The Hero's Journey

A small request:  I really enjoy perusing your blogs, but two things would make the experience a bit easier for me.  First of all, I would really like to get to know you all individually and know your names.  Some of you have profile pictures which really helps putting faces to names.  Thank you! Second of all, I really dislike the "comment verification" codes.  They add precious seconds to the task of posting comments.  If you could, please deactivate the word verification in the "Settings" section. Thanks in advance!

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As freshman who may have an interest in both studying literature and writing creatively, I think it's very important that you understand the very basics on innate story structure.  In order to understand "story" in the purest sense of the word, we have to examine what almost every story has in common.  A beginning, middle and end are just the tip of the ice berg, and even in a reflective essay that isn't a purely a "story" you will often find these stages.

Try to keep the Hero's Journey in mind when you watch, read, or write any kind of story.  It helps contextually, and is also kind of fun to think about.  In any case, it will change the way you watch films (for better or worse).

We've clearly examined these stages in "Rita Hayworth & The Shawshank Redemption," and I'd also like you to think about them while watching the film. There will be a little of this on the midterm exam.


I - The Monomyth

We don't have to call it the monomyth, and in Hollywood most people don't.  They call it the "Hero's Journey," and any director or writer who wants to get a story on film generally has to conform to and complete that journey themselves for a studio to fund a project.  More importantly, audience's expect it whether they are aware of it or not.  While some films follow it more than others, we can argue that all of them do, and the ones that make the big money (Star Wars for example) follow it to a T.  Some call it the death of creativity.  Some call it the ultimate truth.  Others proclaim that it can't be escaped in nature let alone in film or novels.  Even history seems to follow its patterns.  In any case, we need to look at the monomyth before we can compare or adapt anything.  So.... what's in a good story?  

So with a bit of background knowledge, you can see why Hollywood uses this recipe so heavily. When we go to the cinema, we grab our popcorn, take a seat, and sit through 120 minutes of film  without doing much thinking.  We don't draw comparisons to Homer, Shakespeare, the Bible, or ask ourselves if we've reached "the belly of the whale."  After the movie, we leave, get in the car, and discuss with our friends what we thought.  Was it good?  Did it satisfy our expectations?  If it didn't, chances are that the filmmakers didn't get something right in the monomyth - the story in every story.  Maybe there wasn't much "belly of the whale" and we fell asleep.  In any case, once you become aware of the Hero's Journey, it becomes very hard to ignore. Consider your future enjoyment of all films to be slightly distracted by watching for these things.  Even the worst romantic comedy has a "call to adventure" and "meeting the mentor."    


For more - check out the Monomyth and the Hero's Journey on Wikipedia. Click around, and learn about Campbell.  With Stephen King's stories in mind, we will often examine if the "call to adventure" appears the same on screen as it did in the book.  And that's part of the fun.

Click on the images below for a larger look.  This is a detailed (perhaps overly) representation of Campbell's concept - a total of 17 stages.  We will not be referencing this because it's simply a little bit too complicated.  

For our purposes, I like this more simplified version below, the one Hollywood has adapted:

On a story by story basis, not everyone will agree on the order, the terms used, or what's what in a film.  At times it can be quite confusing and debatable.  In any case, the above is the vocabulary we will stick to.


II - Script vs. Book


As you can see from the above, a script writer has a certain task in store when they decide to adapt something.  What makes this even more interesting is that in today's film industry, the adaptations are no longer limited to famous novels, biographies, or large scale historical events.  Short children's books (Where the Wild Things Are) and even video games (Lara Croft, Resident Evil, and supposedly even Angry Birds) are having their stories enlarged into films.  So if the original story of Angry Birds seems to lack a mentor or a magic elixir, it's up to the screenwriter to invent one.  We can also imagine the opposite scenario in a massive story such as Lord of the Rings when it became a stage play (too many mentors and magic elixirs for a cast and stage of any size - therefore a process of picking and choosing).


Since our first bit of reading in this class was King's "Rita Hayworth and The Shawshank Redemption," let's take a look at the shooting script. 

Here is a link to a pdf version of the script.     

Here is a link to a pdf version of the novella. 

Even after a quick look to compare King's narrative, which begins with Red in first person, we can see how writer/director (and auteur?) Frank Darabont had to find a new way in to the story.  Visually and perspective wise, he had to break ground and "show" instead of "tell" to save time and make things interesting.  Essentially, a screenwriter has to write visually and economically, while a novelist has freedom to roam poetically and indulge "verisimilitude" without a budget.

Things to keep in mind:

• Screenplays are formatted precisely to approximate about 1 minute of film per page. Since the golden age of Hollywood after the Depression, the font of choice has always been and always will be Courier with a size of 12.  
• Most studios and producers won't read a script that's much more than 120 pages as a rule.  
• Pages 1-20 usually keep us in the "ordinary world" or at least establish it.  If we go too far beyond this without an "inciting incident" or "call to adventure," producers will stop reading in the same way an audience will stop watching.  Script goes in the trash.
• Pages in the 30, 45, 60, and 90 zone usually mark a turning point, or a crisis that moves the story forward through a three act structure (the second act usually being the longest at anywhere from 45-60 pages). 

Questions we can ask based on these principles of the tried and true (and perhaps cliche) Three Act Structure that employs the Hero's Journey:

•  Did the screenwriter choose the right events at the right time? Did they modify them and why? 
• Did the screenwriter change the POV (point of view)? Does the removal or addition of a first person narrator help or hurt the story? 
• Does the character in the book want the same thing as the actor in the film? Does the theme surface, or is it buried in poor acting? Or is truly brought to life through an Oscar performance (as with Morgan Freeman)?

These are just some of the things we can focus on, so while you are reading - do keep them in mind, and take note of things you expect/hope to see in the films.

Group Work Assignment for next week, in class:

Now that you have a base knowledge of the Hero's Journey, I'd like you to further familiarize yourself with it by mapping it out in a story/film/legend/historical event etc. of your choice.  One challenge you might have is finding a story that you've all seen/heard/read, but I somehow think this won't be a problem (check out this list of monomyths that undeniably follow the course).  Should I make a "NO HARRY POTTER" rule?  Try to challenge yourselves a bit, and if one person isn't familiar or you all need a bit of a brush-up on the plot, definitely head to Wikipedia or IMDB where you can find a detailed synopsis complete with spoilers.

You'll all have to discuss these stages, and also elaborate on each point (a few sentences is fine).  Combining three act structure with the journey and character arc, Christopher Vogler (another Hollywood script guru known for work on The Lion King), helps us all out with this breakdown that's made him famous:

 
Copy and past the following, elaborating on each point (you can appoint a secretary if you want), and zap it into your blogs.


Group Members:

Our Story:

Why we chose it: 



ACT I

1. Ordinary World:

2. Call to Adventure:

3. Refusal of the Call:

4. Meeting the Mentor:

5. Crossing the Threshold:


ACT II

6. Tests, Allies, Enemies:

7. Approach to the Innermost Cave:

8. Ordeal:

9. Reward:


ACT III

10. The Road Back:

11. Resurrection:

12. Return With the Elixir:


Points of contention (ifs/ands/buts):

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If any of you wanted to rewatch that documentary on Stephen King, or were absent, here it is on YouTube:

Shawshank Word Bank

Below are some words I harvested from the book, which we may use in the next vocabulary test. 

"Get busy living, or get busy dying."

 

Shawshank Word List

Reefer, parole, own up, town common, saw to it, rehabilitated, cons, sulky, housebroken, parlor, escapade, gratis, Neiman-Marcus, scripture, crackerjack, Reno divorce, bungalow, militated, turnout, swapped, bottled up, surcharge, limelight, jurors, hangover, hammered, airdance, clockwork, turd, gild the lily, kowtowing, hunkered, fatigues, twister, infirmary, rock-hound, pressure-cooker, brigading, pestering, hamstring, simon-pure, lesser of two evils, pole-axed, arthritic, turpentine, warden, screws, nest-feathering, rackets, harelip, cleft-palate, Marilyn Monroe and The Seven Year Itch, road-gangling, Inside-Out program, culvert, daze, clam up, high-strung, penology, sodomites, furlough, brooding, tit for tat, fish hooked, crackpot, cell-block, solitary, foulness, railroaded,  dumb luck, windfall, high stakes, institutionalized, peanut-gallery, paroled, disoriented, fool’s errand, hitchhike,

10b1 Scores - Reflective Essay: Myself As Writer

Sorry for getting these out a bit late, but as you can see I have and still have a lot of classes to organize and get going.  I'm impressed with what I see so far from this class, and you scored a bit higher than other classes due to some good content.  Good stuff.

10b1	Alias	Content/10	Mechanics/10	Structure/5	TOTAL/25
	Monkey	9.3	9.2	4.7	23.2
	Tiger	9.3	9.4	4.6	23.3
	Iguana	9.3	9.0	4.6	22.9
	Shark	9.3	9.2	4.6	23.1
	Gorilla	8.8	8.8	4.4	22.0
	Koala	9.0	9.1	4.5	22.6
	Sea Turtle	9.3	9.1	4.6	23.0
	Giraffe	9.1	9.2	4.6	22.9
	Zebra	9.0	9.0	4.5	22.5
	Lion	9.0	9.0	4.5	22.5
	Kangaroo	9.2	9.2	4.6	23.0
	Elephant	9.1	9.1	4.7	22.9
	Polar Bear	9.1	9.1	4.5	22.7

For some assignments, I'll often select snippets of your writing to feature if they are particularly well written or poignant.  I haven't cleaned these up grammatically, so do evaluate these samples and point out errors in a "peer editing" fashion.   I encourage you to read and learn.  I'm sorry, but I think I've missed some people and I forgot to write down names for others.  We can sort that out in class.^^

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This is why I do not like SAT or TOEFL writing for I come out sounding too dry and mechanical when writing those kinds of standardized essays. Of course, there is an occasional epiphany, and sentences to my liking flow out like liquid, but that is a rare case.-Somebody 

Nature has the strength to topple that great tree that is rotting by that bench and has the delicacy to imprint this complex but beautiful pattern on a flower almost too tiny to see. - Eunji

Whenever I met him, he always talks about my ‘baby-era’; how he contributed to my hygiene status- he said he cleaned up my dung. After talking about that, he always asks me about my love life which I have nothing much to say. In brief, he is just like a boy.  – Soho
           
 Yes, efficiency is over quantity. Sleep is like a dish of Italian balsam-sauced chicken salad  you can easily have in a buffet or a Pizza Hut salad bar. The first dish tastes fresh and crisp, and you ingest it with gusto. The second dish is still good, and you feel “reasonably” full.  The nutritious dish indulges to the senses when you ingest it just enough. The third dish, however, is over your stomach’s capability, and makes it slightly uncomfortable. But it is still not that bad. The fourth dish is the climax of displeasure; your stomach swells, as if it will pop when you poke it with a needle. And most of all, it does not taste crisp and fresh any more; it is just as faceless and disgusting as a peanut butter sandwich you have every morning. Efficiency is over quantity.-Somebody

However, writing well seemed different from proving well. The kernels of essays, too, were "thoughts," but essays were thoughts plus "something else." Metaphorically speaking, a "good" chocolate is more of a 50% cacao powder plus milk plus sugar plus fat plus almonds than just 100% cacao. Determining the write proportion of cacao and other elements seemed like the bolt and key in producing a "good" writing. – Soyeon

At first muscles all over my body would scream as I wave the blade in the air again and again. The great pain soon overcomes me. However after the first few minutes of torture endorphin kicks in and the pain is gradually gone. From this point the morning exercise that I so dreaded actually becomes fun! With the high feeling due to my trusted hormone I enjoy the rest of the morning exercise with a smile. Now my essay writing for me is very similar to this.  -Sungwoo

As for tone, I try to find a balance between seriousness and humor, although that does not always have the effect I intend. Depending on the type of writing, the intensity or mood of the tone should adapt, and I am still working to improve my writing in that field. A common trait in most pieces I write is that I enjoy sneaking little bits of humor or into the writing. This humor sometimes takes the form of light sarcasm or satire, and I include those bits to occasionally relieve tension and overall try to make the writing more enjoyable.  - Hongsoon

My strength is that my writing is as clear as science or math. It is not hard to find out what I’m talking about. However, this style of writing sometimes lacks deepness. It is easy to read and understand, but that’s all. No more meanings or emotions are contained in it. It could be compared to a body. My essay just has bones.-Gun

Everyone has their own strength and weaknesses in writing, but until I took Mr. Johnson’s class, I only knew what my weak points were and sometimes I even thought I didn’t have any strength. Mr. Johnson told me that my contents and organization was great and I was stunned by what he said. However, after hearing his comments, I gained some confidence and liked writing even more.-Yoonjee

It is taken for granted that the sole purpose of school is to make a person who will be able to successfully adapt and "melt into" the society. And, obviously, "dating" and "having relationship with a person who has a different gender" has a high possibility of being an important aspect inside one's life in society. If KMLA ends up strictly regulating the relationship amongst students of distinct sex, the students, after graduation, will not be able to sufficiently adjust to this part of society quickly.-Samuel

Although I haven’t met many people who dislike or seriously criticized my writing style, I usually cannot satisfy or feel comfortable toward my essays. I believe it’s because of use of language. I’m not word-smart and unfamiliar with using high-ranking figurative languages. As a result, I found myself putting the same vocabularies and phrases over and over again.-Hyunseok
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Some very good writing and honest expression above.  In order to become better writers, I encourage you to think about writing as a process instead of a task.  Learn from other writers (each other), and strive to improve. 

See me privately to learn what Exotic Zoo Animal you are.  If you don't like your animal, I'm sorry.  It was a random selection, and the animal I chose for you is not meant to symbolize you in any way. : ) I hope you’ll receive animism and instinct as writers in the wilderness of wisdom  throughout the year.  You don't belong in a zoo.

 

 

An open letter to my new freshman :)

Dear Students,

We've finished our first full week of classes, and I have to say I'm very impressed with you all.  As a group, I can see that the 16th wave is going to be a good one which will lead the way.  If some waves are the "math wave" or the "science wave,"  maybe you guys are the "lots of good writers wave."  I've read some stuff that has offered some "wow factor," and I've read almost nothing that made me do a facepalm.

Want

Don't Want

So while you guys have been great and fun, one thing I have had problems with is getting things organized.  As I'm sure you all know, there are a lot of blogs to deal with and more than a few students moving classes, so I am not sure all my class and blog lists on the right are complete or accurate.  Please comment below if you see any discrepancies, or if you are missing. 

I've also found that I'm already behind in marking papers and giving feedback, so please be patient.  You'll have to understand that I have 8 writing classes to deal with, and I'm going to have to find ways to give you the individual feedback you need.  If you really want me to mark up your paper with red ink, I have requirements:

• You double space it, make the font Arial size 12, and print it out.
• You put your name and class and assignment title on the paper.
• You check it first very thoroughly to eliminate sloppy errors.
• You immediately fix the errors when I give it back to you.  Please don't waste my time if you aren't going to try and improve. 

In any case, we will begin some peer editing workshops soon.  So here is what the future holds in the coming weeks after Chusock:

Next Week:

• Discussion about "Rita Hayworth & the Shawshank Redemption." Please be finished and respond in your Reading Journal #1!
• A Word Smart quiz on the first two pages of SAT Vocabulary in Chapter 4.  In my older version of the book we start with "indifferent" and end with "dispassionate" on pages 293 and 294.  What does yours say?

The Weeks after: 

• Writing Chain/Peer editing Workshops. 
• Metafiction and Found Fiction - your third assignment will be a fun creative one.
• A quiz on "Rita Hayworth & The Shawshank Redemption."
• Comparing the story to the film.

Please feel free to comment and ask questions in the class blog.  I also encourage you to leave comments on your classmate's blogs.  I've seen a bit of that, and to me it's "class participation" whether it's online or offline.

Have a good Chusock, and I'll have your comments and first assignment scores completed ASAP.  But please be patient, and help me help you by pointing out mix-ups.

Assignment #2: Argumentative Essay: Education and Creativity

For your second assignment, I'd like you to respond to Sir Ken Robinson's opinions in the following videos, and in an argumentative essay adopt a clear stance.  Since you are students yourselves, and are part of the generations he speaks of, you should be able to offer both your own personal experience and opinion quite easily.  Like he says about education, "it's one of those things that goes deep with people....Like religion, and money and other things."

At first I presented this assignment to you as a "mini assignment," but considering the response in class I'd like it to upgrade it to a formal assignment which you should take more seriously than the first.  My apologies to class B1 who I may have misled following my initial plan.  Many of you are finished already, and if that's the case you can consider it a "first draft" which you can expand on.  Most of you have written far more than what I first quoted, so I think this won't be a problem for you.  Keep in mind I've also given you plenty of more time.

Criteria

Tone: Argumentative
Word Count: At least 500 words (more is great).
Due for for ALL classes: Friday, September 23rd  


To get an A you can be proud of:

Do: 

•   Post the video you reference most in your blog (or all of them).  
•   Use 5 paragraph structure (or six or seven etc., but definitely not 3 or 4).
•   Choose a title for your post, and make your post look good.  Formatting is important.
•   Read and edit and clean things up.
•   Try to quote Robinson or someone a little.
•   Balance your view with an opposing view.
•   Bookend your essay with a satisfying hook and conclusion.
•   Appeal to a bit of ethos, pathos, and logos (I think Mr. Yoon covered that with you).

Don't:

•  Copy and paste links into your work without hyper-linking. 
•  Forget to address the source material.
•  Be afraid to be personal and narrative
•  Write a single word less than 500.  

Here are the videos.  The first one we watched in class.  I think it's his most entertaining speech, but the RSA Animate below is more informative.   

In the speech below,  we see Sir Ken Robinson returning to TED a few years later.  Has anything changed since his first speech?  Remember you can activate subtitles, and even read the entire transcript in just about any language. You can cut and paste from it to use in your essay if you want to quote something he says directly.

 Questions you may want to consider addressing:

As Korean students, do you feel your creativity has been suitably enhanced and encouraged since you were young? Does KMLA meet your creative needs? Is creativity overrated? Underrated? Suitably treated in Korea's progressing education system? Is it progressing?

You are welcome to tie in some outside sources if they help your points and synthesize an argument.  In fact, I encourage it to get more than just an A.

Here are some videos that I think provide some contrast:

10b4 Scores - Reflective Essay: Myself As Writer

Sorry for getting these out a bit late, but as you can see I have and still have a lot of classes to organize and get going.  I'm impressed with what I see so far from this class, and you seemed to address the criteria of the assignment better than other classes.  Attention to detail is important.  Good stuff.

10b4	Alias	Content/10	Mechanics/10	Structure/5	TOTAL/25
	Apollo	9.0	8.9	4.6	22.5
	Dionysus	9.1	8.9	4.6	22.6
	Demeter	9.1	8.9	4.6	22.6
	Poseidon	8.7	8.8	4.4	21.9
	Hermes	9.1	9.1	4.7	22.9
	Chronos	9.0	9.1	4.6	22.7
	Gaia	9.1	9.0	4.6	22.7
	Ares	9.3	9.3	4.7	23.3
	Zeus	9.1	9.1	4.7	22.9
	Ajax	9.3	9.2	4.7	23.2
	Orion	9.2	9.1	4.7	23.0
	Eos	9.0	9.0	4.5	22.5
	Prometheus	9.1	9.1	4.5	22.7

For some assignments, I'll often select snippets of your writing to feature if they are particularly well written or poignant.  I haven't cleaned these up grammatically, so do evaluate these samples and point out errors in a "peer editing" fashion.   I encourage you to read and learn. 

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My writing style, as I revealed frankly, is not something most teachers like. I like long, gaudy sentences. It doesn't mean I like wordy and meaningless adjective clauses. It means I like fascinating adjectives that can describe the situation or one's emotions very well. For example, for an academic writing one should write "the Nazis", not "the terrifying Nazis" even when one wanted to express how Anne was terrified by the Nazis. However, if I get to learn why I should be rather writing short sentences, I will definitely change my style. – Kim Sol

I remember I wrote an essay about my favorite item in the world some time ago. I wrote about pebbles, which I really found marvelous and colorful when I was young. I really liked this essay, because of the way how I described different types of pebbles according to their colors and sizes. I even compared them with fairies of the forest, and I am really proud of the metaphors and similes I used in that essay. –Jong Hyun

They explained the need for me to 'calm down' in my essay. I could not have agreed more. In an objective view, I myself can clearly see how upset I sound in my writings. It feels like a rhyme-less Eminem rap. The reason my essays have an 'angry' tone is probably because I feel an obsession to prove myself inside an essay.-Seong Un

After I enter the school, Korean Minjok Leadership Academy, I realized that I should be closer to writing in order to get along with all the courses I take. Regardless of fields of a course belong to, nearly all the class required writing, from academic one to personal essays. As a result, the first semester of my high school bothered me and reminded me the importance of writing, and how much I should make efforts to catch up good writers in the school. – Seohee

I have known that my writing is at a certain stage right now where it is being jammed by a glass ceiling that is waiting to be broken. However, the problem here is that I do not know where and what exactly in my writing is being blocked and how I can overcome this. As a result, my goal for this second semester in terms of improving my writing is knowing where my boundaries are at, and knowing how I can get past these boundaries. – Namdo

Writing is like playing basketball to me. In basketball, once I keep scoring goals, the game becomes interesting and I get better. However, once I keep missing the goals, frustration and anger get the best of me. Similarly, sometimes I am fully submerged into the piece, my fingers flying across the keyboard. Once the tap is turned on, idea flows out. But most of the time, my face is frowning at the screen that just does not seem to progress.-Yoosun

Fortunately, ink still flows within my pen. But at some point, the ink will dry out. And with the last drops of my pen, I will produce my best work. In order to not regret when my nib is not black anymore, for that moment of singing the Swan Song, I continue to write today.-Toyou

Without a watchful eye toward ‘English’ while writing, the vocabulary and grammar might spin out of control. One by one, step by step, I want to get better and approach people with all the kinds of precious emotion. – Ji Young

Now I usually write short sentences, the parade of which is occasionally disrupted by some long sentences. Strangely, I sometimes just use one short sentence as one paragraph, to emphasize the message of my writing and give the readers a powerful impression.
     It just seems cool.
     Well, okay, this time it was not very much of an appropriate situation to use the "one-sentence-is-one-paragraph" style, but this is how I use it.- Yun Jo

One of my writings I am very proud of is the term paper about the student government in KMLA. I introduced the roles of the student government, the examples and counter-examples of the successful student government, the problems, student governments in other schools, and possible solutions to the problems. Particularly, I introduced the concept of the honor committee, how it is held in other schools, and the necessity to adapt the committee to KMLA. I think I organized the writing logically and clearly.  – Mingyu

To do this, I'm planning to post my writings (even though it's not  homework) here in the blog and see what I can do to upgrade my style. So far, none of my essays were able to persuade me to think of it as a great piece of writing. I head for a day when I will get impressed by my writing. I hope that day will come soon.   - JunSeung

I also read a book written by a author that later became one of my favorites, that is, Bill Bryson. The tittle of the book was "I'm a stranger here myself", and I really injured the way that he integrated humor within his sentences. That was around the time when my writing style changed drastically. – Woochan

________________

Some very good writing and honest expression above.  In order to become better writers, I encourage you to think about writing as a process instead of a task.  Learn from other writers (each other), and strive to improve. 

See me privately to learn what Greek mythological deity you are.  If you don't like your deity, I'm sorry.  It was a random selection, and the deity I chose for you is not meant to symbolize you in any way. : ) I hope you’ll receive divine inspiration and entreat the muse throughout the year.

 
Some very good writing and honest expression above.  In order to become better writers, I encourage you to think about writing as a process instead of a task.  Learn from other writers (each other), and strive to improve.