Myths have accompanied humanity throughout history and have allowed us to create great civilizations.
In 1949 an American scholar of comparative mythology, Joseph Campbell, offered a theory that was to change the way we understand the nature and depth of storytelling. He found that the great myths of all civilizations in history share the same narrative structure: the representation of the evolution of an individual's consciousness. Campbell’s proposal came to be known as the theory of Monomyth and the narrative structure that derived from it was called The Hero’s Journey. What happens in the mythological narrative is a large-scale dramatization of a rite of passage: separation-initiation-return. In its basic form,
The Hero’s Journey takes place in three phases. After having become aware that there is a crisis, the hero takes commitment and begins his or her journey. This is the phase of separation from the ordinary world. Once in the extraordinary world, the hero incurs a series of difficulties that take her to a moment of personal transformation. A boon is gained and the hero finally returns to her original context but enriched, thanks to the experience she went through.
In terms of narrative structure, the Hero’s Journey offers useful ...
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By Giuseppe Cavallo
Founder of Voxpopuli, a responsible marketing agency in Barcelona. Expert in branding and storytelling, he was marketing director for Europe of the commercial vehicles division at Nissan before leading its global communication department.