursue his own life, so his ultimate goal is to break out of the system and stop being a genie. In the process of treating the genie, the psychiatrist must also deal with his fears of loss of control and completely rewrite his world view, along with his own core identity.
Conflict: Even though he tries his best, the genie becomes worse and worse at his job, screwing up wish-granting over and over. In addition, he is wrestling with the idea of stopping being a genie – but if he’s not a genie, what is he? Also, the psychiatrist has to deal with the real physical danger of dealing with a very angry, depressed, unpredictable and extremely powerful supernatural being while also trying to come to terms with the idea that there is a hidden, supernatural world, an idea he has rejected all his life and has based his identity on.
Sub-world: The world of chaotic, hidden supernatural power and beings inhabited by the genie crashing into the everyday predictable life of the psychiatrist – in unique and unpredictable ways.