Vogler Annotated Bib 8

Alexandra L. Minton
October 29, 2008
Vogler
Annotated Bib 8

Vogler, Christopher. The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers. Third

Edition. Reward. The Road Back. Studio City. Michael Weise Productions.

2007.

Reward
The ninth step of the Hero’s Journey is Reward. After the Ordeal, where the hero came face to face with death, the hero leaves the Special World with a reward. The hero may think that his or her journey is over. However, it is not. The Road Back may have ordeals and obstacles that the hero needs to face. The Reward sequence consists of celebration, taking possession, seizing the sword, exilir theft, initiation, new perceptions, seeing through deception, clairvoyance, self-realization, epiphany, and distortions. In this stage there may be scenes in which the hero is in a campfire scene where a number of emotions take place: relief, conflict, reminiscence. A scene like this helps the audience get to know the character better. Love scenes also take place in the Reward stage of the Hero’s Journey. During this stage, the hero takes possession of what he or she has been seeking. The hero may act aggressively to get this possession and might even steal it. Facing death may deepen the hero’s perceptions, allowing the hero to see through deceptions, come to self-realization and have an epiphany.

IX. Reward
A. Celebration
1. cook outs/barbeques
B. Campfire Scenes
1. relief
2. conflict
3. reminiscence
4. allow the audience to
a. review the story
b. get to know the characters better
C. Love Scenes
1. heroes don’t deserved to be loved until they have shown their “willingness to sacrifice” (177)
D. Taking Possession
1. heroes take what they have been seeking
2. transaction: hero has risked life and now gets something in exchange
E. Seizing the Sword
1. “active movement of the hero who aggressively takes possession of whatever was being sought in the Special World” (178)
2. Campbell’s term: “The Ultimate Boon”
3. can be a moment of clarity
F. Exilir Theft
1. hero may steal the exilir
2. overcome the forces of death
G. Initiation
H. New Perceptions
1. death may sharpen the perception of life
2. new knowledge may be what the hero seeks
I. Seeing Through Deception
J. Clairvoyance
1. “a hero who has faced death is more aware of the connectedness of things, more intuitive” (181)
K. Self-Realization
1. “the illusion of their lives is replaced with clarity and truth” (181)
L. Epiphany
1. “epiphany is a moment of realizing you are a divine and sacred being, connected to all things” (181)
2. James Joyce
a. “a sudden perception of the essence of something, seeing to the core of a person, idea or thing”
M. Distortions
1. inflation of ego
2. abuse of power and privilege
3. hero may underestimate the significance of the ordeal
4. anger

Questions
1. Explain, heroes don’t deserved to be loved until they have shown their “willingness to sacrifice.”
2. Give some examples of a hero who has dealt with distortions.
3. Explain how seizing the sword can bring moments of clarity.


The Road Back
In the tenth stage of the Hero’s Journey, The Road Back, the hero may face obstacles and more ordeals. The steps of the journey include motivation, retaliation and setbacks. There can be chase scenes, magic flight motif, chase variation and villain escape in this stage. The hero needs to rededicate him or herself to the adventure. By this stage of the journey, the hero feels comfortable. The hero needs to be “pried” off of the “comfort plateau” by inner or external resolves. Retaliation follows, as do setbacks. Chase scenes offer a build up of momentum for the end and in chase scenes, the hero may use transformation to get out of a sticky situation, whether it be by outer transformation or inner transformation. The Magic Flight Motif may manifest itself in this stage with an object that transforms itself. Joseph Campbell suggested that the motif stands for a hero’s attempts to stall the avenging forces in any way possible. Chases may be enacted by the hero’s admirers, as opposed to the hero being chased by villains. Villains may escape and come back stronger than before when the hero did not “finish” them off.

X. The Road Back
A. Motivation
1.heroes rededicate themselves to the adventure
2. heroes must be pried off of their plateau of comfort by,
a. inner resolves
b. external resolves
B. Retaliation
1. Finish your opponent.
2. “neuroses, flaws, habits, desires, or addictions we have challenged may retreat for a time, but can rebound in a last-ditch defense or a desperate attack before being vanquished forever” (190)
C. Chase Scenes
1. useful for torquing up a story’s energy
2. you want to pick up pace and build momentum for the finish
3. end of Act Two is a common place to see chase scenes
4. transformation may be used to escape a situation
a. outer transformation
b. inner transformation
D. Magic Flight
1. “a whimsical transformation of objects” (191)
2. Joseph Campbell
a. suggests the motif stands for a hero’s attempts to stall the avenging forces in any way possible
E. Chase Variation: Pursuit by Admirers
F. Villain Escape
G. Setbacks
H. Functions
1. “represents the resolve of the hero to return to the Ordinary World and implement the lessons learned in the Special World” (189)
2. the road back is a turning point
3. causes the third act

Questions
1. Give an example of the magic flight motif that does not involve enchanted carpets, genie bottles, etc.
2. Give an example of pursuit by admirers.
3.

Project Two Outline Strengths and Weaknesses

Strengths:

Variety of perspectives.

Statistics.

Good examples.

Weaknesses:

Will I pick a side? What works?

Policies of sex education?

Offer a solution and my opinion. 

Vogler Annotated Bib 6

Vogler, Christopher. The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers. Third

Edition. Crossing the First Threshold. Tests, Allies and Enemies. Studio City,

CA. Michael Weise Productions. 2007.

Summary
Stages Five and Six of the Hero’s Journey are Crossing the First Threshold and Tests, Allies and Enemies. Crossing the First Threshold is an act where the hero commits to the adventure. The Hero approaches the first threshold, meets threshold guardians, crosses the threshold and then lands. The journey truly begins when the Hero crosses the first threshold. Tests, Allies and Enemies make up the next stage of the Hero’s Journey. In this stage, the Hero meets obstacles and comes away from tests with allies or enemies. Rivals can also be found in this stage. The Hero may compete with a rival. An essential part of this stage is that the Hero must learn the rules of the new world.

Relfection
V. Crossing the First Threshold
A. Approaching the Threshold
1. Changes the course or intensity of the story
2. Sources
a. External
b. Internal
B. Threshold Guardians
1. Block the path the hero wants to take
2. Heroes need to figure out a way through or around the guardians
C. The Crossing
1. Physical Barriers
2. Single Moment
3. Extended Passage
4. Leap of Faith
D. Rough Landing
1. Crash, Literally or Figuratively

VI. Tests, Allies and Enemies
A. Contrast
B. Testing
C. Allies and Enemies
D. Allies
E. Sidekicks
F. Teams
G. Enemies
H. The Rival
I. New Rules
J. Watering Holes

Questions
1. Are there heroes that have no allies?
2. When do teams become an official group?
3. Do Heroes give up anything when they Cross the First Threshold?

Vogler Question Responses

Q: Is a mentor always needed? Can you think of a story in which there is no mentor like character?
A: A mentor of some type is always needed in a story. The mentor can be a situation or a past experience. It does not necessarily have to be an actual physical being. I cannot think of a story in which there is no mentor.

Q: Do you think that foreshadowing ruins a story?
A: Foreshadowing does not ruin a story. It enhances it. Someone foreshadowing isn't even noticed until a certain event takes place or after the story is told. This makes it interesting. We can look back on what we missed and see that it was there all along.

Extra Credit Assignments

Extra Credit 1: Free Rice
About a week before this assignment, my friend told me about Free Rice.com. She is a Human Development major and one of her professors told her about this website. So I went to it when she told me and I ended up donating 5,000 grains of rice. After being assigned the extra credit, I went back to Free Rice and donated 2,320 grains of rice. I wrote down some words that I did not get the first time around…
disparity= inequality
bungle= botch
amok= berserk
commingle= blend
dolt= dullard
charlatan= fraud
girder= beam
I think that others should go to Free Rice because it not only increases your vocabulary but it also helps feed people around the world. Having a good vocabulary is essential as you get older and go out into the real world.

Extra Credit 2: Smith Mag
For the Smith Mag assignment, I wrote six words that do not only apply to me, but to the world. When I think of the way the world is today I think about how it takes many little steps in order to achieve one normal step. forward The six words I wrote were…
Local. Regional. National. International. Global. Progress.
People should do this exercise because it takes thought to come up with only six words and while thinking about those six words you can really focus on what you care about and what message you want to send out.

Extra Credit 3: NPR

I chose to read the story, "A History of Museums, 'The Memory of Mankind'." The title caught my attention because I love museums and I'm interested in history. It also caught my attention because I am interested in being an art director at a museum. That is a possible career. I don't plan to become one but I think it would be a cool job and I think I would enjoy it. According to this recording on NPR, there are 17,000 museums in the United States and the attendance for museums, per year, is over 800 million! That's more than 4 times the amount of people that attend sporting events in a year! Museums are large corporations that face many challenges. Museums face ethical situations in deciding or not deciding to show an exhibit. Museums also need to be "tech savvy." According to Ford Bell, the head of the American Association of Museums mentioned that museums are not just a pastime but that they are a "critical piece in our education infrastructure." I agree with him on that. I think that museums are very important in helping people learn about the past and future. Museums can bring awareness to many issues. Phillippe Demontebello, the former art director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, says that museums serve as a "memory of mankind as it preserves pieces of history."

Many people don't appreciate museums enough and think of them as "boring." To me, museums are far from boring. Many aspects of museums are covered in this short NPR recording and people should learn how much museums influence our culture and our history.  

Extra Credit 4: The Web of Language

I chose to read "George Bush Hooked on Phonics at U.N. (That's YOO-en)" I chose to read this particular story because I am not a supporter of George Bush, but I do enjoy watching his speeches and browsing through numerous "Bushisms" books that have been published since he took office in 2000. I remember using Hooked on Phonics when I was a child. That's one way I learned how to read. I think that Bush should have started the Hooked on Phonics program much earlier in life. It's harder to absorb new information as an adult. The article said that phonics are used to aid Bush in pronouncing certain words. Apparently the speech transcript that Bush gave to the U.N. General Assembly on September 25th was "accidentally" released to the press. And this transcript had phonetic spellings in it. It surprises me to this day that Bush was elected President. His speeches are hilarious and his pronunciations are too but I do feel bad that his learning disabilities were not properly addressed at a younger stage in his life. When talking about his No Child Left Behind Act he said, "childrens do learn."

I think that The Web of Language is a good website that has a number of interesting stories. The story I read is not a story that would appeal to everyone but people should read a story or two on The Web of Language that interests them. 

Extra Credit 5: YouTube Rhetoric Videos

The first rhetoric video with puppets was interesting. I enjoyed the choice of music. It is simple and it's a nice touch to use puppets. Ethos, Pathos and Logos were mentioned. But basically, this kid is teaching children to manipulate their parents into letting them stay up later, which probably deprives them of much needed sleep, and to talk their parents into buying candy. Children are already "high on life" and adding teaspoons upon teaspoons of sugar probably isn't the best idea. 

I loved this approach! Using film is usually effective and using well-known, humorous films is especially effective. 

Men In Black: Logos

The Breakfast Club: Pathos

Monty Python: Ethos/Logos

Monsters, Inc.: Logos/Pathos/Ethos

I think that the first video is clever and that the student should get an A on the assignment for his rhetoric class but I felt that the second clip was more effective for me. I think that you should show that clip in class when going over Ethos, Pathos and Logos. 

Extra Credit 6: An Act of Random Kindness

Many acts of kindness are simple acts. They are small gestures that people appreciate. This past weekend I was in Vero Beach for Thanksgiving break. My cousin and I went shopping on Black Friday and as we were leaving the store and walking back to my car, I saw an old man with a cane trip over a block of concrete and fall to the ground in the parking lot. I went over and asked if he was alright. He was quite old and had been walking with a cane. He wasn't able to get up on his own. He had bumped his head and was bleeding a bit so I called an ambulance and stayed with him until the ambulance came. The EMTs said that he would be fine. He just had a few scrapes and bruises. People really do appreciate small things that you do for them. It's also rewarding to feel that you made a difference in someone's day. 

Extra Credit 7: Three YouTube Videos

This video is of a debate where a woman who works at a Planned Parenthood in PA asks the candidates if they have talked to their children about sex and given medically accurate and age appropriate information. 

Have you talked to your children about sex education?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NBEtBwsOPU

This video is about the Bush proposal for pushing abstinence-only sex education as the only means of sex education and a senator's opposing views and why his views are important. Two teens from Sex, Etc. conduct the interview. 

Comprehensive Sex Ed vs Abstinence Only

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTGEOrZ3MCs

This video is about the book It's Perfectly Normal, the book that I chose to write about for my rhetorical analyses. However, this clip says that this book is, by definition, "pornography" and should not be distributed to children. I totally disagree and I think that this book is a good way to teach children about sex. 

Sex Book for Children

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42fP58EcBuY

Extra Credit 8: Contact an Author

GET OUT OF JAIL FREE!!

Extra Credit 9: Halloween Costume and Relation to Vogler

I dressed up as a devil for Halloween this year. The devil is a shadow that commonly represents temptation. It represents the dark side. It also represents unexpressed, unrealized or rejected aspects of something. 

Extra Credit 10: Vote

This was my first election to vote in. I registered to vote in Texas when I turned eighteen but I decided to not vote in my home state for this election. In my home state, my vote would not matter. I registered here in Pinellas County because Florida is a swing state and I wanted my vote to count... and it did! I even got a sticker that says, "I made freedom count. I voted." I did early voting and went downtown to turn in my ballot a week before the election. 

Extra Credit 11: Submit Writing to The Eckerd Review

GET OUT OF JAIL FREE!!

Extra Credit 12: Get Out of Jail Free Card

I got one Get Out of Jail Free Card for being in class at 10:45am on the dot!

Extra Credit 13: Perfect Attendance

GET OUT OF JAIL FREE!!

Project Two I-Search Questions 1-3

1. What are some of the larger themes in my memoir? (Themes such as: compassion, knowledge, economics, race, class, gender, politics, etc) Think about what your story ultimately deals with. Have fun and select some topics that you WANT to explore?
My memoir dealt with self discovery and knowledge. Education.

2. Now select one of those themes and brainstorm for a bit about the theme and how it appears in the cultural environment. For instance, if you choose compassion, then you may list ideas such as the Peace Movement, Humane treatment of animals, or issues related to Human Rights such as torture, genocide, etc.
Knowledge and education of women’s rights.

3. Here is where you write one or two paragraphs, discussing what knowledge, experience, or background you already have about your topic, BEFORE having done any research on it. Explore your positions in regards to the topic.
I have had an interest in women’s rights for many years. I am a member of Equality Now, a worldwide organization geared toward educating the public about women’s issues. Equality Now also tries to pass laws that make it illegal to perform GFM and honor killings. I think that people need to be educated on the topic, especially women, because they do not always recognize how much they are put down in all aspects of life.

Vogler Annotated Bib 5

Vogler, Christopher. The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers. Third

Edition. Refusal of the Call. Meeting with the Mentor. Studio City, CA. Michael

Weise Productions. 2007.

The Refusal of the Call is the stage that usually follows immediately after the Call to Adventure. Many times, a Hero is reluctant to embark on his journey and makes up excuses as to why he cannot, at the present time, go on the journey. Forms of Refusal include looking backward, dwelling in the past, and denying reality. If a Hero does not overcome his past demons, the Refusal can lead to tragedy. Sometimes the Refusal of the Call can be positive. By refusing, the hero may save himself much trouble. There are willing heroes and because those heroes are ready to embark on a journey and have already accepted their call, danger of the adventure may be seen through other characters. When a hero is unwilling and refusing the call, meeting with the mentor can calm the heroes’ fears.
The Meeting with the Mentor is the next step in which a Mentor figure protects, guides, teaches, tests, trains and provides magical gifts to the hero. Due to the mentor, the hero gains supplies, knowledge and confidence needed to overcome fear and commence the adventure. Many stories are solely focused on this relationship. With the Mentor teaching the Hero, wisdom and experience of one generation is passed onto the next. Mentors can be seen in folklore as witches, wizards, spirits and gods or goddesses. Vogler mentions Chiron, a famous centaur who trained Greek heroes like Hercules. The origin of Mentor comes from The Odyssey. Mentor stems from the Greek word, menos, which means mind. Menos can also mean courage.


III. Refusal of the Call
A. Dramatic Function
1. signaling the audience that the adventure is risky
B. Avoidance
1. common grounds for refusal is past experience
C. Excuses
1. weak excuses
2. they would undertake the adventure, if not for a pressing series of engagements
D. Persistent Refusal Leads to Tragedy
1. looking backward, dwelling in the past, and denying reality are forms of Refusal
E. Conflicting Calls
F. Positive Refusals
1. Hero is sometimes wise in refusing a call when that call is a temptation to evil or a summons to disaster
G. Artist as Hero
1. Campbell “blandishments of the world”
H. Willing Heroes
1. danger of the adventure is acknowledged and dramatized through another character
I. Threshold Guardians
1. test the hero’s commitment to the adventure
J. The Secret Door
1. Law of the Secret Door
2. stories are symbols of human curiosity, the powerful drive to know all the hidden things, all the secrets

IV. Meeting with the Mentor
A. Function
1. to protect, guide, teach, test, train and provide with magical gifts
2. because of the Mentor, the Hero gains the supplies, knowledge, and confidence needed to overcome fear and commence the adventure
B. Heroes and Mentors
1. stories devoted entirely to the process of mentors teaching students
C. Sources of Wisdom
1. wisdom and experience of one generation is passed on to the next
D. Mentors in Folklore and Myth
1. witches, wizards, witch doctors, spirits, gods, goddesses
E. Chiron, the Centaur: A Prototype
1. man and horse
2. Mentors often show that they are connected to nature or to some other world of the spirit
F. Mentor Himself
1. enthused about learning
G. Avoiding Mentor Cliches
1. defy the archetypes
H. Misdirection
1. mask of a Mentor may be used to trick a hero
I. Mentor-Hero Conflicts
1. being ungrateful or violent can hurt the Mentor-Hero relationship
2. question a Mentor’s motives
J. Mentor-Driven Stories
K. Mentor as Evolved Hero
L. Critical Influence

Questions
1. Explain the Artist as Hero.
2. Give examples of misdirection in Mentors.
3. Explore centaurs.

Revision and Edits to Memoir Revised Draft