Understanding this template is a priority for story or screenwriters. This is the template you must master if you are to succeed in the craft.
[The terminology is most often metaphoric and applies to all successful stories and screenplays, from The Godfather (1972) to Brokeback Mountain (2006) to Annie Hall (1977) to Lord of the Rings (2003) to Drugstore Cowboy (1989) to Thelma and Louise (1991) to Apocaplyse Now (1979)].
THERE IS ONLY ONE STORY
THE HERO'S JOURNEY:
a) Attempts to tap into unconscious expectations the audience has regarding what a story is and how it should be told.
b) Gives the writer more structural elements than simply three or four acts, plot points, mid point and so on.
c) Gives you a tangible process for building and releasing dissonance (establishing and achieving catharses, of which there are usually four).
d) Gives you a universal structural template upon which you can superimpose your situational story. This is why stories such as Alien (1979), Gladiator (2000), Midnight Cowboy (1969), American Beauty (1999), The Graduate (1967) and many others (all deconstructed at the URL below) appear to be different but are all constructed, almost sequence by sequence, in the same way.
and more...
[simply go to http://www.screenplay-structure.com/ or http://www.story-structure.org/ or http://www.heros-journey.info/ or http://www.monomyth.info/ for full details]
*****Inner Challenge*****
A vital part of the Hero's Ordinary Self is his (or her) Inner Challenge, which is often a deep psychological issue. In War of the Worlds (2005), Ray walks away from other workmen as they ask him favours - illustrating selfishness. In Dances with Wolves (1990), John Dunbar does not disagree that all Indians are "thieves and beggars." In The Truman Show (1998), we quickly learn that Truman is afraid of water. In Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), we learn that Indiana is afraid of snakes.
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Go to http://www.clickok.co.uk/index4.html for more info on the 188+ stage Hero's Journey....
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