The impulse to make narrative sense of our lives has always been at the back of my mind and after openly discussing it at the lectorial I’ve been silently debating its usefulness.
If I had to place a genre on my life it would be a comedy tragedy with hints of melodrama.
The problem with applying my life to the magical art of story telling is that I don’t know what my driver is. What is my motivation? Where is the beginning middle and end?
After some research I’ve found there are 7 archetype stories.
- Overcoming the Monster
- Rags to Riches
- The Quest
- Voyage and Return
- Comedy
- Tragedy
- Rebirth
“Overcoming a monster” might be the most accurate if the monster is procrastination.
I’m not sure; as an optimistic existentialist the idea of clinging on to hope (like the protagonist of an action film) for the very sake of it sounds like a good idea to keep me occupied.
In the lectorial we also discussed cultural features of narrative. The first that comes to mind is: in asian film why does someone always die from a disease/ car crash? I grew up watching that stuff which may have added to my general gloominess. A stereotypical chinese film generally shuts down the idea of cause and effect we so often see in hollywood cinema because the love interest dies before the protagonist can do anything about it.
If I could choose a genre for my life it would be bollywood; where nothing can’t be fixed without a vibrant dance and electrifying chorus.