The Redemption story type follows a morally bad or evil character through a transformation into a good character. Changing a bad character into a good one can be a formidable task, however, and not one that an audience can easily accept. A redemption story often follows identifiable milestones that allow the audience to buy into the transformation. On the other hand, the blacker the character is at the beginning of the story, the greater the sense of accomplishment when he is redeemed at the end.
The Presentation: we are introduced to this character and it is detailed in no uncertain terms that they are evil to some degree. We may take some time to explore just how evil they are, through one or more opportunities to kick puppies. We may be given a display of the power that these evil or amoral actions give the character, but also show how these decisions affect other characters, often in ways that aren't clear to the protagonist.
We may also explore the philosophy that the heroes use to justify their actions ("...are there no workhouses?" or "A shark's gotta eat") and often the story challenges the validity or reveals the inadequacy of these premises. These characters aren't misunderstood, or making the best of a bad situation, they are making bad choices that negatively affect others, and the story gives us an opportunity to see it clearly.
For Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, we see how he treats
his clerk, Bob Cratchett and may even understand the logic of his
extremely frugal work ethic. But we also see the effect his choices are
having on the entire Cratchett family, and how Tiny Tim's health is a
result of Scrooge's miserly tendencies.
The History: The story may then give us some background on why the character became this way. This may be accomplished through scenes from his past, or we may examine the pressures he is put under that tempted him to the dark side. The story might explore the terrible conditions he endured that shaped his philosophy. This justification doesn't excuse his evil choices, but it does illuminate the point where he went wrong, where he made his mistake. Very often, the point of redemption creates a similar situation, only this time the hero makes the correct choice to start his upward journey.
Similarly, there is often a petitioner, someone who knows him; perhaps someone who he is attached to who comes to him in the throes of his evil and admonishes him to make better choices. This person is always rejected early on in the story, although the words said here may be something he recalls during his redemption sequence that creates that moment of clarity where he decides to change his ways.
For Scrooge, the mission of the Ghost of Christmas Past is to show Scrooge where he began to value money over human interaction through his childhood.
Confrontation: The redemption process very often happens in the midst of the hero plotting his greatest atrocity, while he's in the very act of evil for which we all revile him.
Sometimes, it is at the moment that he is at his worst that the hero is confronted with someone doing something good and it causes him to doubt his perspective and change his outlook on life. This may come when his plan has nearly succeeded, and yet people remain good in spite of it, or it may be when his plan has catastrophically failed and he has been caught in the midst of it, yet people still show him mercy.
For example, Scrooge is shown the gratitude of Bob Cratchett, offering a toast to Scrooge as the supplier of the Christmas dinner, despite his wife's hesitation, and Bob's poor circumstances.
Alternatively, the hero may get a glimpse of the emptiness of his future, often by looking at the hollow "success" of someone else like himself. This undoubtedly happened to Scrooge with Christmas Future, but also in the form of Marley's ghost as well.
Transformation: This is his statement of his changed nature. The opportunity to show that he has a different outlook. This is the moment where he makes the correct choice instead of his previous wrong one. Or it is where he confesses the inadequacy of his philosophy and replaces it with a more moral one.
When Scrooges calls down to the boy in the street on Christmas morning, a boy he would normally give no courtesy or respect to, we can see the change in his outlook.
Atonement: The story often gives the transformed hero a chance to make up in some small way for all the evil that he had done when he was a villain. This is the concept of Paying for his Crimes. The payment extracted is usually commensurate with the scope of the evil he has committed. For a particularly bad character this might be the ultimate self-sacrifice as when Darth Vader sacrifices himself to destroy the Emperor and save Luke.
It could also be a chance for the villain to use the evil capabilities that we saw demonstrated in the Presentation turned around and used to help rather than harm, for example when Scrooge uses his financial powers to help Bob Cratchett's family.
Projection: At the conclusion of the atonement, the story often gives us a glimpse of what the reformed hero's life will be like in the future. It may be a "Happily ever after" story, or the character may not be able to shake off their old ways entirely, though their core philosophy has been substantially altered.
Typically, redemption stories are not merely localized to only benefiting the redeemed, but are presented as larger-than-life transformations that benefit the society around them. Ebenezer Scrooge not only made his own life a happier one, but also served as an example to others in his vocation.
It is also possible that the characters are living out some portion of their own redemption story, which serves as a motivation for their own actions in another hero's larger tale.
Examples: A Christmas Carol, Darth Vader in Return of the Jedi, Vindicator Maraad in Warlords of Draenor, Mr. Reese, Mr Finch, and Det. Fusco in Person of Interest, Boromir in The Lord of the Rings, Tony Stark, Jean Valjean in Les Miserables, Snape in Deathly Hallows et al., Eustace in Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Angel and Spike in Angel, Eliot Spencer in Leverage, Maj. Houlihan and Maj. Winchester in MASH.
Monday, April 11, 2016
Friday, April 1, 2016
Story Types: Enlightenment
Definition:
An Enlightenment story type starts from a place of confusion and misunderstanding. By exploring, investigating, conversing the heroes eventually gain wisdom, dispel confusion, and attain enlightenment, often leaving the characters better off than when they started.
The heroes often start out with an incomplete or incorrect pictures and may proceed to make bad decisions, which will make things worse for everyone else, and may increase their own confusion. After their initial missteps, the heroes begin to put together the pieces, and may even become alarmed at how wrong they were initially and how far their confusion has spread to others. This alarm may lead them to impulsive actions and additional poor decisions, causing fresh confusion to be injected into the situation with new characters drawn into the net. This cycle may repeat, each time leading to greater distress.
Eventually, often as a result of a heroic act or event facilitated by diligence and patience, or brilliant insight, or a benevolent act such as forgiveness, the heroes will reach an epiphany and begin to see the truth and dispel the confusion. With clearer understanding of the confusion, the heroes then set about correcting all the difficulty that they caused.
This epiphany also may confer an insight into deeper truths about their lives. Things that they didn't realize were out of balance in their lives may suddenly become much better as deeper mysteries are brought to light. The lives of the characters don't merely return to the status quo before the misunderstanding, but will actually improve and achieve a higher state of happiness, a higher state of enlightenment.
Modern comedies, particularly romantic comedies, often are Enlightenment stories. The humor springs from purposeful misunderstanding and the ridiculous situations that arise from it. Shakespeare's comedies were full of disguise and hidden or mistaken identity which is ultimately revealed after a point has been made and a lesson has been learned.
Unexpectedly, detective and mystery stories often fall into this type as well. The detective enters a scene marred by confusion and disarray. Through patience and inquiry, but not without some early missteps and red herrings, the hero eventually is able to untangle the confusion and restore society to order.
Components:
Heroes: Unlike other story types that focus on a single protagonist, Enlightenment stories often have multiple protagonists creating intertwined webs of confusion. For Comedies, that could be the two partners in a relationship, or multiple relationships that are often intertwined. For mysteries, there could be the detective and the victim, or the detective and the villain, or the detective and his foil, or the detective an his agent: creating and dispelling the darkness.
Setting: The setting is often unusual in some way; often in a way that increases the chance of misunderstanding. The heroes may initially have difficulty navigating through the setting long before they have any hope of addressing the misunderstanding.
Expect green worlds and fantasy-like environments where rules are turned on their heads and normal societal conventions don't apply. Servants become equal to their masters, and strict rules of behavior are abandoned. This may actually facilitate an understanding that could never be achieved if social niceties were to be preserved. For modern stories, look for tropical resorts, cruise ships, or larger-than-life big cities. Alternatively, the fantasy world could be a dark, film-noir setting, or could cross class boundaries either to glamorous high society, or a remote subsistence existence.
Conflict and Development: the conflict is often simple, initially, but becomes exponentially more complicated as the story progresses. This may be as a result of the characters' misguided efforts to extricate themselves from the situation, or it could be that the apparently superficial problem is revealed to be increasingly complex as the story develops.
Conflicts revolve around balance; something is out of balance in the natural or social order and must be put right. There is a sense that the problem that the main characters are struggling with is representative of a larger assault on society. The problem may even have grown out of a inherent social problem; the solution will not only restore the heroes but also repair the larger breech as well. In some stories, the heroes may not be fully restored but the restoration of the larger societal issue justifies their actions.
Resolution: Resolutions are often sudden and sometimes come from an unexpected quarter. The problem may become so intricate that it appears impossible to resolve, until some master-stroke untangles it. However, the resolution usually grows from seeds planted earlier in the story. The solution often grows from the information gathered along the way
With enlightenment stories, the resolution can be quite abrupt. Once the solution is gained, there is little left to develop, often because the most satisfying solutions bring all the threads together into one comprehensive resolution, after which there is little left to discuss.
On the other hand, the enlightenment resolution may often precede a physical resolution, which will take on the characteristics of a Struggle story type. This does not convert the entire story to a struggle.
Examples:
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a classic enlightenment story.
Rather than following a single heroic protagonist, multiple heroes are caught in an increasing web of confusion, including the two young couples, Titania and Oberon, and Theseus and Hippolyta. While each of these couples don't have equal stature in the story, they each become entangled in some way and require extrication.
The setting, in typical fashion, starts in ancient Greece, and from there moves into a greenworld of the enchanted forest, the realm of faeries. And, as Helena remarks, undergoes the typical casting aside of normal social rules: "Run where you will, the story will be changed: Apollo flees and Daphne holds the chase. The dove pursues the griffin." Helena herself realizes that everything has been turned upside down. And this is true even for the faeries, with Oberon and Titania at odds with each other and servant Puck uses his enchantment on Queen Titania showing an inversion of the regal hierarchy.
The conflict seems simple at the beginning, a typical love triangle where a girl loves a boy who loves someone else. But as Puck becomes involved, we see these complications multiply. Even as he ostensibly tries to "correct" the situation, he makes things worse.
The resolution is also typically abrupt, with Puck fixing it all, and Theseus giving approval. The result is marriages all round the next day. What cupid has put wrong, Oberon can put right, and what Athenian law has allowed, Athenian law in the form of Theseus can correct.
At the end of the story, we return to Athens and through the wedding celebration see that everything has been put right not only with our own society but also that of Faerie.
Move over, Darling. Doris Day, James Garner. Doris Day, as Mrs. Arden is lost at sea when her plane crashes. After 5 years on a deserted island, she is rescued by the navy and returns to Los Angeles to discover that her husband has just re-married. He finds it awkward to tell his new bride the news.
Mr Arden achieves his own confusion in the juxtaposition of his happiness at seeing his lost wife, with his hesitance of causing pain and unhappiness to his new wife, a person for whom he has genuine feelings. The bride on the night of her honeymoon is confused in turn by her new husband's sudden aloofness. In Mr. Arden's hesitance to hurt anyone, he instead makes everything much worse for everyone.
Later, Mrs. Arden reveals that she wasn't entirely alone on that deserted island, but there was a man there with her. Then, things begin to get complicated. And there's a car chase.
Twelfth Night. Viola is shipwrecked on a desolate shore, believing her twin brother to have been killed in the crash. Disguising herself as a man, she is employed by the local Duke to woo the Lady Olivia, who falls in love with Viola instead. Later, her brother, rescued by a sailor, reappears to take Viola's place as the object of Olivia's affections, leaving her free to return to her true persona and wed the duke.
"That's what I like about you, Roger. No matter what calamity befalls your fellow man, you're still able to laugh about it."
"Eat... You need strength to suffer."
An Enlightenment story type starts from a place of confusion and misunderstanding. By exploring, investigating, conversing the heroes eventually gain wisdom, dispel confusion, and attain enlightenment, often leaving the characters better off than when they started.
The heroes often start out with an incomplete or incorrect pictures and may proceed to make bad decisions, which will make things worse for everyone else, and may increase their own confusion. After their initial missteps, the heroes begin to put together the pieces, and may even become alarmed at how wrong they were initially and how far their confusion has spread to others. This alarm may lead them to impulsive actions and additional poor decisions, causing fresh confusion to be injected into the situation with new characters drawn into the net. This cycle may repeat, each time leading to greater distress.
Eventually, often as a result of a heroic act or event facilitated by diligence and patience, or brilliant insight, or a benevolent act such as forgiveness, the heroes will reach an epiphany and begin to see the truth and dispel the confusion. With clearer understanding of the confusion, the heroes then set about correcting all the difficulty that they caused.
This epiphany also may confer an insight into deeper truths about their lives. Things that they didn't realize were out of balance in their lives may suddenly become much better as deeper mysteries are brought to light. The lives of the characters don't merely return to the status quo before the misunderstanding, but will actually improve and achieve a higher state of happiness, a higher state of enlightenment.
Modern comedies, particularly romantic comedies, often are Enlightenment stories. The humor springs from purposeful misunderstanding and the ridiculous situations that arise from it. Shakespeare's comedies were full of disguise and hidden or mistaken identity which is ultimately revealed after a point has been made and a lesson has been learned.
Unexpectedly, detective and mystery stories often fall into this type as well. The detective enters a scene marred by confusion and disarray. Through patience and inquiry, but not without some early missteps and red herrings, the hero eventually is able to untangle the confusion and restore society to order.
Components:
Heroes: Unlike other story types that focus on a single protagonist, Enlightenment stories often have multiple protagonists creating intertwined webs of confusion. For Comedies, that could be the two partners in a relationship, or multiple relationships that are often intertwined. For mysteries, there could be the detective and the victim, or the detective and the villain, or the detective and his foil, or the detective an his agent: creating and dispelling the darkness.
Setting: The setting is often unusual in some way; often in a way that increases the chance of misunderstanding. The heroes may initially have difficulty navigating through the setting long before they have any hope of addressing the misunderstanding.
Expect green worlds and fantasy-like environments where rules are turned on their heads and normal societal conventions don't apply. Servants become equal to their masters, and strict rules of behavior are abandoned. This may actually facilitate an understanding that could never be achieved if social niceties were to be preserved. For modern stories, look for tropical resorts, cruise ships, or larger-than-life big cities. Alternatively, the fantasy world could be a dark, film-noir setting, or could cross class boundaries either to glamorous high society, or a remote subsistence existence.
Conflict and Development: the conflict is often simple, initially, but becomes exponentially more complicated as the story progresses. This may be as a result of the characters' misguided efforts to extricate themselves from the situation, or it could be that the apparently superficial problem is revealed to be increasingly complex as the story develops.
Conflicts revolve around balance; something is out of balance in the natural or social order and must be put right. There is a sense that the problem that the main characters are struggling with is representative of a larger assault on society. The problem may even have grown out of a inherent social problem; the solution will not only restore the heroes but also repair the larger breech as well. In some stories, the heroes may not be fully restored but the restoration of the larger societal issue justifies their actions.
Resolution: Resolutions are often sudden and sometimes come from an unexpected quarter. The problem may become so intricate that it appears impossible to resolve, until some master-stroke untangles it. However, the resolution usually grows from seeds planted earlier in the story. The solution often grows from the information gathered along the way
With enlightenment stories, the resolution can be quite abrupt. Once the solution is gained, there is little left to develop, often because the most satisfying solutions bring all the threads together into one comprehensive resolution, after which there is little left to discuss.
On the other hand, the enlightenment resolution may often precede a physical resolution, which will take on the characteristics of a Struggle story type. This does not convert the entire story to a struggle.
Examples:
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a classic enlightenment story.
Rather than following a single heroic protagonist, multiple heroes are caught in an increasing web of confusion, including the two young couples, Titania and Oberon, and Theseus and Hippolyta. While each of these couples don't have equal stature in the story, they each become entangled in some way and require extrication.
The setting, in typical fashion, starts in ancient Greece, and from there moves into a greenworld of the enchanted forest, the realm of faeries. And, as Helena remarks, undergoes the typical casting aside of normal social rules: "Run where you will, the story will be changed: Apollo flees and Daphne holds the chase. The dove pursues the griffin." Helena herself realizes that everything has been turned upside down. And this is true even for the faeries, with Oberon and Titania at odds with each other and servant Puck uses his enchantment on Queen Titania showing an inversion of the regal hierarchy.
The conflict seems simple at the beginning, a typical love triangle where a girl loves a boy who loves someone else. But as Puck becomes involved, we see these complications multiply. Even as he ostensibly tries to "correct" the situation, he makes things worse.
Oberon to Puck: This is thy negligence!But even as we see the young lovers caught up in Puck's mischief, we also see the unnatural authority that a father has over his daughter, and we see the struggles between the king and queen of Faerie, each of which has a hand in the current conflict.
The resolution is also typically abrupt, with Puck fixing it all, and Theseus giving approval. The result is marriages all round the next day. What cupid has put wrong, Oberon can put right, and what Athenian law has allowed, Athenian law in the form of Theseus can correct.
At the end of the story, we return to Athens and through the wedding celebration see that everything has been put right not only with our own society but also that of Faerie.
Move over, Darling. Doris Day, James Garner. Doris Day, as Mrs. Arden is lost at sea when her plane crashes. After 5 years on a deserted island, she is rescued by the navy and returns to Los Angeles to discover that her husband has just re-married. He finds it awkward to tell his new bride the news.
After being on a deserted island for 5 years, Mrs Arden is initially confused by the society she returns to, from the cost of a pay phone, to meeting her own children who don't recognize her, to finding that her husband has re-married. On top of all this, her husband seems to have a great deal of trouble informing his new bride that she really hasn't married him as she thought she had. This leaves Mrs Arden in even greater confusion, with suspicions that her husband doesn't really love her any longer.
Mr. Arden: Look, I'll explain. It's really a very simple situation. You see, my wife... my bride..."
Mrs. Arden: What my husband is trying to tell you is that he has two wives"
Manager: I don't care if he has 10 wives. While he is in this hotel, he will have only one wife: his first wife. His second wife?
Mr Arden: You're confused.
Manager: Yes!
Mr Arden: Look I can explain...
Mrs Arden: You do that, darling... First to him, and then to her.
Mr Arden achieves his own confusion in the juxtaposition of his happiness at seeing his lost wife, with his hesitance of causing pain and unhappiness to his new wife, a person for whom he has genuine feelings. The bride on the night of her honeymoon is confused in turn by her new husband's sudden aloofness. In Mr. Arden's hesitance to hurt anyone, he instead makes everything much worse for everyone.
Later, Mrs. Arden reveals that she wasn't entirely alone on that deserted island, but there was a man there with her. Then, things begin to get complicated. And there's a car chase.
Twelfth Night. Viola is shipwrecked on a desolate shore, believing her twin brother to have been killed in the crash. Disguising herself as a man, she is employed by the local Duke to woo the Lady Olivia, who falls in love with Viola instead. Later, her brother, rescued by a sailor, reappears to take Viola's place as the object of Olivia's affections, leaving her free to return to her true persona and wed the duke.
Viola: My master loves her dearly,
And I, poor monster, fond as much on him,And she, mistaken, seems to dote on me.What will become of this?
...
“O time, thou must untangle this, not I.
It is too hard a knot for me t'untie.”
"That's what I like about you, Roger. No matter what calamity befalls your fellow man, you're still able to laugh about it."
"Eat... You need strength to suffer."
Story Types: The Struggle and Overcome the Monster
Definition The Struggle story type centers around the conflict between two or more opposing sides. The sides could be involved in an open conflict where they are directly attacking each other, such as is found in a war movie, or they could be in competition for a similar objective, like a sports story. Similarly, the opposing sides could be entire football teams or armies, or each side could consist of a single individual, mono-a-mono. Wherever it is Us vs Them, or Me vs You, you are looking at a struggle.
When the antagonist in the struggle is something outsized in power, something that cannot be communicated with, something irrational and whose nature and motivations cannot be changed, then the story type becomes Overcome the Monster. A monster can be many things, both figurative and literal. The monster might be addiction, or fear, or memories from childhood. It could be an impersonal government, or an evil serial killer, or it could be a force of nature, like a hurricane or a volcano.
Component
The hero is the central point of identification for most stories, but identification is particularly powerful in the struggle. There is also a primary role for a central antagonist, someone actively working against the efforts of the hero. An antagonist can be found in other types, but is not required in a Rags to Riches or Redemption story, for example. Nor does the presence of an antagonist automatically make the story type a Stuggle. Resolution of the primary conflict between opposing sides must be the main objective of the story.
As compared to Overcoming the Monster, the Struggle can be more personal, more realistic. It is also possible for a struggle to end in ways other than the opponent's ultimate defeat. Monsters must be overcome, but antagonists can be turned into allies, compromises can be struck, contests can end with the opponent living and growing to return next basketball season. The Stuggle is more universal and allows for more possible resolutions. The hero may even attain a better understanding of a situation and unilaterally end the conflict on her own terms.
The Monster, on the other hand, is usually more one-dimensional. By definition, it cannot be reasoned with, or bargained with, or lived with. It must be overcome. In this sense, this story type usually allows for only one form of resolution, and must end with the defeat of the monster. If the monster is not defeated, the story type might well change to Tragedy.
Because of its realism, the Struggle allows for an extended development that gives the author space to explore the ramifications of the struggle. The story may investigate the origins of the conflict, and the implications for its resolution. Expect the story to explore multiple solutions, and experience failed attempts at resolution before the struggle finally ends. It's realism allows the Struggle to operate on many power levels, including the very personal.
By contrast, the Monster is usually larger than life, and overcoming it is an all-consuming task. Monsters don't allow for gradations of resolution; if the monster is not overcome, then the story is not resolved. Outcomes are typically more extreme, with either the hero or the monster being utterly destroyed. Overcome the Monster stories typically become epic struggles, referencing deep and basic truths like the right to exist, principles of freedom and self-determination. The more fundamental a challenged right, the greater and more horrific the monster necessary to represent it.
Monsters can easily be metaphorical. For example, bigotry or racism could be the monster, or deception or abuse - abstract concepts that must be defeated just as much as physical dangers.
Identifiers
A Struggle is typically between balanced, rational actors. That is, each side is generally portrayed as acting reasonably and while there can certainly be imbalances in power levels, with the underdog fight being unusually compelling, the two sides are generally operating by the same rules, and with the same level of resources. Where the disparity becomes too great, or one of the sides begins to act irrationally and unreasonably, the story type becomes Overcome the Monster.
In contrast, Overcoming the Monster involves things that are not equal and cannot be reasoned with. Monsters are driven by motivations that cannot be assailed by appeals to compassion or human emotion or logic. A Monster, by definition, is beyond those things. Instead, it is implacable, twisted by evil or hunger or rage.
So when High King Peter fights King Miraz, as Caspian's army has been fighting Miraz' army throughout Prince Caspian, the story type is a struggle. Although it appears lopsided, with the true Narnians overmatched by the disciplined army of Miraz, Peter defeats Miraz in what was basically a fair fight, and Miraz was willing to accept the parley of Edmund and consider the proposal. For all his faults, Miraz is not a monster.
Contrast this with The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, where the four children are fighting against the evil and sadistic white witch of the title and have little with which to combat the power of the witch's wand to turn people to stone. The story type of this latter book is basically Overcoming the Monster.
Other Examples
Classic examples of Overcoming the Monster:
Beowulf, Dracula, Frankenstein, David and Goliath, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Star Wars, The Mummy, Criminal Minds, most horror films, most catastrophe movies, most alien invasions stories
Examples of Struggle
David and Saul, Jacob and Esau, Hoosiers and most sports team movies, Prince Caspian, The Phantom Menace, Person of Interest, Patton, Band of Brothers, Deadpool, A Few Good Men, Perry Mason and many courtroom dramas, Patton and many war movies
When the antagonist in the struggle is something outsized in power, something that cannot be communicated with, something irrational and whose nature and motivations cannot be changed, then the story type becomes Overcome the Monster. A monster can be many things, both figurative and literal. The monster might be addiction, or fear, or memories from childhood. It could be an impersonal government, or an evil serial killer, or it could be a force of nature, like a hurricane or a volcano.
Component
The hero is the central point of identification for most stories, but identification is particularly powerful in the struggle. There is also a primary role for a central antagonist, someone actively working against the efforts of the hero. An antagonist can be found in other types, but is not required in a Rags to Riches or Redemption story, for example. Nor does the presence of an antagonist automatically make the story type a Stuggle. Resolution of the primary conflict between opposing sides must be the main objective of the story.
As compared to Overcoming the Monster, the Struggle can be more personal, more realistic. It is also possible for a struggle to end in ways other than the opponent's ultimate defeat. Monsters must be overcome, but antagonists can be turned into allies, compromises can be struck, contests can end with the opponent living and growing to return next basketball season. The Stuggle is more universal and allows for more possible resolutions. The hero may even attain a better understanding of a situation and unilaterally end the conflict on her own terms.
The Monster, on the other hand, is usually more one-dimensional. By definition, it cannot be reasoned with, or bargained with, or lived with. It must be overcome. In this sense, this story type usually allows for only one form of resolution, and must end with the defeat of the monster. If the monster is not defeated, the story type might well change to Tragedy.
Because of its realism, the Struggle allows for an extended development that gives the author space to explore the ramifications of the struggle. The story may investigate the origins of the conflict, and the implications for its resolution. Expect the story to explore multiple solutions, and experience failed attempts at resolution before the struggle finally ends. It's realism allows the Struggle to operate on many power levels, including the very personal.
By contrast, the Monster is usually larger than life, and overcoming it is an all-consuming task. Monsters don't allow for gradations of resolution; if the monster is not overcome, then the story is not resolved. Outcomes are typically more extreme, with either the hero or the monster being utterly destroyed. Overcome the Monster stories typically become epic struggles, referencing deep and basic truths like the right to exist, principles of freedom and self-determination. The more fundamental a challenged right, the greater and more horrific the monster necessary to represent it.
Monsters can easily be metaphorical. For example, bigotry or racism could be the monster, or deception or abuse - abstract concepts that must be defeated just as much as physical dangers.
Identifiers
A Struggle is typically between balanced, rational actors. That is, each side is generally portrayed as acting reasonably and while there can certainly be imbalances in power levels, with the underdog fight being unusually compelling, the two sides are generally operating by the same rules, and with the same level of resources. Where the disparity becomes too great, or one of the sides begins to act irrationally and unreasonably, the story type becomes Overcome the Monster.
In contrast, Overcoming the Monster involves things that are not equal and cannot be reasoned with. Monsters are driven by motivations that cannot be assailed by appeals to compassion or human emotion or logic. A Monster, by definition, is beyond those things. Instead, it is implacable, twisted by evil or hunger or rage.
So when High King Peter fights King Miraz, as Caspian's army has been fighting Miraz' army throughout Prince Caspian, the story type is a struggle. Although it appears lopsided, with the true Narnians overmatched by the disciplined army of Miraz, Peter defeats Miraz in what was basically a fair fight, and Miraz was willing to accept the parley of Edmund and consider the proposal. For all his faults, Miraz is not a monster.
Contrast this with The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, where the four children are fighting against the evil and sadistic white witch of the title and have little with which to combat the power of the witch's wand to turn people to stone. The story type of this latter book is basically Overcoming the Monster.
Other Examples
Classic examples of Overcoming the Monster:
Beowulf, Dracula, Frankenstein, David and Goliath, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Star Wars, The Mummy, Criminal Minds, most horror films, most catastrophe movies, most alien invasions stories
Examples of Struggle
David and Saul, Jacob and Esau, Hoosiers and most sports team movies, Prince Caspian, The Phantom Menace, Person of Interest, Patton, Band of Brothers, Deadpool, A Few Good Men, Perry Mason and many courtroom dramas, Patton and many war movies
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