It has series of steps that through huge amounts of study were revealed to be in a huge amount of stories, films, plays etc and provided a formula or road map for how stories were told. Other theorists such as Todorov, Labov, David Leaming , Phil Cousineau and Syd Field all have similar if shorter versions of these stages. The stages are listed below and alongside them how I feel my narrative structure and hero's journey fits with them. Campbels version had 17 stages but Volger revised the stages with 12 and it is Volgers version I will use.
1: The ordinary world. Ben and Joe at university.
2: The call to adventure. Discover global warming will be a huge issue in the future.
3: Refusal of the call. Set up GW movement but
4: Meeting the mentor. Not too sure but could add another character or for ben it could be Joe.
5: Crossing the first threshold into the special world. Disappears from view to regroup and wait.
6: Tests allies enemies. Coming back and the furore that creates and demons to deal with.
7: Apporach the innermost cave. Agrees to the interview.
8: The ordeal. The interview.
9: Reward. The realisation of what now has to be done the only option.
10: The road back. Goes public with the evidence.
11: The resurrection. Reverse really but he is finally free of the weight of the incriminating evidence.
12: Return with elixir. Well we will have to see if he really is dead but I feel he is not!
So I feel the narrative holds up to this. Another area that needs researching and looking at is character in the piece. whilst there are not that many in the small universe being created for the installation piece it would be good to see who the characters are and the roles that they will play on the larger canvas. This will allow decisions to be made on a smaller scale too. I also wanted to make sure that Ben carter had a good character arc and by applying the monomyth this naturally occurs. We see him change and develop throughout the piece and at the end he is not the man who started out.
Vladimir Propp was a Soviet folklorist and scholar who analysed the basic plot components of Russian folk tales to identify their simplest irreducible narrative elements. He wrote widely on lots of aspects of narrative structure and his findings on folklore and fairy tales hold up against narratives of most forms. Propp identified 7 character types who crop up again and again in narratives and these I have found can be a useful tool to apply to my own narrative. Every story has tmost of these and some characters can serve more than one role.It will see what characters are there and which could possibly be utilised in the script to move it along and to create drama and conflict. the seven types are and I have applied them to my script and narrative idea.
PROTAGONIST: The hero whose journey we follow.
This will obviously be Ben.
ANTAGONIST: The bad guy, unrequited love, beast, monster, element that thwarts our hero.
This will be the fossil fuel companies, governments and also global warming itself.
HELPERS: Helps our hero. Wisdom or magic instruments.
Presently none in my installation short version. There will need to be some in the full length version but possibly key followers of the movement who can help and resource the cause.
PRINCESS: The beautiful woman to be desired/saved.
Originally Fleur, Joes wife who ben is close to. Is she still alive?
FALSE HERO: Bad guy who buddys up to protagonist but cannot be trusted.
In my instalation piece the interviewer in the documentary.
PARTNER/MATE: Lover, partner in buddy movies etc.
Could possibly be Fleur or maybe we ad in a son in the long version who is a child he did not know he had with Fleur and thought he was Joes son. They could possibly team up.
DISPATCHER: Sends our hero on their mission/quest.
Could be his old MI5 friend who leaked the incriminating documents to Ben and Joe.
It has also been argued that there are only seven stories in the world. There have been arguments over this with the Irish playright Denis Johnston adding an eighth. However they are really good for seeing where there are areas that could possibly be exploited in my story and even expanded upon. Star Wars (1977) George Lucas is a good example where it manages to encompass most of these plots in one film. he was also a real subscriber to the monomyth and reworked Star Wars after discovering Joseph Campbells writings.
I have outlined the eight stories below and where i have met them and where there may be opportunities.
1. Cinderella - or unrecognised virtue at last recognised. It's the same story as the Tortoise and the Hare. Cinderella doesn't have to be a girl, nor does it even have to be a love story. What is essential is that the Good is despised, but is recognised in the end, something that we all want to believe.
Ben having to come out into the open and take up the reigns left by Joe.
2. Achilles - the Fatal Flaw that is the groundwork for practically all classical tragedy, although it can be made comedy too, as in the old standard Aldwych farce. Lennox Robinson's The Whiteheaded Boy is the Fatal Flaw in reverse.
Bens temper and being riled into action.
3. Faust - the Debt that Must be Paid, the fate that catches up with all of us sooner or later. This is found in all its purity as the chase in O'Neill's The Emperor Jones. And in a completely different mood, what else is The Cherry Orchard?
Bens having to use the incriminating evidence.
4. Tristan - that standard triangular plot of two women and one man, or two men and one woman. The Constant Nymph or almost any French farce.
Ben, Joe and Fleur triangle.
5. Circe - the Spider and the Fly. One character out to catch another
ben and the fossil fiel companies and governments out to get him.
6. Romeo and Juliet - Boy meets Girl, Boy loses Girl, Boy either finds or does not find Girl - it doesn't matter which.
Ben and Fleur.
7. Orpheus - The Gift taken Away. This may take two forms: either the tragedy of the loss itself, as in Juno and the Paycock, or it may be about the search that follows the loss, as in Jason and the Golden Fleece.
Ben and the movement or Fleur or his son for drama possibly.
8. The Hero Who Cannot Be Kept Down. The best example of this is that splendid play Harvey , made into a film with James Stewart.
Bens attitude to keep on fighting in the face of adversity.
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