“The designers of amusement park thrill rides know how to use this principle.
Roller coasters make their passengers feel as if they're going to die, and there's a great
thrill that comes from brushing up against death and surviving it. You're never more
alive than when you're looking death in the face.”
What is interesting about this point is that death is thought of very differently across different cultures. As far as storytelling goes and experiences, I do agree with the author that the reason this is an effective tool in storytelling or experiences is that we all have a physiological response. Yet, culturally, there are quite different customs around death in the world. In Mexico for example day of the death is joyous. On the other hand, it is considered odd to serve food at a funeral in Mexico, and in Anglo-Saxon America, at a funeral food is served. I still understand the point of this tool but I’m not sure how could these other views of death could inform this part of a hero’s journey?
“Likewise in The Wizard of Oz, considerable time is spent to establish Dorothy's
drab normal life in Kansas before she is blown to the wonderworld of Oz. Here the
contrast is heightened by shooting the Kansas scenes in stern black and white while
the Oz scenes are shot in vibrant Technicolor.”
This example illustrates the difference between a known and unknown world clear. And stands out to me as it exemplifies the utilization of formal change in the story media. I think that with the various ways in which we consume media today— this was a relevant way to think about storytelling. It would be interesting to learn more about the way in which a formal change can be part of the monomyth structure whether in historical or contemporary examples.
“Such stories are accurate models of the workings of the human mind, true
maps of the psyche. They are psychologically valid and emotionally realistic even
when they portray fantastic, impossible, or unreal events.”
I felt conflicted about ideas in this quote. On one hand, I subscribe to the idea that monomyths have stood the test of time because they reoccur over and over across almost every culture. However, I don’t follow how that makes these kinds of stories psychologically valid. Storytelling is a medium that informs psychological practice. Yet, the goal of psychology is undermined with correlation. The practice of modern psychology is very short by comparison to the human practice of storytelling.