At the second Fury vs Wilder heavyweight title fight, three previous heavyweight champions were introduced: Lennox Lewis, Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson.
The crowd showed respect to Holyfield and Lewis, as they should. Both were great champions. Tyson though? The crowd poured out their love on him. Yet Mike Tyson was knocked out by both the other fighters.
Why was Tyson loved while Lennox and Holyfield were merely respected? Because Tyson is a living, breathing archetype.
His story is one of the three stories that all human beings love. Each is an archetypal story. Mike Tyson’s life is an archetypal story. And people simply love that story shape.
Is it rational? Of course not. But that doesn’t matter. Create a story for yourself that follows one of the three archetypes.
The three archetypal story shapes were first identified by Kurt Vonnegut. (Perhaps it’s not surprising that Vonnegut’s Master’s Thesis on this idea was rejected by the committee; those who can, do and all that…)
The three story shapes humans love the most are
- Man in Hole
- Boy Meets Girl
- Cinderella
To understand the sheer brilliance of the idea, you really need to hear it from the man himself. Fortunately, someone recorded it.
If you want to connect with people, tell them your story. And if you want to connect with people in a way that makes them love you, craft your story so that it follows one of Vonnegut’s three story shapes.