Oedipus and Icarus Keep Falling

Computer analysis has suggested that there are six basic emotional arcs used in Western storytelling.  One such simple arc was once described by Kurt Vonnegut as “man falls into hole, man gets out of hole.”  Stories that end in a fall of emotional valence are found to be especially well-received, as well as those that present the various arcs in sequence.  "In particular, the team says the most popular are stories involving two sequential man-in-hole arcs," suggesting pornography has better storytelling than we thought.