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: ANOTHER WORLD
Before the Hero begins his or her Journey and Transformation, it is not unusual for him (or her) to arrive from Another World. This is before he or she is encountered in the Ordinary World and helps explain the Hero's Fish out of Water status even in the Ordinary World.
In A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), we meet Blanche as she gets off the train and enters Stanley's World.
In The Quiet Man (1952), we meet Sean as he gets off the train in Ireland.
In The Godfather (1972), we meet Michael as he arrives in the Don's World.
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Go to http://www.clickok.co.uk/index4.html for more info on the 510+ stage Hero's Journey....
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