Misplaced Pages

#886113

23-478: John Duigan (born 19 June 1949) is an Australian film director and screenwriter. He is mostly known for his two autobiographical films The Year My Voice Broke and Flirting , and the 1994 film Sirens , which stars Hugh Grant . Duigan was born in Hartley Wintney , Hampshire , England to an Australian father, and emigrated to Australia in 1961. He is related to many Australian performers, being

46-407: A gulag camp. Leo Tolstoy 's War and Peace depicts fifteen major characters involved in or affected by a war. Though many people equate protagonists with the term hero and possessing heroic qualities, it is not necessary, as even villainous characters can be protagonists. For example Michael Corleone from The Godfather (1972–1990) film series (1978–1983). In some cases, the protagonist

69-422: A hero (masculine) or heroine (feminine) protagonist is typically admired for their achievements and noble qualities. Heroes are lauded for their strength, courage, virtuousness, and honor, and are considered to be the "good guys" of the narrative. Examples include DC Comics' Superman (hero) and Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games (heroine). An antihero (sometimes spelled as anti-hero) or antiheroine

92-423: A poet named Thespis introduced the idea of one actor stepping out and engaging in a dialogue with the chorus. This was the invention of tragedy, and occurred about 536 B.C. Then the poet Aeschylus , in his plays, introduced a second actor, inventing the idea of dialogue between two characters. Sophocles then wrote plays that included a third actor. A description of the protagonist's origin cited that during

115-567: A supporting protagonist appears, the story is told from the perspective of a character who appears to be minor. This character may be more peripheral from the events of the story and are not as involved within the "main action" of the plot. The supporting protagonist may be telling the story while viewing another character as the main influence of the plot. One example is Nick in The Great Gatsby . Euripides ' play Hippolytus may be considered to have two protagonists, though one at

138-432: A time. Phaedra is the protagonist of the first half, who dies partway through the play. Her stepson, the titular Hippolytus, assumes the dominant role in the second half of the play. In Henrik Ibsen 's play The Master Builder , the protagonist is the architect Halvard Solness. The young woman, Hilda Wangel, whose actions lead to the death of Solness, is the antagonist. In Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet , Romeo

161-593: Is a main character in a story who lacks conventional heroic qualities and attributes such as idealism, courage, and morality. Examples include Holden Caulfield from The Catcher in the Rye , Scarlett O'Hara from Gone With the Wind , Jay Gatsby from The Great Gatsby , and Walter White from Breaking Bad . A tragic hero is the protagonist of a tragedy. Examples include Oedipus from Oedipus Rex and Prince Hamlet from Shakespeare's Hamlet . The protagonist

184-461: Is distinguished from a typical autobiography or memoir by being a work of fiction presented in the same fashion as a typical non-fiction autobiography by "imitating the conventions of an autobiography." Because an autobiographical novel is partially fiction, the author does not ask the reader to expect the text to fulfill the "autobiographical pact". Names and locations are often changed and events are recreated to make them more dramatic but

207-496: Is his own antagonist). Sometimes, a work will have a false protagonist , who may seem to be the protagonist, but then may disappear unexpectedly. The character Marion in Alfred Hitchcock 's film Psycho (1960) is an example. A novel may contain a number of narratives, each with its own protagonist. Alexander Solzhenitsyn 's The First Circle , for example, depicts a variety of characters imprisoned and living in

230-484: Is not always conventionally good. Contrasting the hero protagonist, a villain protagonist is a protagonist who is a villain , driving the story forward regardless of the evil qualities the main character has. These traits can include being cruel, malicious, and wicked. Examples include Humbert Humbert in Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita and Richard III in the eponymous play by William Shakespeare . When

253-464: Is the character whose fate is most closely followed by the reader or audience, and who is opposed by the antagonist . The antagonist provides obstacles and complications and creates conflicts that test the protagonist, revealing the strengths and weaknesses of the protagonist's character, and having the protagonist develop as a result. The term protagonist comes from Ancient Greek πρωταγωνιστής ( prōtagōnistḗs )  'actor who plays

SECTION 10

#1732790871887

276-419: Is the protagonist. He is actively in pursuit of his relationship with Juliet, and the audience is invested in that story. Tybalt, as an antagonist, opposes Romeo and attempts to thwart the relationship. In Shakespeare's play Hamlet , Prince Hamlet, who seeks revenge for the murder of his father, is the protagonist. The antagonist is the character who most opposes Hamlet, Claudius (though, in many ways, Hamlet

299-576: The Clouds with Charlize Theron and Penélope Cruz , winner in Canada of four Genie Awards and Best Film at the Milan Film Festival . Between 2005 and 2010, he took time off from the film industry to work on a book on secular ethics, returning to Australia to direct Careless Love in 2011/12. Since 2011, Thandie Newton has claimed that she was groomed and sexually abused by Duigan on

322-554: The Jury Prize at the Australian Film Institute (AFI) Awards and Winter of our Dreams , for which he won an Australian Writers' Guild award for Best Screenplay. His 1981 film Winter of Our Dreams was entered into the 13th Moscow International Film Festival . The multi-award-winning mini-series Vietnam followed in 1987; it was one of Nicole Kidman 's first major roles. Subsequently, Duigan worked in

345-769: The United States and Europe, returning to Australia to make Sirens , winner of Best Film at the St. Petersburg Film Festival. In the United States, he directed Romero , starring Raul Julia , which won the Humanitas Award , and Lawn Dogs , winner of numerous prizes in European festivals. In England he directed The Leading Man , from a screenplay by his sister Virginia, The Parole Officer with Steve Coogan , and in Canada/France/UK Head in

368-619: The author's life as minor plot details. To be considered an autobiographical novel by most standards, there must be a protagonist modeled after the author and a central plotline that mirrors events in their life. Novels that do not fully meet these requirements or are further distanced from true events are sometimes called semi-autobiographical novels . Many novels about intense, private experiences such as war , family conflict or sex , are written as autobiographical novels. Some works openly refer to themselves as " non-fiction novels ". The definition of such works remains vague. The term

391-645: The brother of novelist Virginia Duigan (wife of director Bruce Beresford ) and uncle of Trilby Beresford. Duigan studied at the University of Melbourne , where he resided at Ormond College and graduated in 1973 with a master's degree in Philosophy. While at university, he worked extensively as an actor and director in theatre, and acted in a number of films (including Brake Fluid , Bonjour Balwyn and Dalmas ). He began directing films in 1974, with early successes including Mouth to Mouth , winner of

414-564: The chief or first part', combined of πρῶτος ( prôtos , 'first') and ἀγωνιστής ( agōnistḗs , 'actor, competitor'), which stems from ἀγών ( agṓn , 'contest') via ἀγωνίζομαι ( agōnízomai , 'I contend for a prize'). The earliest known examples of a protagonist are found in Ancient Greece . At first, dramatic performances involved merely dancing and recitation by the chorus. Then in Poetics , Aristotle describes how

437-466: The early period of Greek drama, the protagonist served as the author, the director, and the actor and that these roles were only separated and allocated to different individuals later. There is also a claim that the poet did not assign or create the protagonist as well as other terms for actors such as deuteragonist and tritagonist primarily because he only gave actors their appropriate part. However, these actors were assigned their specific areas at

460-443: The set of Flirting . He has not responded to these claims and the matter has never been legally proven. Actor Director Autobiographical fiction An autobiographical novel , also known as a autobiographical fiction , fictional autobiography , or autobiographical fiction novel , is a type of novel which uses autofiction techniques, or the merging of autobiographical and fictive elements. The literary technique

483-419: The stage with the protagonist always entering from the middle door or that the dwelling of the deuteragonist (second most important character) should be on the right hand, and the tritagonist (third most important character), the left. In Ancient Greece, the protagonist is distinguished from the term "hero", which was used to refer to a human who became a semi-divine being in the narrative. In literary terms,

SECTION 20

#1732790871887

506-407: The story still bears a close resemblance to that of the author's life. While the events of the author's life are recounted, there is no pretense of exact truth. Events may be exaggerated or altered for artistic or thematic purposes. Novels that portray settings and/or situations with which the author is familiar are not necessarily autobiographical. Neither are novels that include aspects drawn from

529-662: Was first widely used in reference to the non-autobiographical In Cold Blood by Truman Capote but has since become associated with a range of works drawing openly from autobiography. The emphasis is on the creation of a work that is essentially true, often in the context of an investigation into values or some other aspect of reality. The books Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig and The Tao of Muhammad Ali by Davis Miller open with statements admitting to some fictionalising of events but state they are true "in essence". Protagonist The protagonist

#886113