Scriptwriting

The 7 Story Archetypes

1.      Quest

The Quest archetype is very common in most mainstream films, particularly in adventure, and adventure comedy films. It consists of an heroic protagonist undergoing a journey in order to find or recover a priceless object or treasure. He tends to have a comedic sidekick with him. The film draws to a close once the treasure has been restored, and the hero has found his girl. The Odyssey is a given example. Several scenes within Pan’s Labyrinth also contain these attributes, such as, the toad and the tree scene – she’s sent to retrieve a key, and the pale man chamber scene – she’s sent to retrieve a knife.

2.      Voyage and Return

Can be found in a range of genres’, particularly those built around peculiar and strange worlds and plots. This archetype tells the story of an ordinary character who suddenly and accidently falls into an unfamiliar location, whether that is a new dimension, alternate reality or dream state etc. etc. the character must then fight their way back into there normal, usual lives. Alice in Wonderland is an obvious example, alongside Gulliver’s Travels, and Studio Ghibli’s Spirited Away.

3.      Comedy

The archetype of a comedy, is not necessarily the same as films in the comedy genre. Booker describes it as “involving some kind of confusion that must be resolved before the hero and heroin can be united in love.” I personally do not fully understand this description, it seems to be telling us that all films that contain a state of upheaval and then a return to equilibrium can be cast as a comedy, in which case, practically all films must be a comedy, whether they make us laugh or cry. He uses Shakespeare Comedies as an example, as well as Oscar Wilde stories.

4.      Tragedy

A tragedy is rather self explanatory. A film is filled with the darker side of life, often following one persons life. They tend to have a heavy characteristic of self doubt, depression and worthlessness. Booker titles it as the terrible consequences of human overreaching and egotism. Dorian Grey, Withnail and I, and the books of Catcher in the Rye and Of Mice and Men all fit into this category.

5.      Rebirth

Scrooge is an excellent example of this archetype. The stories in this category follow a disastrous event taking place, an ominous and threatening shadow takes a hold of the character, but then “a sequence of fortuitous (or even miraculous) events lead to redemption and rebirth, and the restoration of a happier world.”  Mary Lennox is apparently another good example.

6.      Overcoming the Monster

The ‘Overcoming the Monster’ story archetype is a very common sight in the majority of film genre’s, particularly those of  action, adventure and fantasy. *description* When I started researching further into the understanding of this plot, I came across some very interesting information in a book titled “The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories” written by Christopher Booker in 2004.  Within, are explained the findings of an ancient artefact on the island of Sri Lanka in 1853. Whilst traveling on a journey towards the island, then known as Ceylon, Henry Austen Layard discovered the buried remains of the historical, biblical city of ‘Niniveh’. Within the crumbled walls were recovered a ‘mass of clay tablets’, on which were the then undecipherable markings of script. After 20 years of studying the language and translating the marking, a startling revelation was made. Discovered, was man’s first ever written story, the ‘Epic of Gilgamesh’. The reason I am including this research in this section, is because of the rhythm that the plot followed. It fits directly into the plan and layout of the monster archetype. I included the findings because they piqued my interests.

7.      Rags to Riches

These stories are built surrounding a self-doubting, modest but virtuous character who has often been bullied and turned away from their own self-beliefs. The characters true talents and beauty is revealed to them through a series of often entertaining events, from which they gain confidence and begin to lead an extraordinary life, instead of their dull predecessor. Common films such as Cinderella and David Copperfield fit, alongside the character of Sophie from Howls Moving Castle.

Glengarry Glen Ross

Initial Notes:

·         Very long opening credits

·         A film about a sales agency, the film doesn’t explain what the workers are selling at first, but we soon find out they are selling real estate and property

·         Initial view is, the film is boring, there’s a lot of talking, not a lot else.

·         The colours in the film are all very dark, and stark, gloomy and uninspired.

·         The characters are all male, even though woman are apparently being spoken to on the phone, none actually appear in view.

·         All the men wear the same colour and design of coats.

·         Although none of the characters appear even remotely as  being interesting, you do feel a small amount of sympathy for the character of Shelly, as he is old and not very good, and nobody will help him, and he seems to have a family member who Is ill – his daughter/sister?

·         There are a lot of transitions and cut away shots of the train, it’s focussed on quite heavily.

·         The characters are portrayed to be very uncaring and unsupportive of each other, the majority of their conversations end up in an argument.

·         Nothing in the plot struck me as being particularly interesting, the film was fine as a time filler or as background noise, but I would never set out to intentionally watch it, it’s not my scene.

·         The cinematography was of a sound quality, the shot compositions and editing of the film presented a very smooth and easy to watch appearance.