MARTA IRIARTE SATRÚSTEGUI
Joseph Campbell’s theory of Heroic Journey and Community Revitalisation
Joseph Campbell published his first book in 1949. This book, called ‘The Hero with a Thousand
Faces’, he wrote about a theory that every myth share something in common, a fundamental
structure, which he defined as the ‘Monomyth’.
He divided this theory into 3 different stages, studying mythology around the globe for 5 years,
like the stories of Jesus, Buddha, Prometheus and many others. His theory has inspired many
artists, from Bob Dylan to George Lucas, the creator of Star Wars.
The first stage is called the ‘Separation’ stage. In this stage we are introduced to our ‘hero’,
who pretty much always lives a mundane and simple life. Then there’s the Call to Adventure,
the first part of this stage. Here is where something happens and it causes the hero to go on an
adventure. The second part is the Refusal of the Call, where the hero becomes overwhelmed
by the situation and refuses the call. Then comes the Supernatural Aid, where the hero is
provided by a weapon that helps them. The last two are called Crossing the Threshold and Belly
of the Whale. The first one is when the hero finally goes on the journey and the last one is the
final separation between the hero and their home.
The second stage is the ‘Initiation’ stage. Here we have the Road of Trials, where the hero
usually fails a test or challenge. Then comes the Meeting with the Goddess, where the hero
experiences a love as strong as their mother’s love. The Woman as Temptress part comes
when the temptation to abandon the adventure appears. Then, on the Atonement with the
Father, the hero confronts what holds the power in their life. The last three parts are
Apotheosis, The Ultimate Boon and the Refusal of the Return, where at first there’s a
metaphorical death and rebirth of the hero, then they achieve the goal and finally they come
to the end where they may not want to come back home.
The final stage is called ‘Return’. It’s composed by 5 parts, the Magic Flight, the Rescue from
Without, Crossing the Return Threshold, Master of Two Worlds and Freedom to Live. This stage
is about the hero coming back home, to a normal life and becoming a master of the two
worlds, free of regrets and living the moment.
BOB MCKEE’S THEORY OF CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT
Bob McKee defends that character development is the key element of a story, if the character
grows, changes, learns something. He wrote in his theory that a character’s nature is revealed
by their choices under pressure, that a character’s fate is created by what they do and how
they are. The main parts of the story are the following:
In every story there’s a character that might be on an adventure, or might desire something.
the story’s Spine, the Super-Objective. He also said that you must look into the character’s
heart to discover what they seek, that way you can follow their objectives thorough the story,
understand their decisions depending on the situations and what’s at risk. Then there’s the
Hook, the Inciting Incident, which captures the audience’s attention and sets the story into
action. The character must react to balance their life again. Sometimes there’s a Problem that
has to be solved by the character, and this problem can also be caused by the character’s own
ambition or desire. Then come the Obstacles, the ones the character faces while attempting to
restore the balance in their life. On the Set-up, information is given to the character and the
audience, and on the Pay-off the information is used by the character to move forward.
MARTA IRIARTE SATRÚSTEGUI
The Turning Point is when the character has to make an important decision, and Reversals or
Twists are surprising things the character does. Subplots are things that may contradict or
resonate the Idea of the main plot. He also mentioned that stories can end in many different
ways, up-ending, down-ending, false-ending... An Open Ending is when things can go in many
different ways.
McKee defended that these are qualities of a ‘Hollywood Movie’, along with the idea that life
can change, especially the optimistic idea that life can change for the better.
DAVID M. BOJE AND THE ORGANIZATIONAL STORYTELLING
David Boje is a professor and Bill Daniels Ethics Fellow at New Mexico State University. He has
done his research on organizational storytelling. He invented the term Antenarrative, the
process by which the retrospective narrative is linked to living story. It has four primary uses,
the first two are the before narrative, where the story is turned to narrative, and the ante
narrative, placed in hopes that something will become a retrospective narrative. Then there is
the last two, the spiral and rhizome Antenarratives.
The Antenarrative is part of the triadic theory of storytelling Boje invented. His handbook on
storytelling is said to be the first volume that offers a systematic examination of nontraditional
narrative inquiry.
In addition, a curious fact about him is that he teaches barefoot as a protest against
sweatshops of multinational corporations in developing countries.
ARISTOTLE’S CATHARSIS THEORY
The word catharsis is one that doesn’t have a specific meaning, it has never been defined as a
concept. It has been defined as a process of releasing and thereby providing relief from strong
or repressed emotions. It’s actually not a word specifically but a name of emotions. Aristotle
emphasized on the catharsis of pity and fear. Critics defined catharsis as emotional fortitude,
physiological balance, a process of emotional outlet, purgation, purification and homeopathic
treatment. The catharsis is when the hero of the story fails upon his greatness, which then
causes the audience members to feel awe and consequently relief when they see the hero
committing failures. When we as an audience see a tragedy unfold, we end up feeling
‘purified’. At first, we feel pity, we suffer, but we end up learning because every tragedy
contains a moral lesson. Aristotle emphasizes on the fact that the character or hero of the
tragedy must be a combination of good and bad qualities because it causes the spectator to
empathise with the hero and to put themselves in their place, so when the moral lesson
comes, they learn something.