Week 15 Lab Story: TvTropes - (Clock Towers)

I decided to try a new type of story in honor of the last week of my undergrad. This week I decided to look through the Tvtropes for my last story assignment. The trope is stumbled upon was Clockwork situations. I didn’t like any of the other options nearly as much. This one is particularly funny. So the trope says that characters in tv and movies have a nasty tendency to find themselves in the tops of clock towers. Just think of the countless movies that end up in a clock tower. There are usually tons of huge gears, somebody about to fall off the clock tower, or somebody shooting at people below from the top of the tower. I can personally think of several movies and shows with these scenarios.

Here are a couple of the most common scenarios:

• -          A character sits on the edge of the clock tower. Oftentimes the character will end up falling.
• -          The character falls and grabs the hands of the clock. Time works against the character as the clock ticks along to the point where they can almost not hold on any longer. At this point, someone or something will save the hero just in the nick of time.
• -          Another scenario happens inside the clock tower: the characters fall or have a battle within the inner workings of the tower. The gears inside are seriously oversized to the point that the characters hop along them. Sometimes the gears will be just about to crush one of the characters when some device catches in the gears and prevents the clock from ticking any further.

I really loved reading about the trope, which was a unique twist for me as far as the story posts go. My creativity lacks when it comes to writing stories, but this was a cool alternative.

A person hanging from a clock - silentlocations blog

Week 4 Lab: Crash Course Mythology

For the Story Lab in week 4, I decided to watch the Crash Course Mythology videos. The videos attempted to define myth, mythology, and explain their development.

The guys at Crash Course Mythology made clear that Myth is a story of great significance, or deep meaning, that has stood the test of time over centuries or even millennia. They also made a point to not get into whether mythology x is truth, and mythology y is fallacy. Instead, they simply explained that for myth it is just a story that could be true or false.

The videos mentioned that many people would not include fairy tales as myth because they are not about the origin, or destruction of the world. Crash Course Mythology understands the point, but they believe the scope of myth is a bit wider and should include hero stories as well as stories of gods and goddesses.

Mythology is simply the study of myth. It didn't grow much until the 18th and 19th century. In the 20th century, mythology and anthropology collided. Anthropologists studied myth, and its various versions. Some who study mythology claim that mythology symbolizes the belief many people. These mythical characters are a result of our unconscious. It makes harsh realities bearable with explanations through myth. Some claim that this is why we see similar stories in different parts of the world, because many people go through similar things and develop similar myths to explain them.

Joseph Campbell suggested the idea of a monomyth. Campbell believes that we long for wisdom and understanding of our place in the world. He claims that hero stories and myths are a result of environmental factors that form in the human subconscious. We each go through many of the same things. There are 17 parts to his human monomyth. First, the hero receives a call to destiny from a supernatural figure. Then they meet the threshold guardian. They usually almost die. Next, the hero starts to transform into the hero they must become. The hero usually encounters a woman who allows them to prove their maturity. They usually encounter a monster next. After encountering the monster they become enlightened. The hero has evolved into their greatest form. At this point they must return to normal life/society. It is often hard for the hero to get back into their normal life. Who wants to go from a hero back to normal? In the end, they end up where they started, usually in peace, in the "mythological equivalent to happily ever after" - Crash Course Mythology

Scylla - Fallen Sword

Crash Course Mythology, Videos 1, 12, and 25, Mike Rugnetta