Christopher Vogler The Writers Journey
G O I N G TO EXTREMES
Experimenting with any polarized system involves going to the extremes. Comedy
or tragedy may result as people who have habitually leaned to one side of a polarity
not only experiment with the unaccustomed opposite quality, but take it to the limit.
Those who have been shy take new-found confidence too far, becoming obnoxious
instead of suave or self-assured. T h e y overcompensate, missing the point of balance.
T h e y may then retreat to the opposite extreme of sullenness or some other exagger
ated form of their original behavior. Eventually, through a series of such pendulum
swings they may learn a new way to behave, somewhere in the middle ground.
Learning how to handle any quality is a process o f finding the boundaries by
experimentation. In many polarized relationships, one person is more experienced
and has already made a fool of himself in long-ago experiments, so now he knows
precisely how to handle women, cards, guns, cars, or money
annaabi.ee 
