Our narrative prison

In her Aeon essay Our Narrative Prison, Eliane Glaser critiques the dominance of the three-act ‘hero’s journey’ structure in contemporary storytelling. She argues that this pervasive narrative framework—where a protagonist faces an inciting incident, undergoes trials, and emerges transformed—has become a limiting template, constraining the diversity of stories we tell and how we perceive our lives. Glaser suggests that this formulaic approach not only homogenizes films and literature but also influences our personal narratives, leading us to frame our experiences within a narrow set of expectations. She calls for an exploration of alternative storytelling methods that embrace complexity and reflect a broader spectrum of human experience.