How To Write The Perfect Protagonist
Summary
TLDRThe video script delves into the concept of the protagonist in storytelling, tracing its origins back to ancient Greek drama. It emphasizes the importance of character introduction, attachment, and development in creating a relatable and compelling protagonist. The protagonist's role is to embody the story's themes and messages, with their journey serving as a means to explore these elements. The video also discusses the dynamic between the protagonist and antagonist, highlighting how their conflict drives the plot and adds depth to the narrative. The ultimate goal of the protagonist is to resonate with the audience and bring the story's core ideas to life, making for a memorable and impactful experience.
Takeaways
- 🎭 The term 'protagonist' originates from ancient Greek drama, where it referred to the chief actor or the player of the first part.
- 📚 In modern media, the protagonist is the main character of the story, embodying various traits whether good or evil.
- 📈 Character introduction is crucial as it sets the stage for understanding the protagonist's personality and goals.
- 🧲 Creating an emotional attachment between the reader and the protagonist is key, often stemming from shared emotional or intellectual experiences.
- 🤔 Five essential questions to consider when developing a protagonist: What do they want, why, what's in their way, what do they need, and what's at stake if they fail.
- 🌟 A protagonist's motivation is critical for maintaining reader interest and should go beyond surface-level traits.
- 🔄 Understanding the difference between static and dynamic characters is important; static characters remain unchanged at their core, while dynamic characters undergo significant change.
- 🌱 Character development should be clear to the audience, whether it's shown through imagery or dialogue.
- 🤼♂️ The antagonist serves as a foil to the protagonist, driving the plot and creating conflict that the protagonist must overcome.
- 🎯 The protagonist's goal should align with the themes of the story, allowing these themes to come to life through their journey.
- 🌟 The ultimate purpose of the protagonist is to embody the story's messages and themes, providing a character that resonates with the audience.
Q & A
What does the term 'protagonist' originally mean in the context of ancient Greek drama?
-The term 'protagonist' in ancient Greek drama originally referred to the chief actor or the player of the first part.
How did the concept of the protagonist evolve from Greek dramas to modern film and media?
-Initially, Greek dramas consisted mainly of choruses and dancing. The introduction of 'poetics' led to the idea of one actor engaging in dialogue with the chorus. Later, the addition of a second actor created the concept of dialogue between two characters. In modern times, film and media feature many characters, with the protagonist being the main character of the story.
What is the importance of character introduction in developing a reader's or viewer's understanding of the protagonist?
-Character introduction is crucial as it provides the audience with the initial impression of the protagonist's personality and goals. This first introduction often involves a cliché trait or behavior and sets the stage for understanding the character's actions throughout the story.
How does the concept of character attachment work in relation to the protagonist?
-Character attachment involves creating an empathic connection between the reader and the protagonist. This connection often stems from an emotional or intellectual message that resonates with the audience, allowing them to relate to the character on a deeper level.
What are the five key questions to consider when developing or analyzing a protagonist?
-The five key questions are: What does the protagonist want? Why does he or she want it? What's standing in his or her way? What does the protagonist need? What's at stake if he or she fails?
How do motivations differ between static and dynamic characters?
-Static characters do not undergo significant change and remain essentially the same at their core throughout the story. Dynamic characters, on the other hand, experience important changes in their motivations and core character traits as the story progresses.
What is the role of the antagonist in relation to the protagonist and the plot?
-The antagonist serves as a dominant force that challenges the protagonist and drives the plot forward. The protagonist's role is to take action against the antagonist, pushing the plot towards the climax where ideologies and motivations are defended and contested.
Why is it important for the protagonist's goal to align with the themes and messages of the story?
-The protagonist's goal should align with the story's themes and messages to give life to these elements and make them visible to the audience. This alignment ensures that the protagonist's journey explores and embodies the core ideas of the narrative.
How does the concept of 'good versus evil' play a role in the conflict between the protagonist and antagonist?
-While 'good versus evil' is a common theme, it is not the only framework for conflict. Some stories present nuanced perspectives where both the protagonist and antagonist offer valid ideologies, each with their own flaws, making their conflict more complex and engaging.
What is the ultimate purpose of the protagonist in a story?
-The ultimate purpose of the protagonist is to serve as the primary character through whom the story's themes and messages are explored and made visible, providing a memorable plot and a character that resonates with the audience.
How can external developments in a character's story, such as power-ups or new forms, relate to internal developments?
-External developments can symbolize or parallel internal developments, showing character growth or change in a tangible way. While not a substitute for internal development, they can complement and enhance the character's journey and transformation.
What advice is given for ensuring clarity in character motivations and scene agendas in storytelling?
-Writers are advised to be clear on every character's agenda in each scene and the agendas within the conflict. It's recommended to take a moment to jot down what each character in a scene wants, no matter how small or large their desire, to maintain clarity in storytelling.
Outlines
😀 Understanding the Role of Protagonist
This paragraph delves into the origin of the term 'protagonist' from ancient Greek drama, where it referred to the main actor. It highlights the evolution of protagonists from Greek dramas to modern films and media. The importance of protagonists, regardless of their moral alignment, is emphasized. The paragraph also addresses common misconceptions in character development, particularly in the anime and manga community, stressing the need for nuanced characterization.
😊 Building Emotional Attachment to Protagonists
The focus here is on creating emotional attachment between the audience and the protagonist. It discusses how character introductions play a crucial role in establishing this connection by revealing traits and goals. The paragraph explores the subjective nature of attachment, citing personal preferences and biases. It suggests that a protagonist's motivation is key to fostering attachment, which can be achieved through various factors like beliefs, fears, relationships, and desires.
🤔 Exploring Character Development: Static vs Dynamic
This section outlines the distinction between static and dynamic characters, with static ones remaining unchanged while dynamic ones undergo significant development. It explores how character progression is intertwined with plot advancement, particularly in manga. The paragraph provides examples of dynamic characters like Guts from Berserk and Thorfin from Vinland Saga, highlighting their internal transformations. It emphasizes the importance of clear portrayal of character changes to the audience.
📚 Understanding the Protagonist-Antagonist Relationship
The protagonist-antagonist dynamic is central to plot progression, where the antagonist often drives the plot forward, challenging the protagonist. This paragraph discusses how conflicts between them contribute to narrative depth, whether they embody nuanced ideologies or represent more traditional good versus evil dichotomies. It underscores the protagonist's role in embodying story themes and messages, with the antagonist serving to impede their progress and enhance narrative tension.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Protagonist
💡Character Introduction
💡Character Attachment
💡Motivation
💡Static Character
💡Dynamic Character
💡Character Development
💡Antagonist
💡Theme
💡Good vs. Evil
💡Emotional Investment
Highlights
The term 'protagonist' originates from ancient Greek drama, where it referred to the chief actor.
Greek dramas initially involved choruses and dancing, evolving to include dialogue between actors and the chorus.
In modern film and media, the protagonist is the main character, embodying good or evil.
The channel encourages viewers to like, comment, subscribe, and turn on notifications for updates.
The concept of a 'perfect protagonist' is subjective and varies based on interpretation.
Misunderstandings in the anime and manga community often oversimplify character development.
Different protagonists connect with different readers, based on emotional or intellectual messages.
Character introduction is crucial as it sets the stage for understanding the protagonist's actions.
Introductions can hint at the character's goal or reveal it outright, setting the tone for their journey.
Emotional attachment to the protagonist is built through shared experiences and subjectivity in art and media.
Five key questions to consider when developing a protagonist: their wants, obstacles, needs, and the stakes of failure.
Character motivations are deeper than surface traits and are crucial for maintaining reader interest.
Different types of motivations include beliefs, fears, relationships, and desires, often intertwined with backstory.
Static characters do not change significantly throughout the story, while dynamic characters undergo fundamental changes.
External developments, like power-ups in manga, do not negate the possibility of internal developments.
The protagonist's goal should align with the story's themes, making their journey a vehicle for exploring these themes.
The antagonist's role is to challenge the protagonist, creating tension and driving the plot towards a climax.
The protagonist's ultimate purpose is to bring the story's themes and messages to life, leaving a lasting impression on the audience.
Transcripts
english term of protagonist goes all the
way back to an ancient greek drama which
originally meant the player of the first
part or the chief actor during this time
greek dramas mostly consisted of
recruiting choruses and dancing around
that is until poetics came along which
introduced the idea of one actor
stepping out and engaging in a dialogue
with the chorus later on we get to see
the addition of another actor added to
the mix and which created the idea of
dialogue between two characters as of
modern times in film and media we now
have many characters acting in their own
separate roles with the primary role
being that of the protagonist so to make
it clear in case there were any
misconceptions regarding this the
protagonist is the main character of the
story despite good or evil now before we
do move on any further to the video i do
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now of course there's no such thing as
the perfect protagonist as in reality
all of that is really up to
interpretation and every character in
general has their own faults so the term
perfect doesn't really match up here
it's just used for the title's sake but
still many times there are many
misconceptions especially in the anime
manga community oftentimes
oversimplifying the progression or
development of the character and
honestly speaking this is probably one
of the most annoying things possible to
see i don't know where the stigma comes
from that people think that good
development is people going from
non-edgy to edgy when i think most
characters that are like the examples of
great character development do the
opposite of that but whatever moving on
though it needs to be said that each
protagonist isn't going to connect with
every reader you can go on and
faithfully believe that your protagonist
is the peak of the medium but you would
also have to understand that some people
aren't just gonna get emotionally
invested as you think they would this is
why we have a variety of genres filled
with multitudes of protagonists that
give certain readers the abilities to
relate to despite popular opinion in
order to create the perfect protagonist
quote unquote there's going to be a lot
of nuances that have to be structurally
layered out for the protagonist now
don't see this as specific rules you
have to follow see this as vague
guidelines based off of analysis of all
the different protagonists i've read and
seen throughout media that i'm kind of
presenting to you and the first thing we
need to begin with is the character
introduction this part is important
because it gives the reader slash viewer
the idea of what kind of character the
protagonist is most of the time in
character introductions the protagonist
is likely going to identify with a
certain cliche trait or behavior this
can range from pretty much anything and
having the character introduction given
first to the reader viewer means a lot
going forward because we will start to
sort of understand some of the
characters actions later on character
introductions can vary in many different
ways many times a character's
introduction can either be hinted kind
of shown to us give us an idea of what
the goal is or outright just tell us
what it is and this can span from a few
chapters up until an entire arc a quick
example of this can be found in code
geass when in the very first episode we
see lelouch playing chess and we see him
move the king piece first little did we
know this would tie into his entire
philosophy and how he would carry the
plot taking the course of action and
allowing others to follow other quick
examples can be luffy and naruto who
both give a pretty clear idea of what
their goal is for the end of the series
the idea of the character introduction
is to show the personality and the goal
of the protagonist for the rest of the
series to develop that more this is
pretty simple and there's not really one
way to go about this so we can keep this
segment short and concise as i think it
really transitions into the next one
which would be character attachment
quote i think there has to be an
empathic strike between the reader and
the protagonist there has to be
something said and known that can
connect the reader to this person
michael connolly so this segment might
be a little messy but i'll try to make
it as simple as the quote did from here
on the main goal of the character
introduction outside of introducing us
to the protagonist is to create some
sort of emotional attachment this is
where the true beauty of subjectivity
plays in art and media because even
though we build stronger attachments to
the protagonist as the series goes on
many times our investment in the
protagonist comes from what sort of
emotional or intellectual message
connects with us for example it is no
secret that i'm a big fan of stoic gone
angry characters correction well done
angry characters now there's more to a
character usually than just one emotion
well at least there should be but there
will always be emotional biases that we
will always have and messages that will
connect to us way more than others in
other words a protagonist that tackles
the theme of depression may connect to
one individual more than others and even
though it may be well done the reader
may never find that appreciation for
said character what's important though
is that your protagonist offers
something to somebody this can be later
expanded upon even more through
character development and character
change but what matters is that you lead
up to that the moment you introduce your
character give the protagonist a purpose
here are five questions i think you
might want to keep in mind while writing
and or analyzing a protagonist what does
my protagonist want why does he or she
want it what's standing in his or her
way what does my protagonist need and
what's at stake if he or she fails these
are just overall general questions for
the outline of the protagonist and some
authors will admittedly delve under some
of these points more than others but the
main thing that will build emotional
attachment is the character's motivation
on the surface what grasps the reader
should be the protagonist's personality
but what is truly important what will
truly keep the reader interested in said
character is the character's motivation
and it's a lot deeper than i think some
people are willing to think some things
to take into consideration when once
again writing or analyzing the
protagonist are these different types of
motivations so these can break down into
many different areas for example you
have their beliefs their fears their
relationships desires and usually in
between all of that is their backstory
now there are subsections to all of that
and different types of beliefs and fears
and relationships and desires so as you
can see having a motivation for your
character is important now at least
every character should have a motivation
on top of their personality that will
give them the deeper attachment that is
needed for the audience and so once we
get a little bit into this character
attachment after the introduction this
attachment is built on furthermore
through the character development quote
character is not created in isolation or
repose it is forged through interaction
with others and the world david corbett
first we need to give the definition of
what a static and dynamic character is a
static character is one that does not
undergo important change under the
course of the story remaining
essentially the same at the end to make
it clear a static character might go
through some changes here and there but
one can go and look at their current
state now and look back through the
beginning and you can still see that
they haven't changed at their core
usually static characters are limited to
changes tied into the plot in contrast
to the dynamic characters dynamic
characters undergo important change
through the course of the story going
through fundamental changes of what
their motivation and character is at
their core however what makes this
tricky is progression and development
are many times intertwined especially in
the external sense shown in manga for
example are probably best known for
these external developments which the
characters go through at first glance
with their power ups and new forms
that's not to say that shonen characters
can't go through internal developments
however the big ones that stand out do
tend to be the external ones again the
super saiyan sage naruto all of the
different forms ichigo has and etc etc
etc and just to be extra clear all
because a character goes through some
massive external developments doesn't
mean they can't go through equally big
internal developments however some good
examples of these dynamic characters
would be guts from berserk and thorfin
from villain saga who are definitely
going to be in the thumbnail and are
probably the best examples in the medium
of anime and manga when it comes to the
internal character development and a
dynamic protagonist now once again i'm
really speaking in these broad terms and
i'm not always bringing up these
specific examples because i don't want
you to be tempted into thinking these
are the only characters that did it
right i want you to think of your
favorite protagonist or some of the
protagonists that you consider to be the
best and see how they kind of fit within
these categories but going back to it
internal developments would go along the
lines of changes and goals the driving
force of their quests and many times
questioning the possibility of failure
once again being completely different
characters now compared to who they were
at the beginning versus a more static
character which will go through some
external changes here and there and will
definitely mature but at their core will
pretty much stay the same as they were
at the beginning these are characters
that are more about changing the world
around them than letting the world and
their events change who they are any
sort of development or change in a
character can be shown symbolically or
literally through imagery or told
through dialogue between characters
either ways whether static or dynamic
and this is the important part is that
whatever type of change the character
goes through whether small or large it
is made clear towards the audience
quote be clear on every character's
agenda in the scene and the agendas in
the conflict before you write take a
moment just to jot down what each
character in the scene wants even if as
kurt von go once said it is only a glass
of water so i touched on this concept a
little more over a year ago now on my
video on how to write the perfect
antagonist
but the foil in the relationship between
the protagonist and the antagonist is
the most essential in the entire plot in
that video i discussed how the
antagonist more often than not serves as
the dominant force that pushes the plot
the job of the protagonist is to take
action and push the plot further by
taking the antagonist to his or her
limit just as previously the antagonist
did for the protagonist in other words
it's one big game of pushing and pulling
which leads towards the climax and it is
at the climax where the main character
and the main enemy will fight to defend
their ideology and protect their
motivations while destroying the others
again this is a concept i talked more
about in my how to write the perfect
antagonist video so if you are
interested in that link will be in the
description below however this does not
simply have to confine to the idea of
good or evil some of my favorite stories
have a protagonist and antagonist that
each offer a good perspective on their
own ideology and are both each extremely
flawed therefore making their conflict
much more nuanced and interesting
however that is not to say that your
typical good versus evil conflict cannot
be just as good in the end this is all a
little bit of literature theory and
concepts if you will so what matters is
good execution but how do i kind of
encompass all of this what is the goal
of writing the protagonist what is the
purpose of the protagonist in the end
the ultimate purpose of the characters
in your story is to give the themes and
messages in your story life therefore
the ultimate purpose of the protagonist
is to serve as the primary character who
will allow those themes to be made
visible therefore whatever goal you give
to your protagonist should be with the
intention that you explore those themes
throughout their journey the purpose of
the antagonists and the difficulties
they go through is to slow down the
protagonist from reaching said goal
therefore making the story interesting
in the first place luffy's goal in one
piece is to become the pirate king and
find the one piece if we were to
condense it right the difficulties that
luffy goes through makes the journey
much more credible and memorable some
characters have a much more nuanced goal
like guts essentially still trying to
find out what his goal is and what the
purpose of life is just like many of us
and i don't think i need to get into
what kind of opposition he faced i've
talked about that plenty so in the end
the protagonist should capture the
reader and serve as the clear example of
what the story is about pushing a
memorable plot and providing a character
that will stay in the heart of the
audience forever i really hope you
enjoyed this video and let me know if
there's any sort of other type of
concepts when it comes to writing you
would like me to tackle i'm not a
professional writer i'm just a 19 year
old kid that really likes manga
nonetheless if you are new here make
sure you like comment subscribe and once
again turn on the bell notifications
that way you're notified whenever a new
video does come out on some of your
favorite anime manga whatever content as
always this has been the masked man hope
everyone has a blessed rest of the day
and peace
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