tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13294573.post3204586054774351175..comments2024-03-28T06:25:00.013-04:00Comments on Cockeyed Caravan: Storyteller’s Rulebook #185: Heroes Should Ascend, Not DescendMatt Birdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07319984238456281734noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13294573.post-79474214818682655282013-05-01T15:16:09.109-04:002013-05-01T15:16:09.109-04:00Interesting post. I'm still digesting it but y...Interesting post. I'm still digesting it but you've hit on something deeply buried, those lingering wisps of dissatisfaction after watching the above movies.<br /><br />I just wanted to add two points:<br />1) "subsequent research suggests that the hierarchical aspect of Maslow’s theory is bogus—people pursue all of these needs pretty much simultaneously.” - Chip Heath and Dan Heath" though the hierarchical aspects seem to be useful constructs here.<br />2) Your image is missing some layers in his theory. The full set includes: Transcendence, Self-actualization, Aesthetic, Learning, Esteem, Belonging, Security, and Physical.Daniel Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12214334186482741716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13294573.post-76395545082748513052013-04-29T20:42:43.983-04:002013-04-29T20:42:43.983-04:00STAR WARS vs. the J.J. Abrahms STAR TREK is maybe ...STAR WARS vs. the J.J. Abrahms STAR TREK is maybe the best example of this rule.<br /> <br />I have to disagree with your takes on the heroes of ARGO and ZERO DARK THIRTY. Maya might be as single-minded and otherwise blank as Liam Neeson in TAKEN, but that doesn't mean she's strictly out for personal revenge. She's obsessed with solving the only major problem she's ever worked on in her first and only job -- completing an intelligence jigsaw puzzle by finding the whereabouts of UBL. It's first and foremost a bureaucratic procedural. The fact that she loses a friend along the way strengthens her resolve, but it doesn't fundamentally alter her motivation.<br /><br />The hero of the film ARGO actually seems to me over motivated (in the kind of pile-on way you dislike), at least compared to his real-life counterpart, who saw his mission as a problem that was too "technically sweet" not to solve. Sure, he was also, in part, motivated by patriotism and he risked his life for others, but this operation wasn't all that more or less dangerous than a dozen others throughout his long and storied career (and those are just the ones we know about). It was simply a more challenging and thrilling deception than usual. In a way, the real-life Tony Mendenz is even closer to someone like Maya, obsessed with his job, damn good at it and determined not to let his superiors scuttle his chance to do it right.j.s.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13294573.post-47707599515020850092013-04-29T19:24:08.157-04:002013-04-29T19:24:08.157-04:00'How can the hero defeat the villain without s...'How can the hero defeat the villain without sinking to his level? How does a movie stay true to its ideals and yet still deliver a viscerally satisfying climax? Most importantly, how do you escalate your hero’s motivation without debasing it?'<br /><br />Re: The Dark Knight. Nuff said.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com