Plot, Names, and Story

        Think of a book or movie you just saw or are currently reading, and with that in your head, think of the story and how it evolved or is evolving. Think of the message or moral you believe they are trying to convey with it. focus on the major plot points and key moments that made the book or movie get to the place it is or got to... Things like these are most likely very vivid in your mind, and that is what is supposed to be. These things define the book or movie and are what you take away from them.

        Now think of a movie such as the Polar Express, a children's Christmas book that was made into a full length animated feature film. Chances are if you've seen it you know the story, you know some major plot points, and you know the "moral" that it was trying to get across. But there is something very interesting about this movie... something that no one ever catches or questions. This is simply the main characters name. What is his name??? I hadn't ever thought about it until I read this article about Story and plot. So I googled it and what I found was interesting. Not once in every single piece of dialog in the book or in the movie is the main character given a name. You also see this in Marilyn Monroe's debut movie the Seven Year Itch. Never does a single character in the movie says her name. With this said, I'm sure there are hundreds of movies (if you're anything like me) that you can't remember the main characters name even if they had one.

        so after making this discovery, I came to the conclusion that names are not as important in story telling than you might believe. The name of a character is a plot element. once you give a main character a name their is an instant disconnect with the viewer and that character. The story of a character can be told without a name very easily, as long as the interactions they have with other characters are well written, no one will even question what their name is because it won't matter. 

        What a name is to a story is what the plot is to a movie you saw ten years ago, forgettable. A name is simply a tool, a very useful tool, but a very unnecessary one. The plot to a movie you saw ten years ago is simply a tool as well, although it is very necessary, you still aren't going to remember it.

Story is what you remember, plot is the tool used to make you remember what you remember.