Monday, July 18, 2005
A Story is Like a Bicycle:
There is a well-documented tradition in the history of our pursuit of knowledge to resort to the safehouse of making profound analogies in explaining the nature of things. Someone said somewhere that it is possible to draw an analogy between any two completely different things. That concept has always intrigued me. In trying to come up with a streamlined explanation of the elements of a story I have decided to resort to this honorable tradition...
Take a bicycle for example, it being a nice metaphor for a ride. Much like a bicycle is put together with a number of basic parts, a story consists of several essential elements... In a bicycle there are the main frame, the front wheel, the rear wheel, the pedals, the seat, the chain and the handlebars. No doubt there are a lot more parts in a design of the latest bike technology, but for the purpose of this analogy we'll concentrate only on the main parts and paint the picture in broad strokes. So, what are the elements that a story needs in order to become a satisfying ride? In a run-along commentary to the analogy outline I will use as an example the popular story of the original "Star Wars" movie to offer ready parallels.
The "main frame" of the story in our analogy will be represented by the protagonist, someone who's at the center of the action and through whose point of view we, the audience, experience the story. This is an easy one. In "Star Wars" it is Luke Skywalker who's our "main frame" for the ride.
The "seat" of the ride can be described as the protagonist's problems (get it, what he or she is sitting on?). This includes external (difficulties and complications in daily life) and internal (character flaws) ones that prevent the achievement of personal goals. In Luke's case, the external problem is that he wants to go study at the
The "front wheel" (pointing the current direction) is the protagonist's dilemma which stems from his or her present circumstances... Here, Luke needs to get out of his uncle's farm and make his mark in the galaxy.
The "rear wheel", being the part that most of the bicycle weight falls on which makes it most difficult to turn -- and turn it must -- in order to get things moving forward, is a natural choice to parallel the role of the antagonist or the opposition in the story. This is a character who stands in the hero's way of achieving the needed goals. There may be more than one antagonist in a story, but certainly there is always one that is most important and most dangerous. I can't stress enough the importance of the antagonist in a story. Hitchcock defined the rule of thumb in this respect when he proclaimed "the more successful the villain, the more successful the picture".
Interestingly enough, the opposition is sometimes also represented by the protagonist's romantic interest (especially in romantic comedies or romance adventures) who must be won over or reconciled with. Obviously, in "Star Wars" the general opposition is the Empire and its agents, and the most important antagonist of them all is Darth Vader who is bent on crushing the last hope of the Republic, represented by the Rebellion with which Luke gets himself involved. Luke has to help the rebels to stop the Empire from achieving galactic domination through the power of a new secret weapon -- the Death Star.
The role of the "pedals" here is played by the sidekicks and confidants of the protagonist. They are our hero's little helpers. In Luke's case, the confidant is none other than the wise old jedi knight Ben Kenobi. Han Solo, Lea, Chewbacca, and the two eccentric droids Treepeeo and R2, become the sidekicks or the protagonist's allies.
The "chain" is represented in the story by the conflict of interests or the challenge which snaps the protagonist out of limbo and into action. Nothing can be sprung forward without a main chain of events leading to necessity for action... Luke discovers from Ben Kenobi that Vader killed his father. Then his aunt and uncle are killed by agents of the Empire who are looking for the two droids, presently in Luke's possession, that carry the stolen plans to the Death Star. Through this chain of events Luke is propelled into choosing a side to fight on and into action.
Finally, the "handlebars", used to stir the course of the ride, are tricky to control and as such may cause a less careful rider to crash. Here, they are replaced by the level of danger present in the story. In other words, what's at stake for the protagonist and everything he or she represents. General rule of thumb: the higher the stakes, the better. In "Star Wars" the stakes are as high as they can get -- the freedom of the Galaxy hangs in the balance and must be saved for all from an evil oppression by the Empire.
But before you say: "Hey, where are the brakes? You can't just ride around with no brakes!" -- let me suggest that a story needs most of all to be unstoppable. So, why give it brakes?! That would be defeating its purpose. A story should be a force of sheer momentum and when it has to stop, it has to do so on its own. In other words, a story has to ride itself out in order to bring itself to a stop... Wait. Wait. On second thought, forget everything I said about a story being like a bicycle. A much better analogy just occurred to me. A story should be like a cannon ball. A cannon ball whizzing by through the sky at great speed. A cannon ball we, the audience, must ride like the Baron Munchhausen. A cannon ball closing in on its target... and reaching it. Then we can truly speak of a story in terms of it being a "hit".
