Vogler Reading Ordinary World

The reading focused on the Ordinary World, and the different aspects of it. Vogler expains that the Ordinary World is the common, everyday life that the character lives, he goes on to say that this section of the story is one of the most important because it “hooks the reader” into wanted to continue reading; and sets the tone of the story. He also lets the reader know that this part of the story is the most crucial because it is where the reader gets to see the first glimpses of the character, how they move, look , talk , their personality. It is the reader's first chance to get an impression from the story; so the writer must try to make a powerful ; good first impression. Vogler continues this chapter by breaking down all the important elements to include in the Ordinary world section of a story, like the importance of a good title, forshadowing; hinting at events to come in the story. The importance of raising a dramatic question and creating inner and outer contrast between the main character/ Hero. The crucial first entrance of the main character, and the importance of a wounded Hero; as a way to make them more identifiable with the audience. 

I really enjoyed this reading, much more than many of the others, it was just the right length to hold my attention, without seeming as though it was trying to overload the reader with tons of information. I also enjoyed this section because it focused a lot on the elements of good story writing, and as I was reading I found my self wondering of in thought about the different ways I could apply Vogler's interpritation of good story- telling to my own writing for the class. The section about the wounded , held particular meaning to me, because I feel like my own personal writing is based upon wounds that I have had to deal with throughout my own personal life journey. 

Upon reflection of the entire reading, I can only say that I hope the readings to follow will offer me as much insight as this one has, so that I  will be able to apply the Vogler reading to my own personal stories. I feel like this reading will help to make me want to achive more in my personal writing , and give myself a goal to move towards. 

1. Can the readings for the course continue to be shorter in length as this one was, I personally find it less stressful and more enjoyable when I dont have to worrry about finishing a specific , or large amount of pages in one sitting.

2. Does the Hero character always need to have all of these elements to make the story a good story?

3. Do you think the Ordinary World has to be dramatically different from the Special World, as Vogler sugjests

Revision plan

Strengths: 1. I think that my ordinary world section is one of the strongest points in my paper. 

2. I think that the subject I picked is one which will make a interesting paper

Work on: 1. I think that one of the biggest areas I need to work on is to clarify my thoughts, include more explination, and unpack the writing. 

Going to read through the paper t0 see where I could clarify ceartin sections. 

Try to get my thoughts out of my head and on to the paper so that the reader will not have to make any leaps in thought process. 

2. Also I need to work on my transitions in order to make my paper flow better, and to allow the reader to easily understand my thought process. 

 In the reading, Vogler continues the Hero's Journey by describing the other archatypes. The threshold Gardian was the first archatype to be mentioned. In the Hero's Journey the Threshold Gardian is a “nutral figure who are simply a part of the background of the special world. They are not the main villan or antagonist.” (49) The threshold gardian is used to challenge or test the hero.  The second archatypes mentioned was the Herold, they are the characters who “issue a challege and annonce the coming of a significant change.”  The  Herald usually is  introduced in the beginning of the story, bec to helps the character begin his adventure” (57).   They can be present in the journey as many forms, sometimes protraying an actual character; while at other times they are recognized as a poweful “force” in the journey.  In the reading vogler points out that there is not just one specific type of character that can preform the role of the Herold. Rather he informs the reader that their can be several types of herolds; some are good, others bad, and still others that remain nutral characters throughout the story.

 The next type of archatype Vogler mentions is the Shapeshifter, who“ is the most moldable character in any story, the shapeshifter is most often seen in relationships between characters of the opposite sex.

In many stories the Shapeshifter becomes the “love intrest” of the Hero.Many times the Shapeshifter turns out to be a the “love intrest of the Hero” Shapeshifter's are always changing their look , and their emotions. On some occasions the shapeshifter can turn out to be the same sex as the Hero, when this happens the shapeshifter takes on the role of an alley or friend.” The shapeshifter can function as a mask to be worn by any character, for example if in a romatic story the hero might become the shapeshifter/ friend.” (63) The shadow is another archatype who represents the dark side. A shadow can be all the negative aspects of ourselfs, and the secrets that we keep. The shadow is used as a way to challenge the Hero.

My reaction to the reading this week was that it was an overwhelming amount of material for me personally. I think I would have retained and understood more of the information if it was broken down into smaller sections. Similar to the way it was in the earlier chapters. 

I thought the reading was informative but it did not hold my attention as well as some of the previous chapters. Maybe it was due to the length of the reading or maybe because the author used less examples, making it harder to invision each archatype. Either way I found it difficult to focus on the different readings this time around.

In the future can we have the readings broken down into smaller sections?

 I did not really understand the section on Threshold Guardians, What types of  characters in film would be considered a Threshold Guardian?

 If the shadow is  a dark force, how can they be humanized or vounerable?

 In this weeks reading by Vogler, he begins his discussion about archatypes. The meaning of the term archatype as described by Carl Jung says that the word reffers to “ancient pattern s of personality , that are shared by the human race. Jung goes on to say that he believes that all archatypes share a collective unconcious , much like the human unconcious, thefore the stories of a culture are similar to the collective dreams of a society.” Vogler goes on to point out that the archatypes knows no bounderies , it transends the consept of time. Archatypes are present in stories throughout the world, and will continue to be a neccesary element of story telling for generations to come. The first archatype that Vogler adresses is the Hero , a character willing to sacrifice for the good of others , or the betterment of humanity. Throughout the chapter he devides the Hero into many different facets, including their physiological functions; transending the ego, toaudience identification, how the audience identifies with the hero. Growth , how the hero learns from his experiences. The action of the hero , how his actions motivate the story. The hero's ability to sacrifice, one of the major makers of a hero. He goes on to describe many other types and variations of hero's. 

Vogler depicts several different types of hero's in this reading, we know that the Hero in the story is someone who sacrifices for the good of others, overcome's their ego , and is a charcter that experiences  growth and learns from his experiences. Does a story have just one hero, or could their be several different hero's in a story? I bring up this question because Vogler describes so many different types of hero's within the reading, and I know that the Hero character can be a combination of these types , but can their ever be two hero's working together? 

 Throughout the reading I kept reflecting back on the statement  found in the section about the Group oriented Hero I found it interesting that when it comes time for the Hero to choose to return to his ordinary life , or stay in his fantasy world , that the Hero's disison is often based on the cultural significance of the story. In Western Culture the Hero typically chooses to go back to his family or community. But in other cultures the outcome is not the same. In other cultures such as Asia and India the Hero typically chooses to stay in their fantasy world in lue of reterning to reality. 

1. Vogler describes the hero as someone who is willing to sacrifice for the good of others, someone experiences personal growth, and learns from their experiences. I tend to think of a hero in this same manner. However, I also think that a Hero is someone who can break away from the mold, and go off to experience unfound territory, someone who breaks away from the constraits of society and has the courage to follow their dreams. In this way I don't think that all hero's necessarly have to fit into this mold of abandoning the ego , because it takes a lot of ego to go against the main stream culture or society.

2. Can their ever be more than one hero in a story?

3. In western culture the hero typically returns back to the ordinary world to live with his community or family. In other cultures however, the hero often chooses to stay in the Fantasy World.. Why? What does this say about the values of each culture?

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