Abstract
The writer ventures into the story’s internal world through a Four Themeline Movements exercise. What is the Protagonist’s disunity: Explore aspects of the character’s psyche from which they are disconnected including their core essence at the story’s beginning. What is the Protagonist’s deconstruction: Consider how the Protagonist’s old ways of being fail them as they navigate their way into and through the new world. What is the Protagonist’s reconstruction: As the Protagonist’s authentic nature emerges, identify how that revelation drives the character’s transformation process. What is the Protagonist’s Unity: Reflect the nature of the change that lies at the heart of the Protagonist’s character arc. This chapter provides a Four Themeline Movements treatment for the Pixar film Up.
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Notes
- 1.
Chapter Two: Character Arc explores three examples of alternate arcs: Change Agent, Refuse Change, and Disintegration.
- 2.
As noted previously, there are multiple ways to describe a character’s authentic nature such as true self, core essence, and ultimate need.
- 3.
For more on themeline, see Chapter Seven: Screenplay Universe.
- 4.
For an in-depth analysis of the Four Themeline Movements, refer to Chapter Three: Unity, Chapter Four: Deconstruction, Chapter Five: Reconstruction, and Chapter Six: Unity. This is also how we can look at story structure as having a Four-Act Structure.
- 5.
The Power of Myth, Bill Moyers and Joseph Campbell, Episode 1, Mystic Fire Video / Wellspring, 1988.
- 6.
Ibid.
- 7.
Indeed, one way of looking at Story is the events of the plotline and the characters surrounding the Protagonist all exist to serve and support the Protagonist’s psychological pilgrimage. From this perspective, it is all about the Protagonist discovering their ultimate need which serves as the fulcrum of their metamorphosis toward unity.
- 8.
For an in-depth analysis of Stone’s Protagonist journey, see: Movie Analysis: ‘Gravity,’ Scott Myers, Go Into The Story, August 2019, https://gointothestory.blcklst.com/movie-analysis-gravity-43ef07f181a5.
- 9.
Joseph Campbell, The Hero With a Thousand Faces, (Princeton University Press, 1968), p. 24.
References
Moyers, B and Campbell, J (1988). The Power of Myth; Mystic Fire Video / Wellspring.
Peterson, B & Docter, P (screenplay), Docter, P & Peterson, B & McCarthy, T (story) (2008). Up; Walt Disney Pictures / Pixar Animation Studios.
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Myers, S. (2022). Breaking Story IV Four Themeline Movements. In: The Protagonist's Journey. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-79682-2_18
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