sw-character-conflict

Character & Conflict

Output language = language of the question; terms are always anchored back to the original word, see sw-workflow/terms.md, do not invent translated terms.

Four source systems cross-check one another:Egriprovides structural characterology (three dimensions, orchestration, unity of opposites, four types of conflict, transitions);Indickprovides the psychology of motivation (Freud→Erikson→Jung→Campbell/Murdock→Adler→Rollo May);McKee/Hicks/Cron/Snyderprovide American practical tests (choice under pressure, self-image, false belief, save the cat);Lu Junprovides the eight essentials of character and the method of antagonist configuration in Chinese drama. For the archetype table, psychological checklist and Egri analysis template, see reference.md。

I. What a Character Is

Three-Dimensional Character (Egri)

A person has three dimensions:physiology, sociology, psychology(psychology is the product of the first two). The critical terms "bland, formulaic, cookie-cutter" all stem from missing dimensions. The author must know them but need not write them into the script; they are "conveyed through action".
Framework checklist: physiology (sex, age, physique, appearance, defects, heredity); sociology (class, occupation, education, family, religion, race, status, politics, entertainment); psychology (sex life and moral standards,personal premise and goal, frustrations and major disappointments, temperament, complexes, introversion/extroversion, abilities and qualities).
Character = the sum of physiological conditions and environmental influences; "everything is in change"; dialectic: thesis (external demand)/antithesis (character's desire)/synthesis (ending), and prove "why it must be her" — by excluding all other possibilities.
Character creates plot, not the reverse: swap Hamlet for Romeo, and Juliet has already married Paris; "while Hamlet hesitates, Romeo acts". If Oedipus were not hot-tempered he would not kill a stranger, if he were not stubborn he would not investigate, if he were not honest he would not stab out his own eyes.

Characterization vs. True Character (McKee)

Characterization= the sum of all observable qualities;true character= revealed by choice under pressure; the greater the pressure, the deeper the revelation. "He chooses, therefore he is." A cleaning lady vs. a neurosurgeon saving children on a school bus: stop or not → phone or rush in → which child to save.
Principle of revelation: what seems so is not so; the inner life of a major character must never be the same as the outer (the Rambo beneath Bond's playboy exterior).
Dimension = contradiction: within deep character (guilt-laden ambition) or between characterization and deep character (a charming thief), and it must be coherent and consistent (a good man kicking a cat once does not count as a dimension). The "three-dimensional" producer Jesse (finance + breakdancing + karate + saxophone) = a flat list of quirks; Hamlet has ten or twelve dimensions.The protagonist must be the most multidimensional, otherwise the center of good shifts (in Blade Runner, Roy is more multidimensional than Deckard → a dud).
Character design = a solar system: the protagonist is the sun, supporting characters are planets, minor characters are satellites; supporting characters exist entirely to delineate the protagonist's dimensions; a minor character has one refreshing trait and nothing more, and if a dimension is added, they must appear again.
Three tips: leave room for the actor; love all your characters, especially the bad ones (the Terminator straightens his hair after gouging out an eyeball); character is self-knowledge (the honest answer to "if I were this character" is always correct).
Motivation: the more you fix motivation to a specific cause, the smaller the character becomes (the child-abuse片段 is a cliché); keep self-explanations in your pocket (Rick, "I'm never sticking my neck out for anybody again"—"Oh, not yet").

Character Calling and Self-Concept (Hicks)

Oppose filling in a character-sheet questionnaire; writing ischaracter calling: you are a discoverer, not a creator—actively listen; it is better if your typing speed cannot keep up with the recording; all characters are yourself (an autobiographical magnifying glass), but if a character goes dull it may be because they are too much like you, so search for traits greater than your own.
Eight quick-response questions: happiest? talent? want to change? achievement? cherish? waste? lie? regret?—If none of the answers surprises you, you are controlling the character too tightly.
Character = action + dramatic choice (refusing the settlement check in The Verdict);minimal action: the character first takes the minimal necessary action to avoid exposing inner needs (Stanley and the dog: pillow over the head → call the police → note → knock on the door → the one who opens the door is the beautiful Susie); the screenwriter must quickly force him into a dramatic choice.
Self-concept = attitude, and it must be written into the script; values shape self-concept and are tested in the story (Rick's scoundrel attitude is inconsistent with his values).cognitive dissonance= self-doubt; the general formula for a love story: the two sides' self-concepts first conflict and then become aligned together.
Character study: present tense, active voice, lock it in a drawer and forget it after 30–60 pages; use abstract characteristic actions in description (dried-persimmon face), not precise physical data; clay exercise.

Desire vs. False Belief (Cron)

Everything about the protagonist comes from the past; he enters a new day with a plan, and the author's task is not to let him have his way. Do not write a detailed life biography; write theprimal scene(the moment the false belief takes root) + three turning-point scenes. On every page: the protagonist draws conclusions that affect action from everything he notices; emotion relies on understanding, not emotion words; always through his subjective lens.
Every secondary character thinks he is the protagonist and has his own plan; the profile only writes the part relevant to the protagonist's story; characters who do not appear are also developed.

The Army's "Characters Must Live" Eight Requirements

Conceive starting from character(Mao Dun: story and character arise and mature at the same time; to write about elder abuse, first ponder an old person who swallows insults for the sake of "face").
unique action: Hegel, "what can express a person's character, ideals, and purposes most clearly is action"; in The Jade Bracelet, dropping the bracelet and picking it up; in The Women's Representative, nine actions;Engels: character shows not only what he does but how he does it—Lu Tixia cuts ten jin of minced meat to enrage Zheng Tu, says "you're feigning death," and strides away; Li Kui would only split him with one axe blow; Wu Song kills his sister-in-law with ease and poise, Shi Xiu kills his sister-in-law with petty calculation. A character has action, and one must pay attention to the interests he is involved with in the conflict (why does Aunt Song instigate?).
do not simplify: Tenderness may be full of strength, while brutality is precisely weakness; Chen Shimei wants to acknowledge his wife and children yet cannot bear to give up being the imperial son-in-law; do not vilify opposing characters with a bumped forehead and a medicinal plaster; besides being shrewish, write Yu Tao as tender, and besides fanning the flames, write Guo Dashan as saying, "The跌打丸 trauma pills also injured me, so I bear responsibility too."
Has development: Ya Que is "the embodiment of two or three traits... like a repeating decimal"; Han Qi goes from a family retainer ordered to kill to cutting his own throat in just one scene; the patrol chief goes from wanting the reward to letting the revolutionary go because of childhood memories;Transformed characters are more vivid than "new people," because they write people in life。
Detail depiction(The father stands tall and upright, writing "1990"; only after turning on the light and feeling the lump does he pull).
First appearanceDepends on personality and the needs of conflict (Li Kui: "Who is this dark fellow?"; Yu Tao seizes attention first; Chang Genfang sings a mountain song from offstage before the storm breaks; Jin Afu enters pretending to be sick in a cotton-padded jacket in the height of summer).
DialogueOne or two lines depict the main traits ("Each generation is worse than the last" "If you can't find one, just grab one" "What's the harm in three more years" "Fart your mother's stinking屁").
Typical: Mao Dun: "So familiar... you can run into him everywhere, yet you cannot point out exactly who he is"; when writing new people, do not "measure every line with the ruler of new people"; when writing politicians, you may as well write their family life.

II. Protagonist

Egri's governing force: Dominates, creates conflict, knows what he wants (Iago, Krogstad, Orgon, even a stray dog); must urgently want something (more important than life), be at a critical juncture, be aggressive, firm, even ruthless; tenacity divides into active (Hamlet) and passive (Kit Lester enduring hunger); driven by inner need or outer pressure;Relatively small growth range(The decision has already been made before the play begins; only the final steps are needed). There are no weak-willed characters, only authors who have not found the critical point—the librarian kills with a joke 30 years later; "every living thing is capable of doing anything, as long as the pressure is great enough."
McKee's protagonist: Willpower (Blanche's powerful will beneath a passive exterior); conscious desire + unconscious desire (only contradiction gives meaning); credible ability; at least one chance; pursues to the human limit of background and genre; the final action leaves the audience unable to imagine a better possibility;Empathy (like me) is absolutely necessary, sympathy (lovable) is optional(Macbeth gains empathy because of conscience). The first step is always the smallest conservative action →gap(the world's response differs from expectation or is stronger) → a second action with greater risk; the risk test "What will be lost if it is not obtained?" If the answer is "return to normal," then it is not worth telling.
Snyder: Three conditions for a perfect protagonist—can trigger the strongest conflict in the plot environment; emotionally has the farthest and most tortuous road to travel; is liked by the vast majority of people.Save the Cat: Do something when he appears that makes us like him; for antiheroes use humor/childishness; if the protagonist has flaws, make the opponent worse. The protagonist must be active and never ask questions; the starting point must be late enough (the more the bow is bent, the farther the arrow flies).
Hicks's external goalTwo tests: the audience knows where the goal is (they need not agree); the audience feels the protagonist is threatened. Maslow hierarchy check.The struggle must be won by the protagonist himself, rescue by external force makes self-revelation meaningless; killing the protagonist is high risk.
Yin Dike: Protagonist = the self (ego); the ending must be better, stronger, and healthier than the beginning, otherwise there is no development. The anti-hero needs a second purpose (the development of moral awareness) and a third dimension (inner conflict); the fallen hero gains depth through the irony of "seeking redemption only to bring about destruction"; the guilt complex is an all-purpose motive but must be paired with a father/role model; the wounded hero is healed by facing the shadow of the past.Leap of faithIt must be written as a practical scene and performed, not dismissed with a 15-second "all right"—"character is action." Identification must be found on its own: send the protagonist alone into the black hole, and do not be afraid to make him suffer.
There are four stages as an arc (Rollo May): innocence (the emerging hero) → the death of innocence (the death of the innocent in Act One severs the homeland and provides the motive for revenge) → rebellion → ordinary self-awareness (commitment to an external goal) → creative self-awareness (epiphany of true identity, then dedication to a higher goal); revenge can serve as the initial motive but at some point the "demon" must be driven out and turned toward a prosocial purpose.
The female protagonist follows Murdock's ten stages: separation from the maternal role → the male sage → slaying the three monsters (the two-headed dragon = work/children; the ogre tyrant = the external company and the internal "at any cost"; the armored knight = the illusion of the man who will come and solve everything) → seeing through the illusion of the superwoman → saying no to the king and also to herself → meeting the mother in illness → reintegration with the wild woman → the grandmother spider healing the mother-daughter split → the loving inner man → fulfillment in both career and family; the goal is balance, not holiness in death.
Method of defining the protagonist by negating one by one(Wei Minglun p0078–0079): First list all the ready-made protagonist types in this subject matter, write one reason for negating each, and the one left is the protagonist unique to this subject matter. In "The Scholar of Bashan," he negates the "righteous-people leader" (the personality is not unique, and predecessors have already proved this path unworkable), negates the "honest official" (it is bound to fall into the cliché of honest-official plays), negates the "official documented in history" (it is difficult to display the theme), and finally chooses the scholar who skips the examination and cries out for justice.Failure: It does not apply when a live-action biographical subject has only one possible protagonist.Self-check: If you cannot write three negations, it means you have not yet seen clearly how this subject matter differs from similar subject matter.

III. The Opponent

Egri's opposing character: Must be as strong as the main driving character and equally firm in will (Helmer versus Krogstad); not only personalities but also wills must conflict.
McKee's principle of antagonist characterization: "The protagonist and his story's intelligence, charm, and emotional power must be matched to the forces of antagonism"; forces of antagonism = the sum total of various forces, not merely the villain; at the moment of the inciting incident the protagonist should be abeaten dog。Four layers of negative progression: positive → contrary value (unfairness) → contradictory value (injustice) → the negative of the negative (a negative that appears positive: hatred pretending to be love, self-deception that believes itself, cowardice that appears heroic, slavery that appears free). "All other things being equal, the greatness of a work lies in the author's handling of the negative"; if the story is weak, first build the wall of the negative.
Hicks: The opponent must be stronger and have more resources than the protagonist, otherwise no opposition is constituted; the opponent is not necessarily a bad person (Professor Rambo cares about Will; Concannon's goal of "winning the case" is exactly the same as Calvin's);the opponent's story is already underway, and the protagonist intrudes into the opponent's story because of the inciting incentive; the protagonist's preparations are bound to fail, leaving only himself.
Hochster: The villain is not necessarily evil;Obstacle ≠ Opponent(The Dragon Mother is an obstacle; the father is the opponent, because only the latter expresses the theme); the opponent must have a goal related to the theme.
Snyder: villains should be worse (007 needs a golden finger, not an accountant cooking the books); the protagonist and the villain are the two sides of the same person; the villain is slightly stronger than the protagonist; everyone has an arc except the villain, who does not change.
Indick's psychology of villains: the id = the villain ("a beast wrapped in human clothing"); when writing villains, touch your own id, let him be free, powerful, and enjoy his own evil, often starting from release from prison; the entertainment effect depends on how evil the villain is;Retribution must equal the crime, preferably dying at the protagonist's hands and in a dramatic way (falling from a building, being killed by his own device); if you want to make a sequel, leave a door open. Three ways to write villains: the pure shadow wearing a mask; the second self under a gentle mask (doctor/count/innkeeper → sadist); the dark hero (a good person's mask with violent methods).Give every villain an inferiority complex behind overcompensation(the father of Xi abused him, the deformity of the super-villain) → the audience shifts from disgust to a mixture of pity and disgust.The hero must personally defeat the villain; having the police or someone else resolve it = the shadow is not integrated; the humble hero at the climax must arouse the violence in his own shadow.
The Army's "the opponent must be strong": in terms of character relationships, this actually means finding a suitable opponent for the protagonist; a narrow 3–2 victory is more exciting than an easy 9–0 win; Wu Song becomes a hero by fighting only one tiger (layer upon layer of buildup, the staff broken, bare-handed), while Li Kui kills four tigers in a row and remains unknown (the opponents pose no threat). Diderot: "Let the misanthrope love a coquettish woman, let the miser love a poor woman."
- Three kinds of configuration failure: congenital deficiency (the secretary's wife pulls strings and then lets her son have an accident — the conflict collapses without a fight; change it to a disabled son doing scientific research and making tens of thousands in profit so she can be self-righteous); acquired defect (the opponent is aggressive but switches sides as soon as the fight begins: the abandoned child turns out to be the blind date girl's illegitimate son); artificial折腾 (the opponent does not exist, yet the protagonist is put through living death: everyone advises Chimène, and she still wants revenge).
- Give the opponent a "knife": the addition-subtraction method of art, strengthen the opponent and weaken the protagonist's favorable factors (Zheng Tu holds a meat-trimming sharp knife; "The Tenor" has three knives — beauty, the pleading of the weak, and the threat of emotional suicide; Cai Jiu was Lin Shiniang's defeated opponent last year; in "Should We Forgive Him", the opponent is a man disabled and then abandoned by his second wife).
- The strongest opponent is often oneself: Hamlet's opponent is not only the tyrant but also the weakness of his own character; Salome cannot overcome desire; one person, one play, find the opponent within the character ("Lin Chong's Night Flight", "Sifan"). Diderot: "The more thorny and unfortunate the character's situation, the easier it is for character to be determined."
- When the opponent is excessively powerful, do not ask for "auspicious clouds"(a superior's phone call, official document, or inspection makes everything vanish into thin air): "when the play is not enough, bring in the gods" once killed an entire era; if the opponent defeating the protagonist essentially reflects the truth of life, then write a tragedy ("The Girl on the Balcony", in which the village girl is defeated by empty political promises).
The six elements of sibling rivalry over favor can be applied to any confrontation: the good/bad binary, parental favoritism, love rivalry, the need for recognition, an external goal, and moral conflict; a secondary opponent foreshadows the main duel; the opponent and the wise man can be interchangeable (the Rocky series).

IV. Character Orchestration and Unity of Opposites (Egri)

Orchestration: All bullies = a symphony with only drumbeats; characters' temperaments, thoughts, and speech oppose one another (Cordelia gentle and loyal vs. Goneril cold-blooded and hypocritical vs. Lear rash and willful); Nora is the opposite of Helmer (domineering/submissive, meticulous/lying, duty-bound/utterly irresponsible);You must know each character's specific category(whether "bad" means a liar or a murderer; whether "rain" is drizzle or a violent storm); characters must fit the preset magnitude of transformation; when orchestration is good, their speech will automatically differ.
Unity of opposites: A true unity of opposites cannot compromise—germs and white blood cells must destroy each other; both sides are tightly bound by love/family/contract/secret/suspicion, and it can be broken only when one side's main trait "dies" (Nora's docility). Crime without motive (Jack the Ripper) = opposition with no unity; "a reasonable motive can establish unity between opposites": living with a hated stepfather because you suspect he killed your father (Hamlet); being unable to support yourself after dividing your wealth among your children (King Lear).
Solar system configuration (McKee) and the fourfold archetype (Jung: hero/villain/love object/wise elder); Adler's four lifestyles as team configuration: hero (useful)/ally (avoidant)/villain (ruling)/accomplice (accepting)—Seven Samurai; antihero arc = accepting → avoidant → useful.
Army: no more than five characters (This applies only to small plays/one-act plays/short films; for feature films 5–8 people and for series ensembles 6–10 people are normal, so do not use this rule to diagnose ensemble dramas), each with one vivid, specific category; place the main character's entrance when a storm is brewing.
Single-character temperament word(Wu Mei on Jiang Shiquan p0341): Konggu Xiang and Xiangzu Lou, two plays with completely identical structures, are distinguished byeach character landing on a different single-character temperament word the moment they first speak—"Menglan speaks and is fierce at once, Ruolan speaks and is resentful at once; Sun Hu's foolishness, Li Yin's cunning; Hongsi's loyalty, Gao Jia's wisdom," "each has their own temperament, each has their own tone. There is no other reason: because the theme was examined truly and the wording is exact."Self-check: Write one single-character temperament word for each character (fierce/resentful/foolish/cunning/simpleminded/chivalrous/loyal/wise/virtuous/pitiable), then see whether their first line of dialogue fulfills it.Failure: Functional transitional characters need not.

V. Types and Movement of Conflict (Egri)

Action is no more important than the factors that drive it; "there is no action under heaven that occurs alone without cause or effect."
Four types of conflict：Static(characters of the same type with no convictions and no decisions: "Do you love me"—"I don't know" can go on for a month; witty dialogue does not advance; The Fool's Delight spends two and a half acts entirely on ordering drinks and dancing);Jumping(skipping steps and making actions inconsistent with character: seeing an old suit and robbing a bank; "forcing a character to act out of character can create a jump and ruin the play"; the abridged version of A Doll's House, Act Three—Helmer is understanding without being refuted);Escalating(the product of a clear premise + reasonably orchestrated three-dimensional characters + tightly unified opposites; in Ghosts, Manders vs. Mrs. Alving in boxing style: attack → counterattack must be stronger than the attack → "Grateful to me?!");Foreshadowing of conflict(A promise of conflict that must inevitably follow: two-thirds of *Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo* has no conflict, yet the audience still holds its breath; a strong-willed character in itself arouses expectation).
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten = escalating type; one, two... five, six... nine, ten = leaping type. When conflict slows/surges/stagnates/leaps, first check whether the premise is clear, then check whether the character is too weak, whether they have stopped growing, and whether the three dimensions are complete.
Seven steps from moral to evil (moral → frustrated → makes a mistake → unseemly → breaks the law and discipline → immoral → evil); lingering too long at the first or second step = static.
Transition: "Nature never leaps"; friendship → disappointment → annoyance → irritation → anger → attack → threat → premeditation → murder, and there is still a transition between every two steps; in life it can be instantaneous, on stage it cannot be omitted;Lacking transitions turns drama into melodrama(the cold-blooded killer stops to help a blind man cross the street). Example: in *The Dinner Party*, Kitty and Packard go from irritation to rage line by line ("Your first wife in Montana?" → finding the weak spot → "God curse you" is a leap → throwing the bracelet → "You never sent me a single flower" the hound turns to a new target → "Waiting for Dad to come home?" crisis → "Do you think you're the only man I know" climax → slamming the door).
Point of attack: the turning point at which a character makes (or prepares to make) a major decision, with events hanging by a thread; the first line of dialogue already triggers conflict and establishes motivation; begin in the middle, never from the cause (Hamlet begins after the murder; *A Doll's House* begins with Krogstad's blackmail—Egri believes Ibsen's point of attack could still be later).
Crisis—climax—resultprogressing scene by scene: crisis = the uncertain stage in which a decisive change is about to come (a cigarette butt setting the curtain on fire is still a crisis); the climax is always higher than the previous one; "the shortest scene should also contain all the elements of a three-act play"; the opening of a play is itself the climax of some conflict.
Presentation: conflict is the real presentation; do not use servants to introduce/read letters/phone calls to convey information; when you stop presenting the character, the character stops growing.

The levels and focus of conflict

McKee's three levels: self (mind/body/emotions), personal relationships, extrapersonal (social institutions, individuals, environment); turning at all three levels at once = complex type; entanglement type has only one level.
Hicks's five focuses: the personal one's own (use with caution if not visualized), the interpersonal (a closed space that does not let the characters escape), the accidental (the disaster itself is not dramatic; the real drama lies in the interpersonal conflict within it), the social (the opposing side representing a group must be made concrete), the interest-related (the most universal and credible: direct confrontation over a common goal).
Hegel(quoted by Lajos Egri): conflict is only the premise of action; development depends on character; the ending is a new harmony pregnant with new oppositions; the split produced by spiritual differences is the truly important contradiction, divided into unconscious action (*Thunderstorm*), conscious action (Hamlet), and indirect destruction (Romeo and Juliet).
Egri's character conflict: Different views will conflict, and the same views will also conflict (Zhou Yu vs. Zhuge Liang); Belinsky's criterion—both sides want the upper hand, sting a certain side of the other's character, and as a result a new relationship is produced; three forms: character and environment, character and character, and within character; method of writing: conflict is caused by character and determines its direction (The Sacrifice), determines its form of expression (Yu Tao treats her husband and Guo Dashan differently), and determines its process and outcome (A Kind Woman). Conflict must be truly three-layered: real, meaningful, dramatic (not argumentative).
Conflict first lands on the work at hand, then lands on thought(In the fourth scene of the Henan opera Chaoyang Gou, the crops are hoed down; in the fifth scene, the water bucket is thrown down): the first thing that makes the protagonist fail must be aperformable technical action, and interpersonal mockery and shaking at the level of thought follow after it; if it lands on thought right away, the audience sees only a dispute over opinions.Invalidation: if the protagonist is an expert, this does not hold, and the second level (interpersonal mockery) should be used instead.Self-check: in the first scene of wavering, is there a performable action of failure?

Six. The Psychological Toolbox of Motivation (Yin Dike)

Freud: every script has two Oedipal main lines—moral victory (the superego conquers the id) and winning the beloved (against a stronger opponent); the id → the villain, the ego → the protagonist, the superego → the wise one (the wise one can be only a flashback, an opening catch, or an idea); asking "who is this character's model" can find the motivation he is willing to fight for. The forbidden-fruit line must pay a price; horror comes from powerlessness and role reversal; originality lies not in a new source of conflict but in the manner of presentation.
Psychosexual stagesAttach instinctual traits to characters: oral fixation (smoking = a dramatic pause + a signal of inner conflict; addiction = an overcomeable humanizing obstacle); anal retention vs. expulsion = a comic pairing (the controller vs. the chaos-maker); the phallic stage = the weapon is a symbol of identity (a lightsaber, a divine sword; it can be a car, a boat, or a computer);the longer the repression, the more powerful the release(destruction vs. nonviolence, passion vs. asceticism, rebellion vs. obedience; rebellion must begin with injustice and escalate to "the last unbearable thing").
Defense mechanismsCore: the character himself does not know, but the audience can see it—repression (a few words and one touch can provide catharsis), denial (true belief = tragedy vs. deception = villain; reveal it through tragic loss), identification, sublimation (work enthusiasm, the "power of love" makes the unbelievable believable), regression (follow it with a quiet scene in which a secret is confided), reaction formation (the mouth says no while the eyes say yes; wanting to destroy the thing one loves most), displacement (creating rifts between characters that drive the plot), rationalization, projection (parents projecting their unfulfilled dreams onto their children), isolation (the lonely hero comes from the wilderness and returns to the wilderness), Freudian slip (used only to express emotion).
Erikson's eight stagesArc templates: suspicious protagonist → leap of faith; gullible person → learns to say no; rebel → reclaims autonomy; guilt → driving force or obstacle; underdog → "why does he want to win, and what does that have to do with his identity" (motivation is what supports structure); identity diffusion → the pause period cannot be skipped, and cancellation (accepting an identity handed to you by others) is the crisis; intimacy = letting the other person know the secrets inside; without trust there is no intimacy; the saturation moment at the end of Act Two should be a sharing of hearts rather than sex; in Act Three let the protagonist solve it himself instead of handing it to a mediator; midlife either/or (generativity or stagnation); old age integrity vs. despair ("I am the author of my own life story").
Jung's quaternity: the hero (persona) must encounter and integrate the villain (shadow), the wise one (wise elder/goddess), and the love object (anima/animus)—each of the three must have a corresponding character or symbol in the script and each must change the protagonist; the shadowy past must "condition" (without saying what happened in Chinatown) but at some point the character must be made to face it; the mother can be both goddess and witch; the love object must "complete" the hero; femme fatale = sexuality + aggression united; trickster hero wins by wit; all protagonists are shapeshifters; transformation can happen to a supporting character and act back on the protagonist (Senator Paine); write a character's appearance and inner life using a star as the template.
Adler: give every hero a hamartia/inferiority complex; superhero = dual identity of the weak person and the superman; children's film formula (powerlessness → orphan-like liberation → role displacement, the child saves the powerless parents → home); adult films at the key moment strip the most active hero of the ability to act in order to increase tension.
Rollo May: distinguish resolution ("what happened") from ending ("what happens next," letting the audience see that the protagonist has changed); narcissistic-age archetypes (cowboy, lone crusader, rebellious cop, outlaw, private detective, mad scientist) have at their core their own code of honor; the solitary genius must through an "existential reversal" sacrifice his work for the person he loves; the narcissistic hero's endgame is the voluntary lamb, and the wise one sacrifices first in order to inspire.
Two iron laws: a film must always maintain its own sense of truth; a character must always maintain the truth of the self—a sudden change without explanation is never accepted. "It depends": use theory according to the character's function in your script, and do not apply templates mechanically.

7. Character Growth and Arc

Egri:only in bad writing do characters remain unchanged; from one pole to the other (Othello love → jealous murder; Nora irresponsible → anxiety → fear → despair → numbness → understanding → irrevocable decision); the seed must be in the first line of dialogue/first action (Nora's "no need to look for money," secretly eating macaroons; Romeo spending "time in sorrow" for Rosaline unusually long); errors chain together, each error born from the previous one (Orgon's four errors, Lear's ten steps); the main driving character grows to a smaller degree.
McKee's five-step arc (Hamlet): establish characterization → choice reveals the truth → inner and outer conflict in contrast → escalating pressure makes choices harder → at the climax human nature is changed. Change the event and you change the character; change the character and you must rebuild the structure.
Hicks: inner need (the quality one should have but lacks) → self-revelation (the lowest point, letting the audience see the effect rather than dialogue) → adjustment of self-concept.
Cron: the ending = the moment the false belief is defeated, with the reader inside the event and inside the protagonist's mind.
Hochster: The theme stays the same but the attitude changes; the starting point = the opening situation, the highest point = the story goal; independent films magnify tiny changes (a shy boy has one proper conversation = a hero).
Yin Dike: The protagonist must be better and stronger by the end; the transformation can be upward or downward; if no one changes, the story is unfinished.
Lu Jun: Transformation characters whose personality has a large distance from start to finish, or who turn in the opposite direction, are easy to write vividly; the secret lies in writing out the process of development (Han Qi, the patrol chief, Xu Xian).
The upper and lower limits of the range of the wavering character(Tian Han, "The White Snake: Preface"): Xu Xian "is kind, but also wavering.If he did not waver at all, there would be no tragedy; if he wavered to the very end, he would become a negative character"—the old Buddhist play "The White Snake" handled it according to the latter, "for that would destroy Xu Xian, and also destroy Bai Niangzi." Wavering is a structural necessity: it is both the engine of tragedy and must leave room to turn back.Self-check: After each retreat, are the audience still willing to wait for him to come back?Failure: This rule governs not the protagonist himself, but the person who is moved by the protagonist and bears doubt on behalf of the audience.

Eight, Diagnostic Checklist

Can you state the protagonist's main conflict in two or three sentences? If not = you do not understand the motivation.
Have you filled in the three-dimensional profile? What is each major character's "specific category"? If two characters are too similar (Joe and Yola in "The Black Mine"), merge or delete.
Does the protagonist have a desire more important than life, and is he at a critical juncture? Does he take action himself or only react? Does he ask many questions?
Are the protagonist and the opponent bound by something so they cannot compromise (unity of opposites)? Is the opponent stronger than the protagonist? Does the opponent have his own story already underway and a goal related to the theme? Is the villain bad enough, with an inferiority complex behind his overcompensation? Is the retribution equal to the sin?
Is the conflict escalating? Mark attack/counterattack/escalation/stasis/jump sentence by sentence; add transitions at jumps; check the premise and arrangement at points of stasis.
Is the point of attack at the moment when the character makes a major decision? Does the first line of dialogue trigger conflict?
Is the scale of each scene's crisis—climax—result larger than the previous scene's?
Is the character's seed in the first line of dialogue? Does the chain of errors hold? Does the transformation have a process (not a sudden enlightenment after one test)?
Are the four-in-one present (villain/wise one/love object all change the protagonist)? Is the dark past faced at the end? Is the leap of faith acted out?
Have you invited "Xiangyun"? Does the protagonist win with his own hands? If the opponent should win, do you dare to write a tragedy?
Is each character's "how he does it" unique (not Li Kui beating the tiger for Wu Song)? Is the first appearance placed at the moment required by character and conflict?
Are the main characters opposite inside and outside? Is the protagonist the most multidimensional? Do minor characters have only one trait?
Does the conflict have social significance? Is it a clash of character or a clash of viewpoints? Are there arbitrary misunderstandings, evasion of the important and dwelling on the trivial, or feints?
By the end of the script, is the protagonist better and stronger than at the beginning? Can the audience see that "from now on his life will be different"?

Nine, Workflow

Derive the necessary character types from the premise ("jealousy destroys itself" already contains the jealous person); determine the main driving character and the opposing character, and verify whether the unity of opposites is tight.
Write a three-dimensional profile for each major character + personal premise + desire and false belief + original scene; test with the eight questions of immediate reaction to see whether it is too controlled; write 30–60 pages of character study in present tense and active voice, then lock it in a drawer.
Orchestration: list each character's specific category, attitude toward the theme, and contrasting relationship with the protagonist (solar system/four-in-one/Adler's four types); confirm that no two people are the same type.
Give the opponent a knife; weaken the protagonist's favorable factors; if still insufficient, find the opponent within the protagonist's own personality.
Define the attack point (the turning moment of a major decision), and list the ladder of growth from starting point to endpoint (ten steps), with one transitional scene for each step.
Mark crisis—climax—result scene by scene, with increasing scale; mark attack/counterattack sentence by sentence, eliminating stasis and jumps.
Design the protagonist's first appearance, a unique "how it is done," one or two defining lines of dialogue, and one ongoing visual detail.
Use the psychological toolbox to add depth of motivation: externalize the id/superego as the villain and the sage; defense mechanisms; identification stage; shadow integration; inferiority and compensation.
Distinguish resolution from ending in the outcome: let the audience see that the protagonist has changed; do not use auspicious clouds, let the protagonist win personally.
Use Egri's appendix template for final review: premise/ordaining character/character/orchestration/unity of opposites/attack point/conflict/transition/growth/crisis/climax/result/dialogue.