Christopher Vogler The Writers Journey
became more degenerate and cruel as the Empire stumbled to its death. Symbolic
or simulated acts of violence were replaced by real ones, with condemned criminals
suffering the fate of the fictional characters, literally bleeding and dying on stage to
amuse the Roman public. Gladiators stepped into plays to enact mythological com
bats and actually fought to the death in the theatres.
In the late 1 7 0 0 s , the puppet character of Guignol was imported from Lyons
to Paris, where his brash, violent nature gave birth to a whole wave of plays known as
Grand Guignol, whose object was to provide thrills of terror and shudders of hor
ror with the realistic depiction of torture, beheadings, dismemberments, and other
insults to the human body.
Observers of the first impact of moving pictures on the public remarked on
the realism and physical power of the images on the screen, causing audiences to
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