A selfish millionaire, widowed to a radical terrorist academic that collected torture porn, attempts to teach her children the merits of assertiveness skills and socialist feminism

Shizz:

By "What's the visual?" I mean two things:

1] An effective logline evokes scenes in the imagination of a? logline reader? as to what the conflict, the struggle will look like on a movie screen.? The imaginary scenes may be totally different than what the writer puts in the script. No matter; what matters is that the words stimulate the reader's imagination.

To be frank the part of your logline that stimulates the imagination (for better or worse) is "radical terrorist academic that collected torture porn" -- but that seems to be back story, not the central story.? In comparison, the central story "teach her children the merits of assertiveness skills and socialist feminism" -- not so much.

2] As indicated earlier, an effective logline states a concrete objective goal.? A concrete objective goal is one that can be a visualized on the screen in a way that informs viewers that the protagonist has succeeded or failed. For example, if a runner's objective goal is to win the gold in the Olympics than there are two obvious visual moments? that inform the audience she has succeeded:? she breaks the tape at the finish line and she gets the gold medal draped around her neck as she stands on the highest pedestal.

So, what's the visual for "teach her children the merits of assertiveness skills and socialist feminism".? What does the scene look like that visually informs the audience that she's succeeded or failed?? (Or are assertiveness skills and socialist feminism means, rather than ends?)

Shizz:

I appreciate your thoughtful response.? My metaphor of choice for some of the most popular dramatic conventions is the that they are Procrustean beds -- after the mythological character of Procrustes who sliced off or stretched victim's legs to fit into an iron bed.

>>>does the selfish person see their own selfishness as a flaw if it?s something that means that they survive and prosper

Lots to chew over about the "character flaw".? Suffice it to say that in the machinery of drama,? the standard function of the character flaw is to create an internal problem? 1]that complements the external problem; 2] Which? will prevent the character achieving her objective goal; 3] Until she acknowledges and resolves that flaw; and 4] at the outset of the story, she is unaware of the flaw or unaware that the character trait is a flaw - - she may think it's a character strength; 4a] It's also possible for a character strength to become a character flaw through? hubris -- too much of a good thing is bad.

I do not subscribe to Ayn Rand's proposition that selfishness is fundamentally a virtue.

>>>moral compass here seems to be a recoil away from the radicalism of her dead husband

Seems like the basis for a classic Hegelian dialectic.? She reacts to his thesis? with her antithesis.? (So... could the ensuing dramatic dialectic lead to a synthesis?)

[BTW: Hegel made the most significant and useful contribution to tragedy, and by extrapolation to dramatic theory since Aristotle, IMHO.]

>>>And yet this also produces a conflict for the protagonist since she also seems to think that the selfishness and greed is not morally right.

Okay, but what's the external demonstration of that conflict in the story?? How does it play out in terms of her behavior, her relationship with her children. What's the visual? ? Film is a visual medium and internal conflicts have to be manifested as external behavior.

Shizz:

I do not think that the paradigm of the Hero's Journey is suitable for any and all? story material.? For one thing, the paradigm was constructed out of archetypal and mythical elements that pertain to adolescent boys and young adult men.? Other paradigms have been proposed for adolescent girls and young adult women such as the "Virgin's Promise" paradigm developed by Kim Hudson.? And still other paradigms are better suited to the distinctly different issues and challenges of? middle age and old age.

That said,? drama is about conflict that results in change.? Change in knowledge; change in character; change in relationship; change in status. Usually the burden of change belongs to the protagonist.? But not always. Some times it is the dramatic task of a pivotal secondary character.

Taking your logline at face value, it says the woman is "selfish".? Well, isn't that a flaw?? Isn't that something that needs to be changed in her attitude and behavior?

Also, she wants to teach her children certain skills and ideas.? Teaching entails change, from a state of ignorance to a state of knowledge, from being unskilled to becoming proficient. So the potential for change out of both necessity and desire seems to be embedded in your logline.

I gather from your comment that you look askance at the corpus of generally accepted dramatic conventions.? I have a different point of view.? Enough said.

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