When Barbie met Aristotle: the storytelling structure that actually works
When I was teaching university courses in script analysis, we always started with Aristotle. Nothing gets 19-year-olds more wary than saying “now please take out your Greek manuscript from 330 BCE,” but stay with me here.
Aristotle spent a lot of time watching plays and reading and listening to people and he figured out some pretty important and universal things about how storytelling needs to be structured in order for it to be interesting, make people lean in, and eventually, to evoke change (ie. “catharsis”) in an audience.
Basically all good stories can be broken down into this outline:
the starting stasis (ie. where you were before)
an inciting incident (something that kicks off your adventure)
a journey (we call this “rising action” in theater-nerd-land)
a turning point (this is really important! Turning point = drama)
some more journeying (aka “denouement”)
a new stasis (where you are now)
Want to see this in action? Let’s take everyone’s favorite feminist blockbuster, Barbie. Don’t like Greta Gerwig (what are you, the Oscar committee? Ahem. I digress…)? Pick your own favorite movie and fill-in-the-blanks.
Everything is super great in this pink pink world. Her life is super fun but repetitive and uncomplicated (read: boring).
Suddenly, a thought pops into her head: mortality?? Her feet get flat and shit gets weird.
She goes to the real world to figure this out. (Bonus points: the “journey” is kicked off by a real journey! With Indigo Girls and a road trip and everything!)
Things are a mess and she’s about to give up, but then someone gives an incredible speech that turns everything around, motivates the characters to action, and kicks off the resolution.
All the characters learn about themselves and get it together.
Things are way, way more equitable in Barbieland, and our protagonist is living the life of a real human, with all its complexities and mess and wonder.
So what’s the takeaway? When you’re thinking about using storytelling to compel your audience, you want to build the tracks of a roller coaster, not a train.
I had the great pleasure of talking about this (and much, much more) on the Midlife Mask-erade podcast. We also get into the science of storytelling which I’ll cover in a future blog. Spoiler: there are scientific studies about how good narrative releases oxytocin in the listener. So cool.
PS. Would you do me a favor? Send me an email and let me know what your favorite movie is. I’m collecting a list that I can use for examples with my clients - thanks!
