
The Hero's Journey: Hollywood's Formula, Our Illusions, and the Need for Real Change
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The Monomyth/Hero's Journey: A prevalent story structure where a protagonist in an ordinary world faces an inciting incident, leading to a quest, encounters with mentors, a midpoint of no return, conflicts with antagonists, a low point, a transformation, and a return home with a changed life philosophy.
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Aristotle's Influence: The three-act structure originates from Aristotle's Poetics, defining elements like 'reversal of the Situation' and 'recognition'. Gustav Freytag further developed this into a pyramid diagram (exposition, rising action, climax, resolution).
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Hollywood's Reliance on Formula: Screenwriters follow these structures for box-office success, supported by a story-structure industry with gurus like Robert McKee and Christopher Vogler (who popularized Joseph Campbell's "hero's journey").
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Concealment of the Formula: While many films follow this structure, its success relies on being hidden. The inciting incident must feel surprising and organic.
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Critiques of Traditional Structure:
- It can be subtly conservative.
- It may reinforce conformity by acting as a safety valve.
- It might offer a fantasy of change rather than actual change.
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The Monomyth vs. the Human Condition: The Hollywood formula aims for redemption and restoration of normality, while the deeper monomyth captures the human condition, where protagonists face trials for what they need, not what they want.
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The Inciting Incident as a Worst Fear: Craig Mazin says the inciting incident is the protagonist's worst fear, forcing them to confront a suppressed side of their personality (Jung's Shadow).
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The Illusion of Agency: We may feel like puppets in a predetermined plot, influenced by media, advertising, and societal structures.
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Storytelling as Infantilization: Being told a story can suspend critical faculties and be covertly persuasive.
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The Danger of Imposing Meaning: Imposing meaning on life events can prevent proactive change and responsibility.
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Alternative Story Structures:
- Rejecting the "masculo-sexual" three-act structure.
- Exploring patterns found in nature (fractals, meanders, networks).
- Focusing on "containers" (Le Guin) to describe what people actually do and feel.
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Art Reflecting Fractured Times: Contemporary art should reflect the fractured nature of reality and adapt to shorter attention spans.
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Modernism's Rejection of Illusion: Modernist literature rejected the smooth illusions of 19th-century fiction, grappling with the dislocations of postwar modernity.
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The Monomyth and Continuity: The monomyth dramatizes change but also embodies continuity.
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Commercial Forces Stretching the Monomyth: Franchises and sequels extend stories for revenue, potentially distorting the original structure.
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The Need for Hope: Stories should offer hope and a model of what's worth living for.