How does the audience experience of a character's decision impact our feelings towards that character?

After a spectacular end to Season 6 of GAME OF THRONES, Chas and Stu were struck by the very different portrayals of Sansa in Episode 9 - Battle of the Bastards and Cersei in Episode 10 - The Winds of Winter. Despite both characters having an enormous impact on the narrative, the audience's experience of those characters is very different -- largely because Sansa is absent from 98% of Battle of the Bastards.

And thus: Stu and Chas embark on an exploration of how a writer's use of point of view - particularly in relation to how you show characters making decisions - can control how your audience perceives any given character (for good or ill).

Whether you are a Game of Thrones fan or not, we recommend you watch these two episodes for their contrasting but fascinating control of point of view and character. Both episodes were written by showrunners David Benioff & D. B. Weiss.

EPISODE LINKS

HBO: The Official Website of Game of Thrones
The AV Club: Thrones stages an epic battle, but to what end?
Youtube: Jon and Sansa - "We need to trust each other"
Youtube: Cersei [spoiler]
DZ-05: Shifting audience point of view and heightened emotions
DZ-20: Writing Strong Secondary Characters – Trinity, Bechdel and a Bamboo Killer
DZ-33: Protagonist vs Hero – Dawn of Character Function

BACK MATTER

/r/Screenwriting: Protagonist vs Hero - Dawn of Character Function
The Guardian: Words are losing their power. Not even Jason Bourne can save them now

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DZ-34: Game of Choices - Decision Making and Character Implications

Draft Zero: a screenwriting podcast