Cowboys, Politicos and Primes

[deriksmith]

I took screenwriting from Thomas Pope, Hollywood screenwriter. His as-yet-unpublished second book focuses on script doctoring. Well- he would say it focuses on second drafts, since in an ideal world redrafts are done by the original writer. I have a wire-bound proof of this yet-to-be published volume (which he used to teach the class) on my

Comments

[jarodrussell]

Can you go into a bit more detail about the definition of a Cowboy? I ask because, to me, those seem merely like opposite ends of a spectrum:

Cowboy == character who works outside the law for justice

Abraham Lincoln == character who works within the laws align them with justice.

What about a trickster whose hedonistic tendencies don't align with the law or justice? Or is his point that people like Bernie Madoff have ruined the use of that archetype for the rest of us?

Personally, I think you could get a few miles out of Benevolent Dictator, but that's mostly because of my post-apoc, rebuilt Detroit fantasies.

[deriksmith]

They primarily acquire meaning in comparison to other heroic archetypes. When you throw in Achilles (Godlike Warrior in pursuit of his own Excellence) Cop or Teacher it becomes much less spectrum-y