WIRED magazine (10/2011) ran an interesting article about the creator of the funny TV show, Community, Dan Harmon. He has a theory about plot structure which he graphs as follows.
I'm going to bootleg this outline. The students sit before Mr. Q who pontificates his philosophy. They begin in a zone of comfort. But they want something: relief from the tedium, negativity, boredom, and pessimism. They enter into an unfamiliar situation--a mind bending onslaught of absurdities, injustices, and philosophical quandaries. They adapt to it. They complain and moan but grit it out. They get what they want, their grade, but they pay a heavy price for it, namely, a paradigm shift in their thinking. The glib theists (who resemble Pollyanna) sober up. The glib materialists give pause. The glib existentialists learn of faith. The hedonists ponder purpose. The physicists ponder metaphysics. The metaphysical ponder physics. I hope a good time will be had by all and that they return changed.
Will I pull this off? We'll see.
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