Stephanie Danner

@Cal alum, dog mom, sushi addict, and frequent flyer.

[Stephanie Danner @stephdanner]

@safeenaleila Nothing, better come back to LA

[Nature is Amazing ☘️ @AMAZlNGNATURE]

High winds at the perfect time of day created a rare Rainbow Waterfall in Yosemite National Park

[Stephanie Danner @stephdanner]

@TeamYouTube Thank you just followed!

[Stephanie Danner @stephdanner]

@YouTube someone hacked my old account and is posting Chinese gaming videos with my profile picture and old content still on there — please help!

[Aakash Gupta @aakashgupta]

Sundar Pichai has added $1.11T to Google’s market cap.

His counter-intuitive advice?

“You have to reward effort, not outcomes”

[Stephanie Danner @stephdanner]

@VerizonSupport my Verizon Up tickets to Beyonce have ended up being more expensive than regular tickets, can you please help me with a refund?

[Stephanie Danner @stephdanner]

@StienhardtStone Follower here!

[Stephanie Danner @stephdanner]

@StienhardtStone Let’s gooooo

[Billy Oppenheimer @bpoppenheimer]

1970 to 1988 is often referred to as Disney's "Dark Age."

During the "Dark Age," Disney's animated films were mostly critical and commercial failures.

Then, in the late 1980s, a story consultant named Chris Vogler wrote a 7-page memo that helped spur "The Disney Renaissance."

In 1978, Chris Vogler was a film student at USC. For one of his classes, Vogler was reading "The Hero With A Thousand Faces" by the mythologist Joseph Campbell.

That year, the first Star Wars movie was released. Vogler saw it in the theaters, and he was almost certain Star Wars was putting Campell’s ideas to work.

Vogler distilled Campbell’s complex ideas into a term paper that identified how George Lucas was using mythic elements throughout Star Wars.

A few years later, Vogler was hired as a story consultant at Disney where "memos were a big part of the corporate identity...following the example of [CEO, Jeffrey] Katzenberg, an absolute master [of "the memo art form"].

So Vogler adapted that term paper into a 7-page memo, in which he outlined “the twelve stages of the hero’s journey.”

The hero's journey, Vogler summarizes, goes like this:

The hero is introduced in his ORDINARY WORLD where...

The hero receives the CALL TO ADVENTURE.

The hero, reluctant at first, REFUSES THE CALL.

The hero MEETS A MENTOR and is encouraged to CROSS THE THRESHOLD where...

The hero encounters TESTS, ALLIES, and ENEMIES.

The hero reaches the INNERMOST CAVE where he endures the SUPREME ORDEAL.

The hero SEIZES THE SWORD or the treasure and...

The hero starts to take THE ROAD BACK. Along the way...

The hero is RESURRECTED and transformed by their experience, and then...

The hero RETURNS to his ordinary world with a TREASURE, BOON or ELIXIR to benefit their world.

Vogler's memo was read by CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg.

Katzenberg made it required reading for everyone in the company, and then, he sent Vogler to work with the Animation team working on "King of the Jungle"—what would become "The Lion King."

On a corkboard, the team pinned the storyboard for "The Lion King," "with the twelve stages of the Hero's Journey clearly marked as signposts."

Using this 12-step program as a roadmap, "The Lion King" was released in 1994 and became the most successful animated film ever, and for a while, the most profitable film in history.

Takeaway 1:

The comedian Hasan Minhaj likes to say that his job is to distill coffee into espresso:

"My job is to distill coffee into espresso...to take complicated things and make it simple so people can walk away after twenty minutes with a clear take and perspective.”

Vogler wasn't the first to come across Joseph Campbell's complex ideas. He was the first to distill them into a practical guide for storytellers.

Takeaway 2:

Vogler was right. George Lucas did indeed read Joseph Campbell before bending the story of Luke Skywalker to follow the twelve steps of the hero’s journey.

In fact, Lucas calls Campbell his Yoda. Not just him. Not just Star Wars. Toy Story, Finding Nemo, Aladdin, Harry Potter, Mulan, Moana,...

Once you know the 12 steps, you see the hero with a thousand faces everywhere.

---

“There are only two or three human stories, and they go on repeating themselves as fiercely as if they had never happened before.” — Willa Cather

[Gabriele Corno @Gabriele_Corno]

Deer Lounge Under Cherry Blossom Trees In Japan's Nara Park

[Stephanie Danner @stephdanner]

@Delta booked a flight for 2 for my anniversary. 24 hrs before got upgraded but into 2 middle seats not next to each other. Tried immediate support and now at gate, no one will move us back. Please help, this is not right, just want my old seats 😭

[Karamo @Karamo]

Omg am i the only one crying at that Farmer’s Dog commercial!!! That was so sweet. 😭

[Stephanie Danner @stephdanner]

I love Rihanna and her marshmallow men #SuperBowl

[Stephanie Danner @stephdanner]

Do you remember when you joined Twitter? I do! #MyTwitterAnniversary

[Stephanie Danner @stephdanner]

“We’re so much older and mature now at 30”, I said, as i took my TJ’s (organic) chicken nuggets out of the air fryer for dinner

[Stephanie Danner @stephdanner]

Thanks @taylorswift13 for spending 928 minutes with me in 2022. I couldn’t stop listening to Message In A Bottle (Taylor's Version) (From The Vault). #SpotifyWrapped https://t.co/qWQuGaF3cm

[Stephanie Danner @stephdanner]

@Ticketmaster I haven’t received any communication but I registered for pre-sale on Nov 1!

[Ben Rathe @benrathe]

Queue is such a great word. The actual important letter, and then four more silently waiting behind it in a line.

[Mollie Goodfellow @hansmollman]

Gonna be impossible to say the words King Charles without adding the word Spaniel on the end I’m afraid