The Seven Basic Plots

The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories is an English-language book by Christopher Booker published in 2004that analyzes stories and narratives in terms of their psychological meaning. The analysis isbased on the psychic personality types developedby CG Jung . Booker worked on this book for a total of 34 years, according to various sources.

Summary

The meta-plot

The meta-plot begins with the expectation phase in which the hero is called for the upcoming adventure. A dream phase follows, in which the adventure begins, the hero has some success and has an illusion of invincibility. However, a period of frustration ensues when the hero has his first confrontation with the enemy and the illusion of invincibility is lost. This worsens in the nightmare, the climax of the conspiracy, where hope is seemingly lost. Ultimately, the hero resolutely overcomes the burden of having to fight against adversity.

The core thesis of the book is: "No matter how many characters appear in a story, it is only about one: the hero or the heroine. It is they with whose fate we identify when they gradually develop into a state of self-realization that marks the end of the story. Ultimately, all of the other characters in a story relate to this central figure. What the other characters represent is actually only part of the inner state of the hero or heroine herself. "

The seven basic plots form the basis of the plot.

The plots

Overcoming the monster

Definition: The protagonist tries to defeat an antagonistic force (often evil) that threatens the home of the protagonist and / or the protagonist himself.

Examples: Perseus , Theseus , Beowulf , Dracula , The War of the Worlds , Nicholas Nickleby , The Seven Samurai (and his western remake The Magnificent Seven ), James Bond , Star Wars .

From dishwasher to millionaire (from beggar to king)

Definition: The poor protagonist acquires power, wealth and / or a partner, loses everything and wins it back, thereby growing as a person.

Examples: Cinderella , Aladdin , Jane Eyre , Great Expectations , The Prince and the Begging Boy , Rocky , A Kingdom for a Lama .

The pursuit (the mission)

Definition: The protagonist and his companions wanted to acquire an important object or get to a place. You face temptations and other obstacles along the way.

Examples: Odysseus , The Pilgrim's Progress , The Lord of the Rings , King Solomon's Treasury , Watership Down , Avengers: Infinity War .

Journey and return

Definition: The protagonist goes to a foreign country and, after having overcome its threats, returns with experience.

Examples: Ramayana , Alice in Wonderland , Goldilocks and the Three Bears , Orpheus , The Time Machine , The Story of Peter Rabbit , The Hobbit , The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie , Mad Max: Fury Road , Reunion with Brideshead , The Rime of the Ancient Mariner , Gone with the wind , The third man .

comedy

Definition: Light and humorous character with a happy or cheerful ending; a dramatic work in which the central motif is the triumph over adverse circumstances, which leads to a successful or happy conclusion. Booker emphasizes that there is more to a comedy than humor. It refers to a pattern in which the conflict becomes more and more confusing, but eventually becomes apparent in a single clearing event. The majority of romance films fall into this category.

Examples: A Midsummer Night's Dream , Much Ado About Nothing , What You Want , Bridget Jones - Chocolate for Breakfast , Right in the Heart - A Song for You , She Loves It - She Does n't Love Him , Four Weddings and a Death .

tragedy

Definition: The character flaw of the protagonist or his big mistake is at the same time his undoing. The unfortunate end of tragedy evokes pity for the folly and downfall of a fundamentally good character.

Examples: Macbeth , Das Bildnis des Dorian Gray , Carmen , Bonnie and Clyde , Jules and Jim , Anna Karenina , Madame Bovary , John Dillinger , Romeo and Juliet , Julius Caesar .

Rebirth

Definition: An event forces the main character to change their path and often become a better person.

Examples: The Frog King or the Iron Heinrich , Beauty and the Beast , The Snow Queen , A Christmas Carol , The Secret Garden , Peer Gynt .

precursor

• William Foster-Harris' The Basic Patterns of Plot describes a theory of the three basic patterns of plot.
• Ronald B. Tobias set up a 20-plot theory in his 20 master-plots .
• Georges Polti 's The Thirty-Six Dramatic Situations .
• Some of these plots can also be viewed as a revision by Joseph Campbell .

reception

The book was rejected by a number of journalistic reviewers, such as Adam Mars-Jones , who disagreed with Booker that his generalizations about conventional plot structures should be applied:

"He lays down criteria for art and condemns Rigoletto , the Kirschgarten , Wagner , Proust , Joyce , Kafka and Lawrence - the list goes on - while Crocodile Dundee , ET and Terminator 2 are praised".

Similarly, the American literary critic Michiko Kakutani writes in the New York Times :

"Mr. Booker evaluates works of art based on how closely they adhere to the archetypes he has so painstakingly described. Those that deviate from these classic patterns are dismissed as flawed or perverse - symptoms, what with modern art and the modern world went wrong. "

However, it was also received positively by some, including Fay Weldon , who wrote:

"This is the most extraordinary and exciting book. It always seemed to me that" history "was God's way of giving meaning to the unfinished creation. Booker now interprets the Spirit of God and not only analyzes the novel - which for me never again will be quite the same - but it puts a new perspective on the narrative of contemporary human affairs. If it took its author a lifetime to write this novel, one can only be grateful that he made it. "

Beryl Bainbridge , Richard Adams , Ronald Harwood and John Bayley were also positive, while philosopher Roger Scruton called it a "brilliant narrative summary".

See also

• Analytical psychology
• Hero's journey
• action

Web links

• "The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories" on Google Books
• "Everything ever written boiled down to seven plots", Review by Kasia Boddy, The Telegraph , 2004-11-21
• "Terminator 2 good, The Odyssey bad", Review by Adam Mars-Jones, The Observer , 2004-11-21
• "The Plot Thins, or Are No Stories New?", Review by Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times , 2005-04-15
• "The Seven Basic Plots", blog entry by Chris Bateman, 2005-10-11
• "Once Upon a Time", Review by Denis Dutton, The Washington Post , 2005-05-08
• "The Seven Basic Plots", Review by Clive Bradley, Workers' Liberty , 2005-12-25
• "What are the seven basic literary plots?" Cecil Adams, The Straight Dope, 2000-12-24
• 'The "Basic" Plots in Literature', IPL2

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h} Chris Bateman: The Seven Basic Plots (blog) October 11, 2005. Retrieved November 10, 2018.
2. ^ The definition of comedy .
3. ^ The "Basic" Plots in Literature . Archived from the original on August 21, 2015. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved September 11, 2013. 
4. ↑ 20 Master Plots and How to Build Them. Retrieved November 11, 2018 . 
5. ^ University of California Libraries: The thirty-six dramatic situations . Franklin, O.: JK Reeve, 1921 ( archive.org [accessed November 11, 2018]).
6. ^ Adam Mars-Jones: Observer review: The Seven Basic Plots by Christopher Booker. November 21, 2004, accessed November 10, 2018 . 
7. ↑ Michiko Kakutani: The Plot Thins, or Are No Stories New? ( nytimes.com [accessed November 10, 2018]).
8. ↑ Bloomsbury.com: The Seven Basic Plots. Retrieved November 10, 2018 . 

Christopher Booker: The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories . Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, London 2004, ISBN 978-0-8264-8037-8 , pp. 736 (English).