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Q&A How can I pinpoint a story's moral dilemma?

I think it is important to note that while there is often one particular moment where the choice is faced and made -- what James Scott Bell calls "the mirror moment", the choice may not necessarily...

posted 4y ago by Mark Baker‭  ·  edited 4y ago by Mark Baker‭

Answer
#3: Post edited by user avatar Mark Baker‭ · 2020-06-12T19:29:32Z (over 4 years ago)
  • I think it is important to note that while there is often one particular moment where the choice is faced and made -- what James Scott Bell calls "the mirror moment", the choice may not necessarily come to a head in such an obvious dramatic way.
  • Look for it rather in the forms of the opposing forces that tug on a character through the story. This is usually there is episodic stories where there often isn't one climactic moment. In Buffy the Vampire Slayer, for instance, Buffy is constantly torn between leading a normal life and being a vampire slayer. It's not like by episode 3 of season 1 she had decided, okay, full time slayer it is. That tension runs through every season.
  • Look at your typical detective show. (I am currently binging Bosch on Prime.) The detective solves crimes by day and had a troubled relationship with his wife (usually ex) and child (usually a vulnerable but precocious teenage daughter) that tugs at his conscience as he devotes every waking hour to his cases and bring back his obsessions and nightmares to his family.
  • Rather than being brought to a head and resolved, the tension is allowed to simmer, episode after episode, season after season. (Along the way our detective will seek advice from retired colleagues -- invariably alone and estranged from their families -- a reminder to the audience of the tension that underlies our hero's choices.)
  • Look for these choices not in the moment where they are made, therefore, but in the long simmering tension in which they are present but not made. The actual moment where they are made may not stand out as a great dramatic incident. Sometimes you can only tell by looking back that the decision was in fact made at all.
  • I think it is important to note that while there is often one particular moment where the choice is faced and made -- what James Scott Bell calls "the mirror moment", the choice may not necessarily come to a head in such an obvious dramatic way.
  • Look for it rather in the forms of the opposing forces that tug on a character through the story. This is usually there is episodic stories where there often isn't one climactic moment. In Buffy the Vampire Slayer, for instance, Buffy is constantly torn between leading a normal life and being a vampire slayer. It's not like by episode 3 of season 1 she had decided, okay, full time slayer it is. That tension runs through every season.
  • Look at your typical detective show. (I am currently binging Bosch on Prime.) The detective solves crimes by day and had a troubled relationship with his wife (usually ex) and child (usually a vulnerable but precocious teenage daughter) that tugs at his conscience as he devotes every waking hour to his cases and brings back his obsessions and nightmares to his family.
  • Rather than being brought to a head and resolved, the tension is allowed to simmer, episode after episode, season after season. (Along the way our detective will seek advice from retired colleagues -- invariably alone and estranged from their families -- a reminder to the audience of the tension that underlies our hero's choices.)
  • Look for these choices not in the moment where they are made, therefore, but in the long simmering tension in which they are present but not made. The actual moment where they are made may not stand out as a great dramatic incident. Sometimes you can only tell by looking back that the decision was in fact made at all.
#2: Post edited by user avatar Charlie Brumbaugh‭ · 2020-06-11T23:22:23Z (over 4 years ago)
  • I think it is important to note that while there is often one particular moment where the choice is faced and made -- what James Scott Bell calls "the mirror moment", the choice may not necessarily come to a head in such an obvious dramatic way.
  • Look for it rather in the forms of the opposing forces that tug on a character through the story. This is usually there is episodic stories where there often isn't one climactic moment. In Buffy the Vampire Slayer, for instance, Buffy is constantly torn between leading a normal life and being a vampire slayer. It's not like by episode 3 of season 1 she had decided, okay, full time slayer it is. That tension runs through every season.
  • Look at your typical detective show. (I am currently binging Bosch on Prime.) The detective solves crimes by day and had a troubled relationship with his wife (usually ex) and child (usually a vulnerable but precocious teenage daughter) that tugs at his conscience as he devotes every waking hour to his cases and bring back his obsessions and nightmares to his family.
  • Rather than being brought to a head and resolved, the tension is allowed to simmer, episode after episode, season after season. (Along the way our detective will seek advice from retired colleagues -- invariably alone and estranged from their families -- a reminder to the audience of the tension that underlies our hero's choices.)
  • Look for these choices not in the moment where they are made, therefore, but in the long simmering tension in which they are present but not made. The actual moment where thy are made may not stand out as a great dramatic incident. Sometimes you can only tell by looking back that the decision was in fact made at all.
  • I think it is important to note that while there is often one particular moment where the choice is faced and made -- what James Scott Bell calls "the mirror moment", the choice may not necessarily come to a head in such an obvious dramatic way.
  • Look for it rather in the forms of the opposing forces that tug on a character through the story. This is usually there is episodic stories where there often isn't one climactic moment. In Buffy the Vampire Slayer, for instance, Buffy is constantly torn between leading a normal life and being a vampire slayer. It's not like by episode 3 of season 1 she had decided, okay, full time slayer it is. That tension runs through every season.
  • Look at your typical detective show. (I am currently binging Bosch on Prime.) The detective solves crimes by day and had a troubled relationship with his wife (usually ex) and child (usually a vulnerable but precocious teenage daughter) that tugs at his conscience as he devotes every waking hour to his cases and bring back his obsessions and nightmares to his family.
  • Rather than being brought to a head and resolved, the tension is allowed to simmer, episode after episode, season after season. (Along the way our detective will seek advice from retired colleagues -- invariably alone and estranged from their families -- a reminder to the audience of the tension that underlies our hero's choices.)
  • Look for these choices not in the moment where they are made, therefore, but in the long simmering tension in which they are present but not made. The actual moment where they are made may not stand out as a great dramatic incident. Sometimes you can only tell by looking back that the decision was in fact made at all.
#1: Initial revision by user avatar Mark Baker‭ · 2020-06-11T16:26:08Z (over 4 years ago) 
I think it is important to note that while there is often one particular moment where the choice is faced and made -- what James Scott Bell calls "the mirror moment", the choice may not necessarily come to a head in such an obvious dramatic way. 

Look for it rather in the forms of the opposing forces that tug on a character through the story. This is usually there is episodic stories where there often isn't one climactic moment. In Buffy the Vampire Slayer, for instance, Buffy is constantly torn between leading a normal life and being a vampire slayer. It's not like by episode 3 of season 1 she had decided, okay, full time slayer it is. That tension runs through every season. 

Look at your typical detective show. (I am currently binging Bosch on Prime.) The detective solves crimes by day and had a troubled relationship with his wife (usually ex) and child (usually a vulnerable but precocious teenage daughter) that tugs at his conscience as he devotes every waking hour to his cases and bring back his obsessions and nightmares to his family. 

Rather than being brought to a head and resolved, the tension is allowed to simmer, episode after episode, season after season. (Along the way our detective will seek advice from retired colleagues -- invariably alone and estranged from their families -- a reminder to the audience of the tension that underlies our hero's choices.)

Look for these choices not in the moment where they are made, therefore, but in the long simmering tension in which they are present but not made. The actual moment where thy are made may not stand out as a great dramatic incident. Sometimes you can only tell by looking back that the decision was in fact made at all.