The Seven Basic Plots - Christopher Booker [418]
Paradoxically, what is in fact rather more interesting is the way this archetypal story lends itself so neatly to a Marxist interpretation. This is not just because it can show us the psychological foundations which underlie the Marxist view of society. More significantly it opens up the much wider question of how the archetypal structures revealed by storytelling can help us to understand the workings of any human society, and how they shape some of the most fundamental ways in which we view the world around us. This is because, to a far greater degree than we are consciously aware, we look at the world in terms of stories all the time. They are the most natural way in which we structure our descriptions of the world around us. We naturally see our own life as a story, as we do those of others, each made up of an infinite number of subordinate episodes, large and small. Through the media, we view the pageant of public life as a continual kaleidoscope of stories, complete with `dark' figures and `light, happy and unhappy endings.
Certainly the Marxist, like any ideologue, interprets how the world works in terms of a basic story: one which can tell him who are the villains, who the heroes, how he would like the plot to end up. But to a great extent, irrespective of our point of view, the same is true for all of us. And nowhere can we see this more clearly than in the unconscious patterns which shape not only how we `read' the events of politics and history, but how these dramas themselves are acted out.
Above the line/below the line: right wing/left wing
Apart from a hero or heroine, stories usually present us with the picture of a group of people - a household, a community, a kingdom - which provides the focus of the imaginary world in which the story is set. During much of the story this `little world' or `kingdom' may in some way be divided. But if the story comes to a happy ending we see it in some way being brought back to unity. And, as we have seen, there is a close correspondence between the conditions which are necessary for this reintegration to take place and the pattern of integration in the individual human psyche.
In anyone who has achieved personal maturity, we see how this combines strength of character and the capacity for ordered thinking with selfless feeling and the intuitive ability to see objectively and whole. Similarly, in the resolution of a story which comes to a happy ending we see these same essential values being brought together to create an image of `wholeness' in the wider community. As darkness gives way to light, so we see power in that household, community or kingdom once again being exercised properly and wisely. Order is restored, so that everything and everyone are back in their proper place. Love and reconciliation prevail. That which was hidden has come to light so that, as `ignorance gives way to knowledge', everything and everyone can at last be seen clearly for what they are.
The significance of this particular combination of values is not just limited to the imaginary world of storytelling. It equally provides an ideal model for the workings of any social grouping in the real world. Every human collectivity, whether it be a nation, a family or any other type of organisation, is by definition hierarchical. One or more figures - a monarch, a tribal leader, a president, a prime minister, a chairman, a general, a father, a mother - are in a position of power, playing the role of leader, exercising authority. When that authority is exercised properly, combining masculine with feminine values, firmness and order united with feeling and understanding, the community itself remains united. But when those in authority fail to exercise power properly what we see is that the community splits in familiar fashion onto two levels, `above' and `below the line'.
The fact that on the upper level power is being misused invariably means that it is in some way being exercised