Character and Self - It's all in the "Spine."

char·ac·ter   [kar-ik-ter] noun

1. the aggregate of features and traits that form the individualnature of some person or thing.
2. moral or ethical quality: a man of fine, honorable character.

self   noun

1. a person or thing referred to with respect to completeindividuality: one's own self.
2. a person's nature, character
3. Philosophy .
  a. the ego; that which knows, remembers, desires, suffers.
  b. the uniting principle, as a soul, underlying all subjective experience.

So, as a storyteller, I'm not at a believer of the so-called "multiple self" (as some of my cohorts are calling in in their blogs.)  I mean, OF COURSE every character in any story might behave differently depending on the circumstances, depending on who they are with, and depending on their age and gathered experience and so on.  But these are all different aspects of one core, authentic "self." 

In a directing class I took in college, my professor taught us to identify a "character spine." This spine is a device that actor uses to interpret a character (role.) They use this spine (a character's life-need) to design the role. It like a hanger which all the character's actions hand off of, and this spine relates to the film's spine (theme).  So the spine is the basis for all storytelling.  

The "The Hero's Journey," by Joseph Campbell, outlines the "spine" for all stories and all heroes.  It's the basis for all religious stories and mythology, from Adam and Eve to Iron Man.  It's the one and only way human's have come to understand themselves and their stories.

Now, I'm wondering if any of you (my blog-mates) really believe in a "multiple self" (not counting, like...multiple personality disorder). I tend to believe that just about all of anybody's actions can be interpreted in reference to a single spine, a single life need, although it may be unconscious.   The spine/need may show itself differently in different situations, and so the character/actor may behave differently.  It may be hidden by all sorts of masks....but underneath there is a single "need"... a self whose striving drives the story.

Without a single "self" there"s no story.  And all we have to understand ourselves...to understand ANYTHING...is stories.  Am I wrong?