What is the premise?
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- 17. Third Revelation and Decision
- Casablanca * Revelation
- 18. Gate, Gauntlet, Visit to Death
| Casablanca Rick forces Renault at gunpoint to call the airport tower. But the audience sees that the Captain has actually called Major Strasser. Tootsie This step does not occur in Tootsie, primarily because Michael is scamming the other characters. Because he is fooling them, he is in control. So the audience learns things at the same time as Michael. 17. Third Revelation and Decision This revelation is another step in the hero's learning what he needs to know to beat the opponent. If the story has a fake-ally opponent, this is often the moment the hero discovers that character's true identity (what the audience learned in Step 16). As the hero finds out more and more about the true power of the opposition, you might think he would want to back out of the conflict. On the contrary, this information makes the hero feel stronger and more determined to win because he can now see all that he's up against. Casablanca * Revelation Ilsa comes to Rick for the letters and confesses that she still loves him. * Decision Rick decides to give Ilsa and Laszlo the letters of transit, but he keeps this decision hidden from Ilsa and the audience. * Changed Desire Rick wants to save Laszlo and Ilsa from the Nazis. * Changed Motive Rick knows that Ilsa must go with Laszlo and help him with his cause. 18. Gate, Gauntlet, Visit to Death Near the end of the story, the conflict between hero and opponent intensifies to such a degree that the pressure on the hero becomes almost 32 unbearable. He has fewer and fewer options, and often the space through which he passes literally becomes narrower. Finally, he must pass through a narrow gate or travel down along gauntlet (while being assaulted from every direction. This is also the moment when the hero visits "death" In myth stories, the hero goes down to the underworld and foresees his own future in the land of the dead. In more modern stories, the visit to death is psychological. The hero has a sudden realization of his own mortality life is finite, and it could end very soon. You might think that this realization would cause him to flee the conflict, since it could cause his death. Instead, it spurs him to light. The hero reasons, "If my life is to have meaning, I must take a stand for what I believe in. I will take that stand here and now" Thus the visit to death is a testing point that often triggers the battle. The gate, gauntlet, and visit to death is the most movable of the twenty-two steps and is often found in other parts of the plot. For example, the hero may visit death during the apparent defeat. He may pass through the gauntlet during the final battle, as in the trench fight in Star Wars or the tower in Vertigo. Or he may pass through it after the battle, as Terry Malloy does at the end of On the Waterfront. Download 0.98 Mb. Share with your friends:
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