Vogler

This section of The Writer's Journey talks about the format  of most books and just stories in general: the hero's journey. The journey consists of three different acts: separation, descent and initiation, and return. Within those three acts are a total of 12 stages: 1) ordinary world, 2) call to adventure, 3) refusal of the call, 4) meeting with the mentor, 5) crossing the first threshold, 6) tests, allies, enemies, 7) approach to the innermost cave, 8) ordeal, 9) reward, 10) the road back, 11) resurrection, and 12) return with the elixir. The author goes on to explain each stage and gives examples from films. He admits that not every story contains all the stages and that these stages don't necessarily have to occur in a particular order.

I really liked how the author seems to try to fit everyone's taste. For example in his examples he incorporates a variety of types of movies; they range from comedies such as Beverly Hills Cop to classics such as An Officer And A Gentleman. The wide range makes his argument more believable to me because it can apply to any circumstance. On the other hand the stages are pretty vague and by saying not all of them need to be used or need to be in a particular order lets him off the hook and makes me less impressed.

The only way I could really think of applying the author's ideas was to think about them in relation to all the movies I have seen recently. I realized that most of the ones I thought of as really bad were the ones that lacked more of Vogler's stages. What's more, the ones I regard as good contained more, though I found them in different orders. After reading this, many movies and stories are kind of ruined for me, they now seem a lot less original. On the other hand, I'm now more impressed with the writers and directors who can make a movie or story seem so different.

1. How does his setup differ from Campbell's?

2. Does this just work for fiction or for all types of writing (analytic and persuasive for example)?