RE: Deals

["Brandon J. Van Every" <vanevery@3DProgrammer.com>]

> At 8:00 guy rings her doorbell, and she's not ready yet.
> Guy is miffed because she broke the deal. Gal feels justified because she
> had to help her sister. Ergo, conflict between two good people
> each pursuing honorable goals.

Although admittedly it's a mechanism of drama or comedy, it's also a cliche.
I very much appreciated the scene in "State and Main" where the guy gets
caught in his room with a naked actress, he gives this lame excuse to his
love interest which happens to be the truth, and she simply believes him and
doesn't make a big deal about it.  Of course, one could say that the
structure of the cliche deal is still present, we're just being refreshed by
the screenwriter declining to follow it.  That's a deal between author and
audience actually, that we're not going to bore you with stupid cliche
deals.

> This basic scheme (vaguely stated deal, unanticipated
> interference, sense of
> betrayal) can be spun off in a million different directions and
> variations.

True, some of them more dramatically powerful than others.  "Rules of
Engagement" would be an example of that.  What's the deal between the US
Government and a marine?  Who's responsible for the situation and the
results?  That's why it ends up being a courtroom drama.

I have to wonder, though, if you take "deal" to such a general level, if you
shouldn't just be calling it "plot" or "story."  Earlier Chris it sounded
like you were talking about a specific deal made within a story.  If the
significance of the deal is the entire story then I think that only
reinforces my point about where significance and meaning must come from.

> The deal system I am now contemplating for the Erasmatron does not enable
> such vaguely stated deals,

Exactly.  A deal that is so general encompasses the whole story.

> but I think it's a step along the path to such deals.

Here I think you have to consider the appropriate scope of a structure.


Cheers,                         www.3DProgrammer.com
Brandon Van Every               Seattle, WA

Authoring is the sale of specific values to the audience,
*not* a general traversal of abstract categories.