Annotated Bibliography

Annotated Bibliography - Pages 83-105

Vogler, Christopher, and Michele Montez. The Writer's Journey : Mythic Structure for Writers. Boston: Michael Wiese Productions, 2007. 83-105.


Summery:

After establishing the archetypes, we can now progress into a full understanding of each section of the hero’s journey. As we are already aware the journey begins with stage one: the ordinary world, and then stage two: the call to adventure. These are the two sections that we learn about in this week’s assigned reading. Firstly, “the call to adventure”, we have already developed a basic understanding of the sections however, we are now taken deeper into the section and discuss things such as the opening image, raising the dramatic question and the hero’s inner and outer problems.
The second stage: the call to adventure, which is the section that really paves the way for the story to develop because of this new found energy by the hero. It teaches us, the importance of getting the story rolling; this can be done in many ways; using synchronicity or temptation for example. We are also led to think about the fact that a lot of stories have more than one call, and that there is often a call waiting, so to speak.



Reaction:

I found this weeks reading rather monotonous and although every point in both sections is a valid one, I felt as though some were relatively obvious, and would possibly be incorporated unconsciously. This led me to think about the fact that if I would unconsciously know to include a specific section then, I am more aware of the hero’s journey than I may be aware. I was particularly interested in the section, Backstory and Expansion; it was interesting to think about how story’s and films include the backstory in interesting and unimaginative ways. For example, sin city is constantly introducing new hero’s and because of this has to be very creative in order to provide the viewer with enough information to actually take to the hero.

Questions:
1. What is the call to adventure in your story and do you see the transition from the normal world?
2. Think of a film or story that has an interesting backstory, and explain how it works?
3. Can you think of any examples where stage two: the call to adventure comes before stage one: the ordinary world?

Annotated Bibliography - Pages 49-80

Works Cited;
Vogler, Christopher, and Michele Montez. The Writer's Journey : Mythic Structure for Writers. Boston: Michael Wiese Productions, 2007. 49-80.


Summery;
This reading was the end of section one in the book. It took an in depth look at the remaining archetypes commonly stumbled upon in the world of story, therefore the section has now covered every common character and therefore has prepares us, the reader, to proceed through the storyline structure that we talked about after the initial reading, however we can now relate these archetypes to our understanding of structure far more easily.
The archetypes included the Threshold Guardian, The Herald, The Shapeshifter, The Shadow, The Ally and The Trickster. These archetypes join both The Mentor and of course The Hero to complete our list of Archetypes.


Reaction;
I feel that after reading section one I have a clear understanding as to both, the common structures within a story and also the characters. I realise that all can take slightly different forms and have a large amount of flexibility, which provides unlimited possibilities as to where a story and its characters may end up.
I was particularly intrigued by the psychological function of the Shapeshifter, expressing the energies of the animus, which is Carl Jung’s explanation for the male element in the female unconscious and dreams and anima is the corresponding female elements in the male. This was a concept I had never heard of before and founded it very interesting when thinking about it. Indeed, as the book says, from an early age we are encouraged to hide our opposing feelings in order to be “macho” or “lady like”. The fact that we confront our anima or animus in our dreams and the forms they take I think is fascinating.


Questions;
1. Think about some common characters that fit the description of the new archetypes?
2. As a society generally we are encouraged to hide our feelings of the opposite sex, do you think this is a social problem?
3. Within the story of your life, do you have any of these archetypes that you would like to share?

Simba From The Lion King

After much thought as to which Disney character i see my self as, i have finally decided upon Simba from the Lion King. The reason that i feel he is a similar character to myself is because he too is a young lion that is, somewhat, reluctantly growning into a position of authority. However much like myself, Simba is someone that initially chooses to turn his back on his dutys and prefers to be adventurous, whilst having fun with his friends.
As a younger lion, Simba comes across as someone who has few cares in the world and rarely realises when he is in dangerous situations, eventually leading to himself getting into dangerous situations. Iused to be very similar and tended to choose fun over safety at times. However I realised as i got older that there are ways to be both responsible and still have fun, as did Simba.
The main reason for Simba realising that he needed to grow up and take responsibility within his community was because he spent alot of time away from home learning the realitys of life on his own. I feel i can compare this to myself coming to live in the united states of america, as i too have had to learn to live without the shelter of a home situation. Whilst it has been an unbelievable experience, it too has show me the realitys of looking after myself.
With all of this in mind i look up to simba for the ways in which he developed as a Lion and took control of a situation in order to save his pride, he is definatley one of my role models.