Ran across this post from the blog What's In My Manvelope, hosted by John T.

Trigonis whose About page reads: "Published poet, indie filmmaker, & freelance
professor by day … & pretty much the same things by night." In the post, Trigonis
discusses writing and rewriting (six drafts) his current script project "A Beautiful
Unlife." He also discusses various screenwriting books he's read and concludes this:
Write from the soul of your story and you’ll never go wrong. And in terms of books,
the only book every screenwriter needs to fully digest is one that’ll teach you nothing
about screenwriting but everything about story (no, not Aristotle’s Poetics, although
it comes in at a close second!) It’s Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand
Faces.Every character goes on the same journey, from King Oedipus to Luke
Skywalker, from Bill and Ted to Basil in A Beautiful Unlife. It’s a pretty safe bet that
this model is never going to change.
Then provides this lovely visual summary of The Hero's Journey

As longtime readers of this blog know, I'm a big fan of Joseph Campbell. I first
discovered his work as an undergraduate at the University of Virginia as I studied
mythology in depth as part of my honors program in religious studies. That's why
when I first broke in as a screenwriter, I was so surprised to find "The Hero With a
Thousand Faces" in the offices of Hollywood movie execs and producers: What in the
world were these people doing with an academic book? Then I discovered that
George Lucas had suggested he had been inspired in part by Campbell's work when
he wrote the original Star Wars.

Indeed it's not just Star Wars: A New Hope which seems to hew closely to The Hero's
Journey. How about The Matrix? Here is a comparison of the two movies per
Campbell's theories from the site Star Wars Origins:
Campbell Star Wars The Matrix
I: Departure
The call to adventure Princess Leia's message "Follow the white rabbit"
Refusal of the call Must help with the harvest Neo won't climb out
window
Supernatural aid Obi-wan rescues Luke from Trinity extracts the "bug"
sandpeople from Neo
Crossing the first Escaping Tatooine Neo is taken out of the
threshold Matrix for the first time
The belly of the whale Trash compactor Torture room
II: Initiation
The road of trials Lightsaber practice Sparring with Morpheus
The meeting with the Princess Leia (wears white, in The Oracle
goddess earlier scripts was a "sister" of a
mystic order)
Temptation away from Luke is tempted by the Dark Side Cypher (the failed
the true path1 messiah) is tempted by the
world of comfortable
illusions
Atonement with the Darth and Luke reconcile Neo rescues and comes to
Father agree (that he's The One)
with his father-figure,
Morpheus
Apotheosis (becoming Luke becomes a Jedi Neo becomes The One
god-like)
The ultimate boon Death Star destroyed Humanity's salvation now
within reach
III: Return
Refusal of the return "Luke, come on!" Luke wants to Neo fights agent instead of
stay to avenge Obi-Wan running
The magic flight Millennium Falcon "Jacking in"
Rescue from without Han saves Luke from Darth Trinity saves Neo from
agents
Crossing the return Millennium Falcon destroys Neo fights Agent Smith
threshold pursuing TIE fighters
Master of the two worlds Victory ceremony Neo's declares victory
 over machines in final
phone call
Freedom to live Rebellion is victorious over Humans are victorious
Empire over machines
Common Mythic Elements
Two Worlds (mundane Planetside vs. The Death Star Reality vs. The Matrix
and special)
The Mentor Obi-Wan Kenobi Morpheus
The Oracle Yoda The Oracle
The Prophecy Luke will overthrow the Emperor Morpheus will find (and
Trinity will fall for) "The
One"
Failed Hero Biggs In an early version of the
script, Morpheus once
believed that Cypher was
"The One"
Wearing Luke and Han wear stormtrooper Neo jumps into agent's
Enemy's Skin outfits skin
Shapeshifter (the Hero Han Solo Cypher
isn't sure if he can trust
this character)
Animal familiar R2-D2, Chewbacca N/A
Chasing a lone animal Luke follows R2 into the Jundland Neo "follows the white
into the enchanted wood Wastes; The Millennium Falcon rabbit" to the nightclub
(the animal usually gets follows a lone TIE fighter into where he meets Trinity
away) range of the Death Star

Note: This graph uses 17 steps which historically are associated with Campbell's
original theory whereas the first graph has only 12 steps, a common distillation of
The Hero's Journey.

As much as I admire and have studied Campbell, and acknowledge the universality
of The Hero's Journey, I am concerned when a writer's focus on this paradigm is so
absolute because it's possible to write a script that follows its every jot and tittle, yet
not succeed as a story.

First, for readers to connect with a script, they need to have some level of emotional
resonance with the story and its narrative elements. When a writer uses mostly left-
brain muscles to craft a script that fits specific plot requisites -- and frankly this
pertains to anyscreenplay structure / paradigm -- what can result is an inert object,
a story bereft of a heart or soul.

Second, it is - in my view - more important to delve into and develop the story's
characters. That work should have primacy over everything else if for no other
reason thanthat is where the emotional, psychological, and spiritual life of your story
lies.

This is one of the reasons I've been devoting so much time to studying Carl Jung.
What I'm discovering is that there's a way of approaching character development,
namely through character archetypes, which enables the writer to tap into and
discern their story's plot through their characters. And doesn't it make sense that
plot should emerge from the characters. After all, it's their story, so who would know
best about what's going on than them?

Besides it's possible to go beyond what Campbell's theories have to do with the
story-crafting process by studying Jung. At least that's what I'm discovering.

So how to sum up this post? Story structure is hugely important when writing a
screenplay. After all, a screenplay is a blueprint to make a movie. However it's your
story's characterswith whom a reader will (hopefully) connect, it's
your characters who give the story its emotional, psychological, and spiritual
meaning. And I believe by developing characters first, the plot of your story will
emerge organically, thereby infusing it with the vitality and personality of your
characters, ensuring your story will have a heart and soul.
Posted by Scott at 2:00 PM 0 comments
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Labels: carl jung, character archetypes, Joseph Campbell, the hero's journey
David Milch: "The Writer's