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The Hero’s Journey

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The Hero's Journey: A Storytelling Template The Hero’s Journey is a structural model of storytelling that is based on the epic adventures of mythical figures like Odysseus, Thor, Joan of Arc and Mulan. Also known as the  monomyth , the Hero's Journey is a universal template delineated by American mythologist  Joseph Campbell . In the world of film, the model of the Hero's Journey has evolved into the  Hollywood Formula of screenwriting .  In this post, you will learn about the 12 stages of the Hero's Journey according to Joseph Campbell's book  Hero with a Thousand Faces . The Hero's Journey is a powerful formula of storytelling. There are 12 stages in the journey. The stages progress in a cyclical fashion, very much like our lives. They repeat over and over again. A journey ends, and another one begins. We are born, we grow, we decline, we die. We are recycled. Energy doesn't die. It transforms. We lead many l...
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Mythology - The Language of Hollywood

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Mythology and the Visual Language of Movies Mythology is the language of symbols, the language of the senses. Pictures, visions, sounds, sensations, feelings, anything you can describe with words or represent symbolically in physical form comes from the world of myth, the world of  universal archetypes . Storytelling goes hand in hand with mythology, because it draws from the same symbolic language that myths do. The language of myth is the language of movies, and this is how the  Hollywood Formula  was originally developed. The Hollywood Formula, as we will refer to it on this site, is a structural model , like a picture frame or an artist canvas. It is a symbolic receptacle that will help us turn our creative imagination into a work of art, which, in this case, is a movie. The Hollywood Formula is modeled after literary classics, including timeless works of art like the  Epic of Gilgamesh  from ancient Mesopotamia ...
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Universal Archetypes and the Hollywood Formula

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Universal Archetypes Defined Universal archetypes are images and motifs stored in the collective consciousness, or the realm of  mythology . Fairies and cyclops are universal archetypes, as are gigantic sea monsters and mermaids. All cultures have their own version of these mythological creatures, which humans have invented collectively with the use of our  creative imagination . The concept of universal archetypes is kind of like electricity. Electricity has always existed, but it wasn't till the mid 1800's that people started experimenting with it, labeling it, defining it. Thanks to these experiments, we discovered we could use this great universal light power as a source of energy to help with our survival. In other words, we didn't create electricity. We simply discovered a mighty natural power that was already there to begin with. In the same way, universal archetypes have always existed. They are like a cloud of images that float ...
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