Internal Conflict

Definition

Internal conflict refers to the psychological struggle within a character, often involving their emotions, desires, or beliefs that create tension and drive character development. This type of conflict is crucial for character depth, influencing their backstory, relationships, and overall narrative arc while maintaining audience engagement.

5 Must Know Facts For Your Next Test

1. Internal conflict often stems from a character's desires clashing with societal expectations or personal morals, which can significantly affect their decisions.
2. It is essential for character development; as characters confront and resolve their internal conflicts, they evolve and become more relatable to the audience.
3. Internal conflicts can drive the plot forward by influencing characters’ reactions to external events and relationships.
4. Visual and verbal cues in scripts can be used effectively to portray internal conflict without extensive dialogue, allowing viewers to grasp the character's struggle.
5. In episodic dramas, internal conflicts can be woven through multiple episodes, allowing for gradual resolution and deeper exploration of themes.

Review Questions

• How does internal conflict contribute to a character's development across an episodic drama?
  • Internal conflict plays a vital role in shaping a character’s journey throughout an episodic drama. As characters grapple with their psychological struggles, they evolve in response to both their inner turmoil and external situations. This evolution often leads to pivotal moments that reveal deeper layers of their personality, making them more relatable and compelling to the audience. By witnessing how characters confront and manage their internal conflicts over time, viewers can form a stronger emotional connection with them.
• Discuss how balancing exposition and action can enhance the portrayal of a character's internal conflict in a television script.
  • Balancing exposition and action is crucial for effectively conveying a character’s internal conflict. Exposition can provide context about the character’s backstory and motivations, helping the audience understand the roots of their struggle. Meanwhile, action reveals how these internal conflicts influence decision-making in real-time. When done right, this balance keeps the audience engaged by showing not just what the character is feeling but also how those feelings impact their choices and interactions with others.
• Evaluate the ways in which resolving internal conflict can maintain narrative momentum in a season-long story arc.
  • Resolving internal conflict can significantly maintain narrative momentum within a season-long story arc by creating satisfying payoffs for both the characters and the audience. As characters confront their struggles and achieve breakthroughs or setbacks, it introduces new challenges and directions for the plot to explore. This keeps viewers invested as they follow the emotional stakes of each character. By strategically pacing these resolutions throughout the season, writers can ensure that tension remains high while allowing for organic development, ultimately leading to engaging storytelling.

Related terms

Character Arc:

The transformation or growth a character undergoes throughout a story, often influenced by their internal conflicts.

Motivation: The reasons behind a character's actions and decisions, often stemming from their internal struggles.

Dramatic Irony:

A situation where the audience knows more about a character's internal conflict than the character does themselves, adding layers to the storytelling.