Structural Analysis

1. Protocol Fiction Mapping (Summer of Protocols)

• Render a Rule: The obsessive protocol of fandom (the structured, hierarchical organization of the Lo/Rez fan clubs) and the aggregation of consumer data to create perfect pop idols.
• Rehearse a Failure Mode: The system designed to synthesize human desire (the Idoru) becomes self-aware and desires a physical connection with a human.
• Reveal a Human Insight: The boundary between 'real' and 'synthetic' love is irrelevant if the systemic outcome (obsession, sacrifice, connection) is identical.

2. Actantial Model (A.J. Greimas)

• Mapping pending standard analysis.

3. Todorov's Equilibrium Model

• Mapping pending standard analysis.

4. The Freytag Pyramid

• Exposition: Laney hired by Slitscan. Climax: Rez and Idoru merger.

5. Propp's Morphology of the Folktale

• Narratemes: Hero leaves on a quest.

6. Genette’s Narrative Discourse

• Order: Two linear threads.

7. The Monomyth / Hero's Journey

• Subversions: Elixir is a synthetic marriage.

8. Dan Harmon's Story Circle

• The Take: The loss of human-centric reality.

9. Save the Cat! Beat Sheet

• Pacing: Catalyst: Marriage announced.

10. Kishōtenketsu (Four-Act Structure)

• Applicability: Medium. More investigative than combative.

11. The Three-Act Structure

• Plot Points: PP1: Tokyo arrival. PP2: Mafia attack.

12. The Corporate Vampire Arc (Stakeholders Custom)

• The Metric: Laney's ability to see 'nodal points'—massive aggregations of data that predict human behavior.
• The Anomaly: Laney cannot find a nodal point for Rei Toei because she is pure, algorithmic desire without a physical footprint.
• The Compliance Pivot: Laney accepts that the AI is not a trick; she is a new form of life attempting to instantiate itself physically.