Examples

Read a familiar story through a model, then notice what the model leaves out. These analyses contain spoilers.

Full analyses

Each full analysis identifies a version, attempts all twelve stage correspondences, examines character functions, and offers a counter-reading. A blank or disputed correspondence is evidence about the fit, not a defect in the story.

• Full analysis · spoilers throughoutStar Wars: A New Hope

  Luke leaves home, but the rebellion wins through several people’s choices. A reading of the 1977 film.

• Full analysis · spoilers throughoutThe Wizard of Oz

  Dorothy wants to get home. Her companions discover that the qualities they seek already appear in what they do.

• Full analysis · spoilers throughoutThe Odyssey

  A homecoming told out of order, with a household’s survival at stake. The ancient poem resists a tidy modern journey chart.

• Full analysis · spoilers throughoutThe Matrix

  Neo’s awakening makes an unusually visible threshold. The rest of the 1999 film tests what a prophecy can—and cannot—decide for him.

Short analyses

These focus on a few revealing relationships instead of pretending that a whole series has one plot.

• Short analysis · spoilers throughoutMiddle-earth: two different journeys

  Bilbo’s return and Frodo’s departure answer different questions. Two short readings of Tolkien’s books.

• Short analysis · spoilers throughoutThe Lion King

  Simba returns to a damaged home, but his story also asks who benefits from his belief that he cannot return.

• Short analysis · spoilers throughoutThe Legend of Zelda

  An authored quest and a player’s afternoon are different sequences. Two games show why a story chart needs both.