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]
HERO'S JOURNEY TIP OF THE DAY: THREE ACTS
There is a tendency for writers to divide their stories into three acts. If that is valid at all, then the division should be as follows (the 188 stage Hero's Journey explains each process in detail):
First, the Hero is pushed out of his (or her) Ordinary World into a New World. In The Devil Wears Prada (2006), Andy is pushed straight from college into the fashion magazine world.
Second, the Hero's Old Self gradually dissolves away until he (or she) becomes a de jure and de facto member of the New World and a New Self. In The Devil Wears Prada (2006), Andy becomes Miranda's right-hand woman and replaces Emily to go to Paris.
Third, the Hero is pushed out of the New World and away from the New Self and towards a confrontation with challenges or antagonisms until he (or she) becomes a Master of the Two Worlds and Selves. In The Devil Wears Prada (2006), Andy witnesses Miranda's sacrifices and decides she doesn't want that life, motivating her to release herself.
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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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