DZ-67: Writing Passive Protagonists & Melodrama

Listen if you want to write powerful stories centred on characters without much agency. Stu and Chas are joined by Stephen Cleary following his exploration into Melodrama, and together they try to reclaim the word from its pejorative meaning. By examining powerful Melodramas - like THE HANDMAID’S TALE, LADIES IN BLACK and STRANGER THINGS… with many a tangent on MARRIAGE STORY, PETE’S DRAGON, MILDRED PIERCE, GAME OF THRONES, LOST, THE JOKER, THE KILLING, THE WITCHER, war movies and survival films - the three hosts try to unpick what makes Melodrama an alternate story paradigm to the Hero’s Journey. They delve into how Melodramas centre on characters that don’t have agency; where the plot happens to characters (as opposed to being driven by them); how Melodramas don’t end so much as close; and how all of the above delves into character questions more deeply than the Hero’s Journey. And to wrap it all up, the kind of techniques you use on the page to write effective melodramas. Content Warning : There is a lot of discussion in this episode about melodrama being associated with "women’s stories" vs "the hero’s journey" - which is biased towards a "masculine" mode of storytelling - and we fully acknowledge in the show and here that we are three cismen talking about these things. This episode was edited by Christopher Walker. As always: SPOILERS ABOUND and all copyright material used under fair use for educational purposes. LIKE THIS EPISODE? Send us feedback. Thanks to our Patrons, especially Khrob, Theis, Sandra, Jesse, Randy, Paulo, Thomas, Jennifer, Malay, Alexandre and Lily. ——— CHAPTERS 00:01:25 – Intro: Melodrama & Passive Protoganists 00:01:31 – What is Melodrama? 00:38:06 – The Handmaid's Tale 00:56:44 – Horror and Melodrama 01:00:35 – Marriage Story 01:15:18 – The Handmaid's Tale & Narrative Techniques 01:30:37 – Game of Thrones and Endings 01:33:20 – Melodrama & Endings 01:39:19 – Ladies in Black 02:13:47 – Stranger Things 02:31:52 – The Killing 02:38:23 – The Witcher 02:44:16 – Wrap Up: Passive & Still Characters FILMS LADIES IN BLACK (2018) — (w) Madeleine St John, Sue Milliken, Bruce Beresford (d) Bruce Beresford MARRIAGE STORY (2019) — (w) Noah Baumbach PETE'S DRAGON (2016) — (w) Toby Halbrooks, David Lowery (d) David Lowery MILDRED PIERCE (1945) — (w) Ranald Macdougall, James M Cain (d) Michael Curtiz JOKER (2019) — (w) Scott Silver, Todd Phillips (d) Todd Phillips SHOWS THE HANDMAID'S TALE 1x1 "Offred" — Reed Morano (d), Margaret Atwood (w) STRANGER THINGS — (w) Ross Duffer, Matt Duffer THE WITCHER — (w) Lauren Schmidt Hissrich LOST — (w) Jj Abrams, Damon Lindelof, Jeffrey Lieber SCRIPTS Study the script: MARRIAGE STORY (2019) — Noah Baumbach Study the script: JOKER (2019) — Scott Silver, Todd Phillips RELATED EPISODES DZ-52: Antagonists! 4 - vs Systems DZ-60: Unfilmables 1 - Engaging imagination DZ-61: Unfilmables 2 - Moments of Awe DZ-63: Tools for Better Dialogue 2 - Hook and Eye ——— More Draft Zero is brought to you by our awesome Patreons. If you enjoy the show, please leave a review on Apple Podcasts, a rating on Spotify, or a review on Podchaser. We are @stuwillis, @mehlsbells and @chasffisher on Twitter. You can find @draft_zero and @_shotzero on Instagram and Twitter. Full show notes at: https://draft-zero.com/2020/dz-67/