‘When we lie to ourselves and believe it, truth vanishes and we’re at the negation of the negation,’ wrote Robert McKee in Story, his excellent deconstruction of plot, character and the principles of screenwriting
The negation of the negation, often the climax in the arc of a dramatic story, is when a positive or worthwhile character trait or condition is not only contradicted, but the contradiction itself is contradicted and ends up destroying the very protagonist the trait was supposed to protect.
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