Monday, July 25, 2016

Why do some Stories Contain within them a Miracle Power to Heal? And What is that Story?

This month I continue my review of Christopher Vogler's The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers (Third Edition).

Christopher Vogler's thesis underscoring his entire body of work is that a certain kind of story has magical powers to attract readers and viewers and make them feel extremely comfortable with and warm about that story.

In addition, Vogler believes that "all stories consist of a few common structural elements found universally in myths, fairy tales, dreams and movies. These are known collectively as The Hero's Journey."

Vogler first became aware of the power of The Hero's Journey as a story structure when he was a child reading nursery tales, ancient myths, and the like. As an adult he read a best-selling book about mythic tales entitled The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell first published in 1949. That book changed Vogler's  life.

Today Vogler is one of Hollywood's premier story consultants, and a popular speaker on the subjects of screenwriting, movies and myth. He has often consulted for Disney Studios and other major industry players on the story structure of major releases.

In The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers, Vogler has brought Joseph Campbell's concepts up to date and made them accessible to an audience that is larger and more diverse than ever. Vogler's incomparable gift for intuitively understanding and being able to express the powerful magic at the heart of The Hero's Journey has been responsible for making his book, "The Writer's Journey" an indispensible guide for novelists and screenplay writers.

Vogler writes, "Understanding these [story] elements [of The Hero's Journey] and their use in modern writing is the object of our quest. Used wisely, these ancient tools of the storyteller's craft still have tremendous power to heal people and make the world a better place."

Vogler wants all writers of every stripe to become aware of the Hero Story structure so that they can tap into its magical powers. Addressing writers, he says:

By tapping into this story-myth, you can leave this world a better place than you found it; You have the power to heal peoples' hurts, traumas, fears, recurring nightmares, etc., everything that keeps people down, that keeps them from feeling whole and integral (just by the way you, the writer, choose to tell your story) You have the power to help people grow emotionally and live on a higher plane. You can help your readers find renewed self-respect and affirm their human dignity, live in a more authentic way and bring more mastery to the way they live their lives. Through the way you choose to tell your stories, you have the ability to inspire and instruct people on how to deal with difficult problems in life; how to create better and more trusting relationships; how to become more human and vulnerable; and how to grow one's humanity.

Vogler exalts the role of the storyteller as a creator working with the ultimate creator, God, to improve and/or fix the world.

 

It should come as no surprise: Vogler sees the role of a story writer as far beyond that of a scribbler of public entertainments who sells his stories in exchange for income. Rather, in Vogler's view, a writer embarking on "the hero's journey" takes power into his or her hands to, as I've already mentioned, literally improve and fix the world and, by so doing, upgrade every one of his readers' quality of life. 

"Oh, come on," you might respond. "Isn't it a little naïve to twist a writer-creator-screenwriter into a spiritual partner of the Godhead, able to redeem mankind with his creative output?" My answer to that is, no, not at all. In my opinion that's what it means to be a creator.

What is The Hero's Journey?

According to an excellent summary I've found online (no author given), "The Hero's Journey is a pattern of narrative identified by the American scholar, Joseph Campbell that appears in drama, storytelling, myth, religious ritual and psychological development. It describes the typical adventure of the archetype known as The Hero, the person who goes out and achieves great deeds on behalf of a group, tribe or civilization."

Last month I mentioned that the word "hero" comes from the Greek; it means "to serve and protect."

The emotional journey of the hero is always one that begins with the hero fulfilling his ego-driven needs ("me, me, me") but who, in time, begins working to help either his group, tribe or civilization. In that respect, the hero story eventually becomes in one way or another the story of self-sacrifice. The hero's "job" (if one can think of it as a job) is to become an integrated human being, to discover his true and authentic self throughout the course of the story.

The reason the hero myth has such wide appeal comes from the hero inevitably having flaws of one kind or another. He or she has inner-conflicts and is torn between love and duty, trust and suspicion, or hope and despair.

As you can see, The Hero's Journey is just that, a journey from point A to point B that mirrors the complexity of many real people's lives, and the maturity many people attain as they move from a purely material and ego-driven view of life to discover that life is ultimately about serving others while holding out against overwhelming odds, fighting for higher principals, and facing up to our worse fears, ultimately, to death itself.

Next month, we'll delve into the twelve story "stations" or stages of the Hero's Journey, and how these stations divide into three major dramatic "acts" (Act I, Act II and Act III) that one finds (in one form or another) in every play, opera, novel and memoir.

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