Learned some very cool stuff in Movie Theory class today. I really should bring a notebook and pen to that class. He gives us the real motherfucking deal.
Anyhow, we learned about three storytelling forms. One is the hero’s journey they have been pounding into us :
1. Normal World – We establish what is ordinary life for the hero and other vital characters.
Luke Skywalker : Boy, life sure sucks on this moisture farm!
2. Call to Adventure – Something shakes up the situation and suggests a path to adventure.
Luke : Hey, this droid has a tiny flickery woman in it!
3. Refusal of the call – The hero isn’t sure they want to do this.
Luke : I can’t go find this hot but inexplicably familiar chick! I have responsibilities!
4. Meeting the Mentor : The mentor is usually an older character that gives the hero the knowledge and/or wisdom and/or equipment to go forward.
Luke : Wow, what a neat sword! And it comes with magic powers? Awesome! Well, better get home to my aunt and uncle….
5. Crossing the First Threshold : The hero passes a point of no return that commits them to the journey.
Luke : NOOOOO! The farm has been burned! The two people who raised me are dead! THIS IS THE WORST DAY OF MY LIFE!
Ben : So what you’re saying is you’re available…
6. Tests, Allies, and Enemies : The bulk of the story. Enemies faced, challenges overcome, complications accumulated.
Luke : To hell with Alderaan, we have to rescue the princess!
Han : Now listen kid….
Luke : She’s really rich.
Han : …well okay, but don’t make a habit of this, kid.
7. Approaching the Innermost Cave : The hero must go into the belly of the beast to achieve their goals. Sometimes this is accomplished by getting captured.
Han : That’s no moon!
8. The Ordeal : The hero goes through a very personal Hell.
Ben : So long, suckers! I’m leaving to never be as famous as this again! *dies*
Luke : NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Also, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
9. The Reward : The hero gets rewarded for surviving the Ordeal, and now, in theory, could end their journey.
Luke : Boy, am I glad to have escaped from the Death Star!
10. The Road Back : The hero find their way back to the main battle, this time to finish it for good.
Rebel Pilot : Hey, we’re going to the Death Star. Wanna come?
Luke : I sure do!
11. The Resurrection : The hero faces the final battle, which almost always involves facing death itself, either literal or emotional.
Luke : Wow, a bunch of people have already died and I only have one more chance at this extremely important thing I am doing. Time to ignore science and go with my gut!
12. Return with the Elixir : Battle won, the hero returns with the good news, everybody celebrates, and the hero is rewarded.
(Luke gets his medal.)
Luke : Heee, she touched me!
Han : Well, that’s it. We all got medals. Even the robots. What a great ending.
Chewbacca : (in Wookie language) Hey, where the fuck is my medal?
Han : Hey, you’re lucky they let you in at all… this building doesn’t usually allow pets!
So that’s the big one. If you want to do the whole psychological journey, you use that storyform. It’s kind of elaborate and somewhat restrictive, but it can result in a very powerful story that really stays with people after the show is done.
There’s two others, but I am spent, and I can’t find one of them online anyhow.
We also heard a story about a screenwriter who had written very successfully for every genre there is. When someone asked him how he did it, he shrugged and said “Easy. Four good scenes and no bad ones. ”
I like that. Obviously, it’s not that simple, but I liked the efficient reductivism of it. It makes sense to me. If a movie has four really good scenes, odds are, you will enjoy it and remember it fondly. There will have to be stuff in between, acting as the connective tissue, and it all has to make some kind of logical sense. But assuming you have done your job with the four scenes and managed to avoid including any bad ones. you have probably made a pretty good movie.
I have seen plenty of movies which get the first half right : they have four decent scenes in them. But the rest is total garbage, so they are still bad movies. I can’t say I have seen a movie where the connective tissue was great but the scenes sucked. I suppose in that situation, you don’t notice the in-between stuff at all.
Afternoon class was TV Genre, and we did (fanfare) SCIENCE FICTION. It was (falsetto) AWE SOME! We talked about all kinds of science fiction TV shows, and we watched a documentary called Pioneers of Television : Science Fiction, which had tons about the original Star Trek, Lost in Space, the Twilight Zone, and the Outer Limits.
And so you got talking head bits with Shatner, Nimoy (miss you!), a few of the Lost in Space kids, and most importantly to me, they found an interview with the man himself, Rod Serling.
Now there’s a man I would invite to my You Can Bring Literally Anyone You Want dinner party. He was a powerfully intelligent and fascinating man, and a hell of a writer. He wrote 90 of the original 150 or so episodes of the original Twilight Zone, including the infamous “send you to the cornfield” episode, It’s A Good Life.
Fun fact : The evil omnipotent child in that episode was played by Billy Mumy, AKA Lost In Space’s Will Robinson!
I’ve always thought that the child in that episode was two one-dimensional, as if all children are pure evil and just lack the power to do ill. That’s why I prefer the rebooted version from the 1980’s Twilight Zone series. In it, a kindly social worker manages to get through to the boy, who is more confused and upset than outright evil, and establish boundaries and discipline for the omnipotent boy by appealing to the child’s real need for a parental figure.
I suppose I kind of identify with that kid in that I was always a lot smarter than the adults in my life could handle, and I really needed someone in my life to set rules and boundaries and to look after me for my own good, instead of it all being on me.
Children cannot raise themselves. They’re not qualified.
No wonder I was raised by TV!
I will talk to you nice people again tomorrow.