Screenwriting : The Hero's Journey by Jay Johnson

I've seen some people have interpreted it as a common thing, that can be taught, and undertaken for its own sake. Like someone says, I'm going on my hero's journey. I don't think that's true to what Campbell taught about it, but I don't know. I tried reading his work but didn't find where he went into it, I only see interpretations and summaries.

I think you've answered your own question.

I don't know what Campbell meant. I only ever saw him as a professor of myth and analyzing myth. He was a Christian and talked about a Goddess? How could he mean it as reality? Makes no sense to me.

Campbell's theories worked for George Lucas. GL combined JC, western & samurai movies and created Star Wars.

We read Hero with 1000 faces in film studies and one professor did a hero book comparison with the movie, Mad Max/Road Warrior.

From what I remember, Campbell lists common "troupes" all stories should have- lots of metaphors and symbolism. Basically, storytelling craft repeated again and again because it works.

Since we have shared experiences as humans we will see commonalities in everything. These types of observations fit our human experience and can cover most things.

Did you know the following

Kennedy was killed in car made by Ford, Lincoln was killed in the Ford theatre. Kennedy’s assassin was in a library and hid in a theatre, Lincoln’s assassin was in a theatre and hid in a library. See common patterns. As humans we see them in everything.

Just my opinion.

Kennedy's ALLEGED assassin was in a library, but I don't think anyone seriously alleges that any longer. :-) I just watched a couple videos on the hero's journey, very easy to watch and entertaining. YouTube channel is Cloud Kitten Chronicles. She has a whole library of videos about all kinds of story structure, etc.

You are correct. No one claims anything about Oswald due to all the evidence. but let’s not hijacker’s your own thread shall we. My example was humans find patterns in everything.

I use it a lot when my student in Communication studies have to reflect on their cooperation in teams. So yes, in real life for sure.

Yeah...I'd say Oswald assassinated JFK, as I'm about to wack Putin...

OK, back to the subject...my answer is no, it should have nothing with the "real life" although character arcs do exist in some documentaries as well, but then again those also have filmmakers "divine" intervention...

Day ago I stumbled upon the climax scene of "Fight Club"...I thought to myself watching Ed Norton beat the shit of himself, God this is such ridiculous...but right after I concluded - this is why we love movies...this crazy characters, you don't encounter in real life...yes, I'm aware that truth is always stranger than fiction, but go fly the world if u can checking all those situations...this way you have it on screen right in front of you, go judge or learn something...

It is interesting to see how (particularly streamers) are finding real life stories that follow this trend and using this structure more in documentaries.

Ewan, my story follows the arc and I'm debating whether to propose it as a doc or a drama. I would prefer drama for audience impact, but doc for getting the details of the story out.

Kiril, this is the rub of what I meant to discuss. I don't think Campbell thought the hero stories applied to real life, they were symbolic of real life. But in my true story, there is a mission, an abyss, a revelation and a divine intervention - a Goddess literally spoke to me after doing a bunch of radical synchronicity miracles...

I think the hero's journey is based on the idea that effective/strong storytelling is rooted in mythological stories.

Vogler's the writer's journey presents the hero's journey tailored to writers as a simplified approach to using mythology for storytelling. It's based on Campbell's work, the hero with a thousand faces. Campbell's book hits on a hero's journey in one part of it, but I don't think he uses that title from what I remember. It's a dense read.

Perfectly stated, Frankie.

@Ewan or they just shoe horn them into a pattern they believe is a money maker for them.

Campbell definitely applied the hero’s journey and the study of mythology to life. If you read his book “Pathways to Bliss,” he talks all about this.

Hi Emily, yep, I just looked at the overview and he does. I remember the phrase "follow your bliss" was a thing for a while. Did he say anything about his own life as related to the journey? Like, did he see the period where he was a recluse reader was his abyss? Did he have one? Not meaning to tax you, just my impression was he didn't have anything spiritual/personal about himself to relate to the journey.

Jay Johnson It's been a minute so I only remember one part where he got personal and it was about his wife's relationship to the hero's journey, not his (there's a chapter that transcribes a "dialogue" he had a lecture). I definitely think that if I went back I might be able to find moments where he might throw out a personal example, but his writing style is very "old-school professor" and I don't get the sense a traditional professor would think getting that vulnerable in a college-style book is professional haha

Thanks, Emily, that's what my impression was exactly.