Markup View

Author: Kilyle

Feb 4th 2010 at 1:37:39 PM

PassiveProtagonist is explained to some extent by Christopher Booker in his ''TheSevenBasicPlots''.  Now, he's got a very Jungian gender-based view of things, but here we go:

Most stories fall under one of these categories:

*Balanced hero, passive heroine
*Balanced hero, active heroine
*''Either of those two, from the heroine's point of view''
*Dark hero redeemed by light heroine (or, tragically, fails to get redeemed)
*Dark heroine redeemed by light hero (or, tragically, fails to get redeemed)

So ''SleepingBeauty'' and similar stories are "Balanced hero, passive heroine" from the heroine's point of view.

Also bear in mind that a character based on the [[RomanceGenreHeroines Waif]] or [[MasterCharacterHeroines Persephone]] archetype, who classically gets [[TheChick considered]] a [[WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway weakling]], can actually be a demonstration of inner strength: the power to bear up under unreasonable difficulties.  This is an important archetype for certain ''RagsToRiches'' stories, because the hero gets whipped around between various situations without much control over her fate.

I've actually wondered if it's the ''only'' possible characterization for a story about a kid going through foster care.  A kid in foster care has '''''no''''' control over the situation, and although I think it might be important to create a book about a brave hero kid in foster care, I'm not really sure how to approach it as a plot.