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]
*****Curse of the Wizened One*****
Sponsors. Important people, who may have encouraged the Hero's venture, may greet him. This is an audience with the Elders.
Curse of the Wizened One. The Hero, having gained an Expansion of Consciousness, is not easily understood by Ordinary Men. He (or she) may be ridiculed or disowned. In Dances with Wolves (1990), the soldiers don't like and understand why John has "turned injun.".
Elevated Status. Whether appreciated or not, incarcerated or not, the Hero is given some sort of status. Even his jailors appreciate that his presence is a gift or a curse. He is the talk of the Township.
His Word is Law. The returned Hero, even a mysterious and unknown entity, may be recognised as one that has traversed the far corners of the unknown and his (or her) word is given gravity.
Preparation. It is known (if not believed) that engagement with a Greater Antagonism is imminent, hence preparations are not uncommon.
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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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