2 Joseph Campbell Videos

[crich70]

Joesph Campbell The Hero's Journey
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Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth The Hero
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[gmw]

I don't have the download capacity to watch hour-long videos, so I'm only commenting from what I know of this from other reading.

The Hero's Journey, and other theories of that ilk, are curious things. You can fit them over many stories, however they were originally written, but they call that sort of thing 20-20 hindsight. Sometimes, with a character driven story, the hero isn't even apparent when you start, so you can't plan his journey. Sometimes there are multiple heroes and multiple journeys all overlapping and interacting, and such things are difficult to plan in detail from outside the story. And sometimes, and I think this applies to me, the writer just doesn't have the experience plan that far ahead. I suspect that if I'd been writing full time for many years then I may be able to better predict how certain things may come out, but for now I'm still exploring.

I think the big risk with starting a story with a plan of The Hero's Journey, or the equivalent, is that you will end up with something that feels too predictable and formulaic. It's difficult to build convincing surprises in from the outside (which is why good mystery writers are to be cherished). I think such theories are better used to help assess the story after you have written it (either the full story or your own detailed outline created without reference to such theories). You can then compare what you have with a suitable theory and look for potential issues with the way your story has unfolded, and perhaps adjust your story accordingly. (I haven't done this myself, but I think the theories do have value that could be best taken advantage of in this way.)