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DRAMATURGY 37
Other subplot uses. Subplots and minor characters have this added virtue— they make excellent vehicles for comedy relief, crisis relief, and time-lapse cutaways. When the major story line becomes too tense, the action can always be cut away to the antics of the characters in the subplot.
Play majors against minors. In addition, minor characters in subplots can be used as character foils for the major characters and their story line. Every comedian must have a straight man off whom he can bounce his gags. In the same way, the characters of those taking part in the major story line can be heightened tremendously simply by playing them against the characters of those in the minor roles. The quick-thinking executive can always be made to appear quicker thinking if he is permitted to play against a slower thinking person as a foil.
Major treatment of minors. A word of warning: Don't slough off the writing of minor characters in subplots. They must be well motivated persons with definite, individual characters— with traits and actions that are reactions of inner compulsions. The same attention must be given to them as to those in the major story line.
And the same attention must be paid to the subplot story line as well. Not only should it be a story in itself, but it must be carefully worked out and integrated into the main story line. It should build within itself and, simultaneously, within the framework of the main story line. But its importance must never be permitted to get out of hand so that it will intrude into and take precedence over the main story line.
Obviously, the more subplots in a story the greater the possibility of losing the main story line. In the British film Laughter in Paradise three or four separate subplots served to make the main story quite confusing.
Love in the minors. Minor characters have a peculiar habit of charming the writer. Because they are usually parts written for character actors, because they are sometimes more real than the major characters, the writer unconsciously finds himself falling in love with them. Before he is aware of it, he discovers he is writing his best lines and situations for them. The result is disproportion