Comments on: What’s the difference between Hero, Main Character and Protagonist?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 17:16:59 +0000

How about an analysis of The Lord of the Rings:

Hero = Aragorn Main Character = Frodo Protagonist = Gandalf

By: Blógünder Schlock » Blog Archive » This Week’s Writing Excuses is Up!

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 15:28:22 +0000

[...] it was John August who bailed me out, but Professor Google performed the [...]

By: Writing Excuses Episode 5: Heroes and Protagonists » Writing Excuses

Writing Excuses Episode 5: Heroes and Protagonists » Writing Excuses — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 15:21:25 +0000

[...] repeatedly invoked John August’s blog post about heroes, protagonists, and main characters. Here it is. Writing Excuses Episode 5: Heroes and Protagonists [15:45m]: Play Now | Play in [...]

By: hazelynn rimbar

hazelynn rimbar — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 07:57:40 +0000

im an eng. lit student. well…i do realise that most of the time the protagonist is the hero…. but then i do wonder…must the hero or protag be human? or can it be other than human

By: KristRey1018

KristRey1018 — Tue, 07 Feb 2006 10:21:02 +0000

I was wondering, can you explain symbolic overtones? Thank you.

By: konradwest.com » The Grand Unified Theory of Agonists.

konradwest.com » The Grand Unified Theory of Agonists. — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 04:15:08 +0000

[...] As he noted, there are some great theories about agonists and how they work; John August’s General Theory of Heroic Relativity, Craig Mazin’s Special Theory of The Subtle Hero and the brilliant Thematic Character Structure Theory are excellent guides to agonists in a great many films. [...]

By: Armando

Armando — Tue, 27 Sep 2005 17:38:36 +0000

Hey, John.

A personal question: who's your favorite story theoretician?

In this post I find hints of Lajos Egri, McKee, Campbell/Vogler and even a bit of Dramatica!

Care to comment on that?

By: Christopher Coulter

Christopher Coulter — Sun, 18 Sep 2005 20:54:45 +0000

I side with John...

People that want Charlie to 'do more' certainly aren't pulling from Dahl. Charlie is already good, even in dire circumstances, you can't have him morph 'bad' without ruining the story, and 'better' ruins it too. Better makes the 'good' less, therefore 'bad', as it is now less than 'good'. Good just is.

Wonka is where the work lies. But that's a Dahl theme, he gets into the kids-eye view, always the bumbling adult that needs the tune-up.

By: Doug

Doug — Wed, 03 Aug 2005 03:51:29 +0000

::SPOILERS ABOVE::

By: Chris Wild

Chris Wild — Tue, 02 Aug 2005 17:51:36 +0000

Re: CATCF - Wonka the protaganist.

Having now seen the film, my feeling is that making Wonka the protaganist really spoils the film. The film is great apart from that whole thread about Wonka and his father, and in my opinion turns the film from great to mediocre. The voiceover that then acompanies it all becomes "subtitles for the hard of thinking", and the Wonka gets a family is just plain poor.

Shame.

By: Josh

Josh — Fri, 29 Jul 2005 21:44:08 +0000

That was a great post John. Please don’t hold back on your “Dramatic Theory 101″ posts. I wish you would do it more often.