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188 Stage Hero's Journey (Monomyth)- Every Great Hero Transforms Both Physically And Psychologically
The Hero's Journey (also known as the Monomyth) is the template upon which the vast majority of successful stories and Hollywood blockbusters are based upon. It is upon this structure that situations are superimposed. This is why stories such as Alien (1979), Gladiator (2000), Godfather (1972), American Beauty (1999), Annie Hall (1977) and many others (all deconstructed at www.clickok.co.uk/index4.html) appear to be different but are all constructed, almost sequence by sequence, in the same way.
The following blockbusters have all been structured around the Hero's Journey template: Titanic, 1997 - grossed over 0,000,000; Star Wars, 1977 - grossed over 0,000,000; Shrek 2, 2004 - grossed over 6,000,000; ET, 1982 - grossed over 4,000,000; Spiderman, 2002 - grossed over 2,000,000. So how come you don't know it inside out?
For a number of very valid reasons, if you want to write (and sell) successful stories, whether they're Hollywood blockbusters, Indie successes, novels or other story forms, you need to master the Hero's Journey in a very detailed way...
EVERY GREAT HERO TRANSFORMS BOTH PHYSICALLY AND PSYCHOLOGICALLY
Every Hero goes on a Journey, the purpose of which is to induce a Transformation. It is the undergoing of the Journey that gives the Hero the capacity to conquer challenges that were previously unconquerable.
The Transformation is both psychological and physical. You must pull your Hero through the Journey and incrementally manage both forms of Transformation.
The Psychological Transformation manifests itself in a change of behaviour, attitudes and beliefs. The Hero behaves one way at the beginning of the movie and another way at the end of the movie. In the beginning of Thelma and Louise (1991), Louise is in charge. At the end of the movie, Thelma is in charge.
The Physical Transformation is most often expressed by (literal or symbolic, for example the colour red) physical damage that, as it repairs, represents the Hero's Transmogrification. The Hero has one physical form at the beginning of the movie and another at the end of the movie. In The Godfather (1972), Capt. McCluskey punches Michael in the face. The physical healing mirrors Michael's psychological Transformation. Later, it is made explicit that Michael looks different (better), hardly recognisable from his Old Self.
The totality of the Hero's Transformation is illustrated using tools such as new clothing and a new name. In Dances with Wolves (1990), John Dunbar is dressed one way at the beginning of the movie and another way at the end of it. He has one name at the beginning of the movie and another at the end of it.
Learn more
WRITE THAT SCREENPLAY!
The Complete 188 stage Heros Journey and other story structure templates can be found at http://www.clickok.co.uk/
188 stages of the Hero's Journey can also be reached from http://www.heros-journey.info/
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Kal Bishop, MBA
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