Vogler (p 143-173)

The first part of the reading discusses the Approach to the Inmost Cave. This is the point in storytelling where the hero prepares for his most significant challenge during the journey. Vogler uses The Wizard of Oz to illustrate the various aspects of the approach. The central idea in this chapter is on preparation. While previous sections explained how the hero prepares himself (or is educated/coerced by others) to accept the task and enter the new world, the approach to the inmost cave deals with his preparation for the specific task which lies before him. Vogler compares this section of the narrative to base camp before "the final assault on the highest peak". At this point, the hero deducts who his true allies are and the audience recognizes the type of approach (whether a bold, apprehensive, or fool hearty) the hero will be using. During this phase the hero encounters further obstacles; he may enter a series of different worlds within his new environment where the rules change again, encounter new thresholds and complications, face an impossible test, or yet again, have to deal with a thresh hold guardian. At this point in the narrative the stakes might be raised and his objectives reorganized. Vogler also emphasizes the emergence of a "message" with every step of the approach. The approach is complete once the hero has made a "breakthrough"-- a bold step towards completion of the task, which leaves him no exit or escape from the confrontation. 

Though Vogler addresses many different components of "approach" element of a narrative, this chapter was entirely too specific to just one story--The Wizard of Oz. It almost seems as though Vogler extracted his postulates about "The Approach" entirely from The Wizard of Oz, which makes it unfair for him to claim them as rules or standard elements applicable to narratives in general. It becomes very clear that Vogler is under the very strong influence of writing films-- a style which puts the audience first-- and under an even stronger influence of the "Disney" school of story telling.  I am also starting to notice his overuse of the Threshold guardian in almost every chapter, while he neglects to illustrate the presence and significance of other archetypes. 

 Several of Vogler's claims in this chapter do ring true. I agree with his conclusion, in which he states that the approach is complete after a breakthrough of sorts, which leads to the hero having "no exit", and inevitably raises the stakes within the story. This structure is important in order to maintain the elements of suspense and identification throughout a story, and avoiding the loss of pace. However, the most significant point raised in this section is that of a developing message or messages. Each phase of the approach sends a message to the audience about what the hero is learning during the journey. One example, which Vogler uses from The Wizard of Oz is the message of not being tempted by illusions. This message not only reveals what Dorothy has come to realize about her new world, but also serves as an underlying moral in the narrative to be extracted by the audience. This technique of embedding messages gives a story a greater sense of purpose on top of just presenting the hero's journey. 

The second section of this weeks reading was the chapter describing Stage Eight: The Ordeal. Here, Vogler writes about the hero's need to die in order to be reborn. The "death" of the hero may be literal or symbolic. This section of a narrative is the result of a central crisis and results in a prominent change in the hero. Vogler uses two diagrams of an uphill journey to illustrate a crisis or a delayed crisis as they may appear in a story. He also explains many ways in which a crisis may manifest-- creating tension and evoking emotion. According to Vogler, death is a prevalent factor in the order. Death may be caused and or witnessed by the hero, while the hero's seeming death may be witnessed by someone else in the form of self sacrifice.  During the ordeal the hero is also likely to confront the "shadow"or villain. Their encounter results in either the death of one of the two, or the narrow escape of death by either party. Vogler claims that during The Ordeal, the hero faces his greatest fear, and gives examples of traditional confrontations between lovers, parents or the eternal conflict of youth versus age. 

This was an interesting section to read, as it dealt with a great amount of narrative theory. I also found this to be Vogler's strongest analysis of a portion of the hero's journey thus far. He returns to using classic examples of story telling and providing a psychological orientation of each element. What particularly caught my attention was Vogler's reminder that "villains are heroes of their own stories", and suggests the exercise of walking through the story in the Shadow's skin at least once. I appreciated his inclusion of this concept, because the idea has definitely crossed my mind. In modern story telling, especially in film, this is often a given-- even if the hero is clearly defined, the entire cast of characters is usually morally ambiguous to begin with, making it easier to understand the position of the alleged "villain". However, even during Disney movies, for instance, where the bad guy is made blatantly obvious, I wonder if they see themselves or their agenda as "evil". As Vogler recommends doing, I have often desired to view a story through the villains point of view.

Questions:

1) If a story was to be told with the shadow as the hero, would the audience still pick up on his immoral nature, or identify with him as we are conditioned to do with protagonists?

2) Not all narratives deal with a literal demise of the hero or shadow. What are some examples of death in the symbolic sense? 

3) The conflict of youth versus age: Is there an unfair tendency to stigmatize age and glorify youth in storytelling?