Life is tough to get through now and then, and
that’s where the “Rites of Passage” story helps.
At various times, often when we least expect it, we are confronted
with a “life problem” that seems so challenging, it
feels like we’re the only ones who have ever gone through it.
That’s why we tell these stories: to be reminded we are not
alone and that others have had to face these very same dilemmas. If
you have a story about the stress of any “life”
problem: puberty, divorce, drug and alcohol dependency, mid-life
crisis, or the death of a loved one, odds are you are writing a
“ROP” tale, and should look at the many great movies
that have come out of this genre category.
The indicating feature of a Rites of Passage
story is a life problem that strikes when we least expect it
— and the hero’s main goal is learning how to accept
life on life’s terms. The running theme of all these stories,
and the conflict each hero of them fights hardest against, is
simple: acceptance. Can the hero learn to embrace life for what it
is, or is he going to fight it and continue feeling bad? Acceptance
is the end point of these stories and ones we like to hear because
we’ve all been there — or soon will be! And when
surrender comes, it shows how this genre wrings out our deepest
emotions.
Here are the three things in common for all these
stories:
1. A “life problem”: from puberty to
midlife to death — these are the universal passages we all
understand.
2. A “wrong way” to attack the
mysterious problem, usually a diversion from confronting the pain,
and...
3. A solution that involves
“acceptance” of a hard truth the hero has been
fighting, and the knowledge it’s the hero that must change,
not the world around him.
Examples: The Social Network, Crazy Heart,
Precious, Up in the Air, A Serious Man, (500) Days of
Summer
