The three act structure, 7 plot types and 5 conflicts all
make it easier to design and structure a narrative.
The Hero’s Journey
Joseph Campbell – The hero with a thousand faces
In todays lesson we learnt about 'The Heroes Journey', another basic plot structure that was adapted from Joseph Campbells book 'The Hero with a Thousand Faces', and like the others can be applied to many existing narratives.
Vladimir Propp's Narrative Theory
Another famous narrative theory belongs to Vladimir Propp. His theory suggests that the characters in a story can all be broken down in to one of seven broad character types or "spheres":
Rather than being a theory of how a story should be written, Propp simply makes note of a pattern, though as my lecturer put it, it is best to know these models as references when writing our own stories, and more notably, that if one knows the rules, then they have the knowledge to create something that breaks them.
In todays lesson we learnt about 'The Heroes Journey', another basic plot structure that was adapted from Joseph Campbells book 'The Hero with a Thousand Faces', and like the others can be applied to many existing narratives.
"A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man."The Heroes Journey is broken down into three parts, Departure, Initiation, and Return. Each of these parts have different stages, and there are 17 in total:
Departure· The Call to Adventure· Refusal of the Call· Supernatural Aid· The Crossing of the first Threshold· Belly of the WhaleInitiation· The Road of Trials· The Meeting with the Goddess· Woman as Temptress· Atonement with the Father· Apotheosis· The Ultimate BoonReturn· Refusal of the Return· The Magic Flight· Rescue from Without· The Crossing of the Return Threshold· Master of Two Worlds· Freedom to Live
Vladimir Propp's Narrative Theory
Another famous narrative theory belongs to Vladimir Propp. His theory suggests that the characters in a story can all be broken down in to one of seven broad character types or "spheres":
1.
The Hero - the one who undertakes the quest
2. The
False Hero - takes credit for the heroes
actions, tries to marry the princess
3. The
Villain - struggles against the hero
4.
The Helper - helps the hero in their quest
5. The
Donor - prepares the hero for their quest
6. The
Princess - the object of desire for the
hero, often unobtainable until the end of the story
7. The
Dispatcher - the one who sends the hero
on their quest
Rather than being a theory of how a story should be written, Propp simply makes note of a pattern, though as my lecturer put it, it is best to know these models as references when writing our own stories, and more notably, that if one knows the rules, then they have the knowledge to create something that breaks them.
No comments:
Post a Comment