"One-up, One-down" Soap Storylines
Adventure / excitement on the other hand, can be interpreted in a one-up, one-down way. An example will clarify what this means. Years ago, characters on DAYS OF OUR LIVES spent about six months in a major story arc searching for a key for a treasure that led them to unlock (no pun intended) secrets which in turn led to various plot details and complications too numerous too mention. Half the cast was involved in searching for the key at one time or another and some of the action even took place in Italy. Of course, the key changed hands many times before the conclusion of the story. (This is not to be confused with a more recent storyline also on DAYS OF OUR LIVES which contained the element of finding a key, this time to unlock special handcuffs and another torrent of secrets.)
Whoever had the key at a particular time was definitely one-up in relation to everybody else who wanted it. Characters would get clues to the whereabouts of the key by using status. They might have acted one-up by using physical threats to get information out of someone. They could also resort to blackmail saying something like, "I know you embezzled money from your partner and I’ll tell her everything if you don't help me out."
They also acted in a one-down manner to play on another character's sympathy (often the case when the characters are strangers to each other) such as begging a maid to let them stay in a room to wait for someone, claiming they are too weak or sick to leave and come back another time. While the maid gets refreshments for the characters from another room, the characters have ample time to rifle through the place looking for clues.
Incidents like those described above using one-up and one-down techniques are repeated many times throughout the course of any action/adventure storyline. If one character knows something about the desired object, he or she must prevent other characters from finding out and gaining the upper hand. Again, Tannen summarizes appropriately, "Life, then is a struggle to preserve independence and avoid failure." (Tannen) This is a perfect way to think of the underlying themes of action/adventure storylines.
|
