Drama (was What I didn't like about TTT)

[David <dfrankiswork@netscape.net>]

Pip wrote:

> Drama equals conflict. No conflict, no drama. No drama, no story. 
A 
> film or a play is not a novel. A film or a play cannot survive 
> without conflict.

This seems so, um, definite.  How can we be sure?

> Think back to any film or play you have seen. Did *any* of them 
have 
> no conflict? Were there *any* bits where the characters had no 
> problems to overcome? Or did that just come at the end of the 
story?

> So, Aragorn and Arwen have this deeply moving love, which is also 
> (in film terms) deeply boring, because all the drama and tension 
in it happened years back.

It does worry me that there is an element of circularity in our 
collective experience here.  In effect our moviegoing habits train 
us to find some things (such as bits of history) boring and others 
(such as conflict) dramatic (Are 'boring' and 'dramatic' polar 
opposites?  Challenge for dramatists and filmmakers: bore your 
audience with such guile that they thank you for the experience).  
Because we are so trained, it then becomes difficult for directors 
who choose not to accept these simple equations to make headway.  

David