Gravity
A beautiful interweaving of Odysseus's tale with Noah's
EST V ACT domestic box office revenue
$224-274 V $274MM
Mythosis universal quests used
3
Audience appeal
8.71% – 10.65%
Script Score
0.30
Directed & co-written by Alfonso Cuaron, Gravity besides being a visual spectacle is a refreshingly unique story. The story interweaves the human quests of tranquillity and preservation. Mythosis, has harnessed the mythological tales of Odysseus & Noah to extract the movie’s plot structure.
1. The invisible plot structure of Gravity
1A. The script of Gravity borrows 98% of its events from 3 mythological tales
Stone’s quest is driven by the desire to be in a safe environment and mirrors the tale of Odysseus from Greek mythology. Odysseus and Stone navigate their way back through hostile environment.
Kowalski’s quest is driven by the desire to survive a threat and borrows events from the tale of Noah from Abrahamic mythology. Both Noah & Kowalski look for a safe passage to protect others from a calamity.
Mission Control ‘s quest is driven by the desire to protect loved ones and borrows events from the tale of Demeter from Greek mythology. Both Demeter & Mission Control lose their loved ones due to their imprudence.
NOTE: Detailed mirroring of each character’s primary quest to their respective mythological tales is in section “3A. Quests of characters and their mythological counterparts”
Mythosis plot structure
#7,291
Tales interweaved
Demeter, Noah & Odysseus
I. How does interweaving mythological tales lead to infinite story plots?
II. Can the pursuit of a Desire have more than one quest?
2. The potential of Gravity’s plot structure: $224 – 274MM
The interweaving of 32 mythological tales can generate a billion unique stories. By using these 32 tales, we can extract the plot structure of any story across various genres. Our study of blockbuster, hit, and flop plot structures led to the discovery of the Mythosis Code, a set of principles for creating compelling stories. The plot structure of a story is analyzed to see how well it adheres to these storytelling principles.
2A. Plot structure evaluation of Gravity
- All Blockbusters have at least 3 universal quests. Gravity uses 3 universal quests of Tranquillity, Preservation & Family
- In Blockbusters, each universal quest is mirrored by ONLY ONE character. Stone mirrors the universal quest of Tranquillity. Kowalski mirrors the universal quest of Preservation. Mission Control mirrors the quest of Family
- Every Blockbuster character borrows at least 35% of the universal quest. Stone borrows 27% of events from the quest of Tranquillity. Kowalski borrows 27% from the quest of Preservation. Mission Control borrows 10% from the quest of Family.
- Blockbusters have a quest interweaving threshold of 0.5. Interweaving occurs when events of 2 quests occur simultaneously in the story. Gravity has a perfect quest interweaving score of 1.
An example of interweaving the quests of Kowalski & Stone:
2B. Box office revenue estimation of Gravity
Gravity’s plot structure reveals two major quests of Preservation & Tranquillity and a minor quest of Family. However, all the quests could have had more depth to enhance engagement.
The Script Score measures a plot structure’s adherence to the four principles of Mythosis Code. We use the Script Score to estimate a movie’s audience appeal & revenues. Blockbuster plot structures have a score of at least 0.64 and appeal to 20% of the audiences.
Script Score
0.30
Audience appeal
8.71% – 10.65%
I. How is Mythosis Code used to estimate revenues?
II. Aren’t box-office revenues influenced by several factors beyond just the story plot?
3. The ideal plot structure of Gravity
We have identified 32 mythological tales, the superset of all tales across cultures. The quests of these tales have also recurred over time periods. They represent human behaviours that are deeply embedded in our shared memories. Each tale is the richest expression of the pursuit of a human desire. The tales have a unique pattern of events spread over 5 major arcs.
Mapping a character’s quest to the relevant mythological tale reveals the gaps in their quest, if any. Plugging these gaps with the missing events deepens the character quest. The missing events also provide an opportunity for interweaving the various quests. These events strengthen the story and unlock its hidden potential.
3A.Quest of characters and their mythological counterparts
Quest 1: Stone mirrors the universal quest for Tranquillity
Stone’s desire for Tranquillity stems from the need to be in a safe environment. The tale of Odysseus from Greek mythology is the universal quest for Tranquillity.
Quest 2: Kowalski mirrors the universal quest for Preservation
Kowalski’s desire for Preservation stems from the need to survive a threat. The tale of Noah from Abrahamic mythology is the universal quest for Preservation.
3B.Gaps in the current plot structure
Gravity’s plot structure reveals that all the quests could have had more depth to enhance engagement.
3C.Unlocking the hidden potential
The plot of Gravity is a subset of plot structure #7,291 that interweaves the tales of Demeter, Noah & Odysseus.
Contact us for Gravity’s plot structure #7,291
Tags: Odysseus, Noah, Preservation, Tranquillity, Alfonso Cuarón, Jonás Cuarón, Heyday Films, Esperanto Filmoj, Warner Bros. Pictures, 2013