The relationship between the Main Character and Impact Character provides the heart of a story. Unfortunately, this emotional connection is often overlooked in many a screenplay. The heap of forgotten films teems with stories that made the simple error of not engaging their audiences passionately. It seems strange then, that Deadwood, a series often referred to as vulgar and crude, should present us such a successful attempt at this essential relationship.
As mentioned before, I don’t think there was one episode of Deadwood that stood out as a complete story (the way Dramatica defines it). But there was an overall sense that the most important relationship throughout all three seasons was the one between Sheriff Bullock (Timothy Olyphant) and Al Swearengen (Ian McShane). They began as adversaries, yet end as advocates.
For those of you unfamiliar with the Dramatica theory of story, the two most important characters in a story are the Main Character and the Impact Character. The first is well understood; the second…not so much. Basically, the Impact Character is the character who impacts the Main Character in such a way that the Main Character will either Change or Remain Steadfast on an issue near and dear to his heart. Consequently, the Impact Character will follow the inverse approach. In other words, if the Main Character Changes, the Impact Character will Remain Steadfast, and vice versa.
If we continue the Dramatica analysis of Deadwood’s principal characters, it would seem that Bullock was the Steadfast Character, and Al was the Change character. The Swearengen of Season Three (who was willing to lose a finger to stand up against George Hearst) was vastly different than the Swearengen from Season One (who murdered a road agent in order to maintain his own innocence). Chris Huntley
I think one “arc” (of several) is about the “civilization” of Al Swearengen. If you take a look back at season 1, he’s a REAL sonofabitch. He’s still ruthless, but he now struggles with bouts of conscience and emotional attachment. It’s VERY gradual, but it’s there. The Seth Bullock character arc, on the other hand, seemed to be put on hold for most all of last season. He’s been set to “simmer near to boiling”
But it’s always nice, when you’re analyzing a story, to hear some sort of confirmation of your ideas from the authors themselves. This occurred during my analysis of Children of Men, where the director confirmed the notion that the ending was to be finished individually by each audience member. In Deadwood, it comes from series creator David Milch in a passage from Deadwood: Stories from the Black Hills.
The violence between Bullock and Swearengen is necessary, for example, because they are parts of the same soul. Freud wrote about the “narcissism of minor differences,” saying that the most violent antagonisms are between peoples or individuals who feel a need to differentiate themselves because they feel so similar, and they are so uncomfortable in their felt similarity. Bullock fights Swearengen because what Swearengen says to him is so right. When Swearengen says “sheath your prick,” about Bullock’s destructive involvement with Alma, Bullock must strike him, because it is his own soul speaking to him in the form of this grotesque little man. Bullock doesn’t want to believe that his soul can be housed in that. Conversely, what irritates Swearengen so much about Bullock is that he understands the loneliness that has led Bullock to get involved with Alma. So when you see Swearengen and Bullock fight at the beginning of the second season, the emotional aspects of it are in the ascendant. Something important is being transacted there.
Interesting note too — that the cover of this book has only Bullock and Swearengen on it - kind of reinforces the idea that this relationship is the most important in the eyes of the author.
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