Wednesday, November 4, 2009

CONFLICT OR CHALLENGE?

Is it a conflict, or a challenge?

CONFLICT:
1. A state of open, often prolonged fighting; a battle or war.
2. A state of disharmony between incompatible or antithetical persons, ideas, or interests; a clash.
3. A psychic struggle, often unconscious, resulting from the opposition or simultaneous functioning of mutually exclusive impulses, desires, or tendencies.
4. Opposition between characters or forces in a work of drama or fiction, especially opposition that motivates or shapes the action of the plot.

CHALLENGE
1.
a. A call to engage in a contest, fight, or competition.
b. An act or statement of defiance.
2. A demand for explanation or justification.
3. A sentry's call to an unknown party for proper identification.
4. A test of one's abilities or resources in a demanding but stimulating undertaking.
5. A claim that a vote is invalid or that a voter is unqualified.
6. A formal objection to the inclusion of a prospective juror in a jury.
7. The induction or evaluation of an immune response in an organism by administration of a specific antigen to which it has been sensitized.

All too often I hear the riddle behind a screenplay is the "conflict". I feel that is often too general of a categorization, especially across the board for all of the different genres.

I agree that conflict must be used, but challenge can be highly applicable, depending on who your antagonist is. I'm looking to explore a use of words specific to certain types of films.

For example: in a "coming of age" genre type film, depending on the antagonist, I might be more inclined to use the word "challenge" instead of "conflict".

Food for thought.

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