Mrs.Harris Goes to Paris: toothless antagonists

About this episode

The episode discusses the underdog archetype in storytelling and explores various story theory concepts while Melanie studies premise statements and loglines.

Of all the types of protagonists, audiences/readers love the underdog the most, and our discussion of this beloved archetype led us down all kinds of interesting story theory roads including tension, stakes, objects of desire, the use of consequences as plot devices, suspension of disbelief and the Disneyfication of fairy tales! Meanwhile, Melanie continues her study of the premise statement and logline — what the difference between them is, how to formulate them, why they're important and, of course, when a writer would use them. This episode is jam-packed! Enjoy! -V.

People in this episode

Hosts: Melanie Hill, Valerie Francis

Topics covered

• underdog protagonists
• story theory
• tension
• stakes
• plot devices
• premise statement
• logline

Keywords

• underdog
• story theory
• tension
• stakes
• premise statement
• logline
• Disneyfication

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Mrs.Harris Goes to Paris

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