Zoah Alvarado
Vogler Annotation
Vogler, Christopher. "Epilogue". Looking Back on the Journey. Studio City, CA: Micheal Wiese Production, 2007. 231-290.
Summary.
Here stands the end of the road for story and hero alike, however, the element of nostalgia is also incorporated for the sake of memory, reflection, the basic act of looking back on history. This is by far, Vogler's longest chapter, and in it he strives to communicated the fact that his book, The Writer's Journey, should not be staunchly followed but merely used as a faint background or "guideline". Vogler makes this sentiment clear in his first "Caveat Scriptor" statement, "... The Hero's Journey is a guideline. It's not a cookbook recipe or a mathematical formula to be applied rigidly to every story. To be effective, a story doesn't have to concur with this or any other school, paradigm, or method of analysis."(231) Vogler also explains to the reader and expectant writer the beneficial results of choosing a metaphor, THEIR own metaphor as a means of producing a template for their story. Interestingly enough, Vogler even goes on to say that it may be best to altogether forget what was read and learned from The Writer's Journey and refer to it only as a metaphor if, and when, the writer has "lost" his or her "way". Vogler writes, "It's probably best to acquaint yourself with the Hero's Journey ideas and then forget about them as you sit down to write. If you get lost, refer to the metaphor as you would check a map on a journey."(233) The best of his comments is regarding how the writer should not at all use a map but indeed get lost in creativity in order for new discoveries to be made and a great story to unfold.
Reaction.
The one thing that impacted me the most about this chapter was Vogler's statement regarding how the mass media, ( Vogler specifies MTV) has greatly increased story pace and rhythms resulting in shorter audience attention spans and reenforcing their ability to keep up with storyline twists, turns, stops, and goes, forward and retro movements. Although I agree that this has indeed happened, I do not believe it is truly a good result for various reasons, possibly unrelated to the present subject matter. I was furthermore intrigued by Vogler's statement about the writer needing to become lost in creativity in order for a successful storyline to be produced. I feel it is true that in order for a comparatively good story to be produced, the writer must move away from boring, perhaps overused, convention, and must free and loose themselves to creativity.
Questions.
1. Is it truly good that the average audience has been forced to slacken/shorten their attention span in order to be able to keep up with the various kinds of media including literature?
2. Can the twists and turns, the stops and goes, the forward and retro movement of a written story really only be appreciated and followed by the audience that has been conditioned by fast paced short sequenced media?
Words.
Denouement (254): n. The final resolution of the intricacies of a plot, as of a drama or novel. The place in the plot at which this occurs. The outcome or resolution of a doubtul series of occurences.
Sentence: The word denouement came from the French word, denouer, which literately means to untie or the action of untying.
Frisson (262): n. A sudden, passing sensation of excitement; a shudder of emotion; thrill.
Sentence: Few movies have been able to induce in me pure frisson as has the movie The Piano.
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