I thought this line of thought was interesting. It's rather similar to how we play out stories nowadays. The subject relates more to plays but back then there were no fiction books but it still applies rather well.
A great quote from the great philosopher Aristotle. Indeed, nothing can be said after him. I believe he conveyed how real the action should be taken according to the plot at the right time, for there is no absolute evil. Showing the good side of a character is important as no one can condemn a person but God. Human beings are apt to change, and , sometimes, the good side of a person should be shown even in drama.
Yup. The plot is the most important because it is the collection of events happening to the hero which is supposed to be someone whom the viewer can relate to. The interesting bits of life (definition of drama courtesy of Bill the Bard) are always either tragedy or comedy. And we perceive these situations as rather external in origin. In the case of a comedy, we say "it all worked out" rather than "I worked it all out", usually. In the case of a tragedy, we blame others, we blame "god", we might even blame ourselves. But even if we do, it's our reactions to the crap situations that we blame. We recognize that situations, good and bad, just occur. So when we do blame ourselves for the bad things that happen to us, we're usually trying to just be proactive about it. So, for a story to be character-driven, the characters have to be really interesting and make interesting choices that have huge effects in the world/setting. You won't necessarily be relating yourself directly to the situations of the character. Breaking Bad is a great example of this. It is a tragedy though, so that's something interesting right there. It's a very well done tragedy but everything bad that happens (to Walt and everyone around him) is mostly the results of all of Walt's decisions. But, he did start out with a slap in the face from god: getting cancer. But as was revealed by the end, the cancer was really just an excuse for him to act on all the piled up resentment he had for life. Damn, there needs to be a breaking bad thread. There is so much to talk about.
"You will never do anything in this world without courage. It is the greatest quality of the mind next to honor." "Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees the others." "Quality is not an act. It is a habbit." "The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal." "The aim of art is to present not the outward appearance ot things, but their inward significance." "A friend to all is a friend to none." "He who hath many friends hath none." "Republics decline into democracies and democracies degenerate into despotism." "Ia count him braver who overcomes his desire than him who conquers his enemies: for the hardest victory is over self." "Plato is dear to me, but dearer still is truth." ...
Wonderful quotes I love Aristotle I have spent several years studying his philosophy. I assume this is from his rhetoric. It is now on my reading list. I also highly recommend the Ancient Greek tragedies. Sophocles and Euripides and Aeschylus. Essential reading for every writer.
