The Shape of Stories
Bryan Rhoads
Head of Marketing @ TOC | Early-Stage Technology | AI Founder | Co-creator of my children | 1K+ Endorsements
There are anywhere from?6 to 36 narrative?plots. You’ll recognize all of them. However, most familiar are the seven basic plots according to?Christopher Booker: 1) Overcoming the Monster 2) Rags to Riches 3) The Quest 4) Voyage and Return 5) Rebirth 6) Comedy and 7) Tragedy.
Story structure haven't changed much since we first started telling them around fires. We like and frankly demand that Stories follow patterns as humans. Everything from Star Wars to Finding Nemo to David and Goliath — all of these stories follow similar ups, downs, twists or triumphs.
Campbell and Vonnegut
Kurt Vonnegat argued that?all stories share common shapes. His 1965 thesis was infamously rejected by the University of Chicago outlining the shape of Cinderella. Citing that its shape has been used over and over again. He argued that this pattern “is the most popular in Western Civilization and that every time it’s told someone makes a million dollars.”
Famous Lecture on his thesis:
The Hero’s Journey?is potentially the world’s oldest story or plot archetype. It universally serves as a basis for classic and modern stories alike.
Joseph Campbell describes the Hero’s Journey as:
A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.[1]
It’s Luke Skywalker and the caves of Lascaux. It’s Odyseus, Alice in Wonderland, the Wizard of OZ and the Matrix.
Incredible example from?Studio Jelly:
领英推荐
Brands: Who’s on What Journey?
Narratives differentiate these brands beyond messaging. They provide the audience with a relatable backstory, a familiar pattern that tugs at their emotions.
What’s new is the challenge to communicate the same narratives across an ever-evolving media landscape. New devices, multi-screens, changing consumption behaviors, changing demographics and new habits, etc.
Overcoming the Monster?— “Got Milk?” is an easy classic or Allstate’s Mayhem are great examples. Cinderella and Pretty Woman.
Voyage and Return?— Chrysler’s “Imported from Detroit” plus Weiden + Kennedy’s “Born of Fire” ad for XLV Super Bowl.
Rags to Riches?— Oprah. Certainly Steve Jobs, but?Apple itself is a Rags to Riches story.
Comedy?— take your pick.
Rebirth —?Prudential treating retirement as a new beginning.
The Quest
The Quest is about progression. It’s characterized by the protagonist stumbling onto several obstacles/challenges that must be completed in order to progress in the journey (and story).
Brands on the Quest:
I love that we talked about this exact concept today! I didn't realize just how much we could nerd out on this together! How fun! This is all so great!
Award-winning copywriter and published author. Columbia Pacific U, Wharton Business School Executive Edu. Experience on Microsoft, P & G, Colgate, Sara Lee, Nestle and others.
2 年At DDB we did a lot of work aligning Brands with Jung’s 12 personas. Highly illuminating and thought provoking. I’ll send you something on it.
Sales & Account Leader
3 年This is a great breakdown/viz! Thanks for posting Bryan Rhoads