The Hero’s Journey
Story Anatomy and Analysis Forms
(captions on photos best viewed on a desktop or tablet)
Intro
This post is a reflection and interpretation of how I have come to perceive and reconcile the Hero’s Journey. The Hero’s Journey is something that I have had a very difficult time understanding and applying to stories. But through continued practice of breaking down stories into their relative stages I have improved my ability of seeing the Hero’s Journey both in told stories and life.
There are many ways the Hero’s Journey is presented visually, but the way I present it here makes sense to me.
The intent here is to convey it in ways that may allow others to understand it.
1. Hero’s Journey Overview
Stage 1 | The Call to Adventure
“A blunder - apparently the merest chance - reveals an unsuspected world, and the individual is drawn into a relationship with forces that are not rightly understood.”
The Hero with a Thousand Faces - Joseph Campbell
My understanding:
This is the event that summons the potential hero off to a world of unknown. Although the more proper hero would willing go off into the unknown. This can be of simple curiosity from the protagonist or a quite literal event that disturbs the balance of his normal life. The call can come in a variety of ways resulting in a path that leads to better, worse or both. These forces that upset the balance of the character can come from external (without) or internal (within).
Examples from films:
Baby Driver
Timecode: 13:20ish
Doc tells Baby that he’s going to need him behind the wheel real soon. If he accepts this call to adventure it could lead him into an adventure revolving around the value of life, among many others, one of which is justice.
Core value at stake in crisis moment of relative plot line - Life
Other Value at stake - Justice
Timecode: 17:25ish
Baby gives attention to the waitress coming into the diner. This call to adventure could lead him into an adventure revolving around the value of love, among many others.
Core value at stake in crisis moment of relative plot line - Love
*Note - To support the statement in the heading text about all stories are nested, in this film we see a flashback that shows Baby in a car with his parents. Via the parents diverting more attention to the argument at hand rather than driving in the moment, they get into an accident resulting in the death of his parents. This threw Baby’s life out of balance and his entire life from then has been a reaction to that call to adventure. Losing parent figures, Doc filled the void of the father figure.
World War Z
Timecode - 6:50ish
Gerry and family are stuck in traffic, not unusual, but then an officer drives past disregarding the damage he caused on Gerry’s car, then an explosion happens in the distance followed by a garbage truck smashing through traffic. This call to adventure could lead him into an adventure revolving around the value of life, among many others.
Core value at stake in crisis moment of relative plot line - Life
Black Swan
Timecode - 5:40ish
Nina sees in the reflection of the window on the subway a person similar to her own figure, mimicking her movement but dark in dress. This calls attention and curiosity to the figure.
The call to adventure of the integration of the shadow side of Nina…basically revolving around the value of maturation, transcending adolescence into a more complete human being.
Core value at stake - Maturation
Timecode - 10:50ish
Nina is not tapped on the shoulder by Thomas Leroy, their instructor, and therefore is summoned to his office along with the other girls who are to try out to be the next Swan Queen.
Leroy is the one who calls her to adventure. This call could lead her into an adventure that revolves around her performance as the Swan Queen but in order to do this she must integrated her shadow side. (The other call to adventure) This is the adventure that shows the external manifestation of the internal transformation of the integration of the white and black swan into its whole.
Core Value at stake - Performance
Stage 2 | Refusal of the Call
“Often in actual life, and not infrequently in myths and popular tales, we encounter the dull case of the call unanswered; for it is always possible to turn the ear to other interests. Refusal of the summons converts the adventure into its negative.”
The Hero with a Thousand Faces - Joseph Campbell
My understanding:
The protagonist may very well refuse the call due to any of such reasons, whether conscious or unconscious. Or out of their control. Or simply of regard as irrelevance. This turns the adventure into its inverse.
Examples from films:
Baby Driver
Timecode: 18:36ish
Baby gets a call from Doc for the next heist. Baby actually refuses the call due to giving his attention to Debora over the call.
Then at 20:33ish he relieves another call from Doc, this time accepting it thinking this will be his last job and then he will be free.
World War Z
Timecode: 26:11ish
While fighting the zombies, Gerry got their blood in his mouth and put himself in a life/death position to save his family if he were to turn. He would have refused the call to adventure but by heroic means. This did not play out so he could continue on the journey.
Timecode: 32:20ish
Gerry immediately denies the call to adventure. After having been given the choice of helping them or being removed from the ship for not serving a purpose, Gerry chooses to help them in order to also help keep his family safe.
Black Swan
Timecode: 20:03ish
Nina is rejected from the call to adventure of the Swan Queen but is capable of overcoming that rejection if she choses the right path. That path being biting her teacher during their kiss representing her darker side. This showed the teacher that she has the very start of what could be the black swan and the totality of the Swan Queen. This turned the call to adventure into its positive.
Stage 3 | Supernatural Aid
“For those who have not refused the call, the first encounter of the hero-journey is with a protective figure (often a little old crone or old man) who provides the adventurer with amulets against the dragon forces he is about to pass.”
The Hero with a Thousand Faces - Joseph Campbell
My understanding:
From what I have observed, more than not the supernatural aid seems to be a mentor figure; One who has previously been on the journey themselves and is capable of guiding the protagonist through the special world. Other times it has been a weapon or piece of advice or a benign aid that is their deeper oppressed belief that drives them through. I’ve also noticed there can be multiple aids that assist the protagonist through the special world, but usually one seems to be the overarching aid.
Examples from films:
Baby Driver
Timecode: 34:24ish
The scene flashes back to the traumatic experience that Baby went though causing him to lose his parents. While in the moment he was listening to his iPod, gifted to him for his birthday from his parents, which acts as a means to stay connected to his mother and her singing. This guides him all the way through the special world. I also think that this is what helps him stay true to being a good character which is what assists him in the crisis moment of justice.
World War Z
Timecode: 9:50ish
Subway Sam - Gerry’s daughter drops her stuffed animal which starts playing its recording. It starts counting and Gerry relates the count to a person who got bit and transforms into a zombie. This helps Gerry know the duration it takes is someone is going to turn or not, which we we in the scene on the rooftop. That scene Gerry is already willing to sacrifice himself for the survival of his family using the count he learned to know if he is going to change or not.
Timecode: 36:00ish
Gerry is talking with Dr. Fassbach and is informed about the nature of the virus. This helps Gerry put 2 and 2 together in the crisis moment about how to confront the virus.
Black Swan
Timecode: 29:00ish
Nina observes Lily’s dance and LeRoy notes how effortless she is, but has perviously noted how she lacks the perfection of Nina. Lily will play out to be the mentor figure to Nina to help her integrate her evil twin into the Swan Queen and also integrate her shadow side into her self.
Timecode: 33:00ish
Nina and Lily officially meet in a situation where Lily seems to act to seduce Nina. Lily acts as a black swan mentor figure to Nina.
Stage 4 | Crossing of the Threshold
“With the personifications of his destiny to guide and aid him, the hero goes forward in his adventure until he comes to the “threshold guardian” at the entrance to the zone of magnified power.”
The Hero with a Thousand Faces - Joseph Campbell
My understanding:
As the hero makes the choice to go on this quest the action he takes brings him across this threshold and into the new world of unknown. The threshold can be guarded by forces that permit or restrict the hero from crossing.
Examples from films:
Baby Driver
Timecode: 32:00ish-36:00ish
Baby crosses the threshold from the world of subjugation under Doc to the world of freedom. Baby is unfamiliar with this world as he now has to learn what its like to be free and how to behave in this world.
World War Z
Timecode: 36:00ish-39:00ish
Gerry crosses multiple thresholds, but ultimately taking the plane and landing him into the general place of origination of the virus, South Korea. This is the place where he cannot return from and is forced to undergo change, thus propelling him into the next stage, the Belly of the Whale.
Black Swan
Timecode: 30:00ish-39:00ish
Nina is awarded and celebrated as the new Swan Queen, crossing the threshold into an environment she has not been before. She was welcomed into this world by LeRoy, the threshold guardian. This crossing will take her into the special world where she will learn to negotiate with her shadow side and maturation. This is represented though through her growth into becoming the Swan Queen.
Stage 5 | Belly of the Whale
“The idea that the passage of the magical threshold is a transit into a sphere of rebirth is symbolized in the worldwide womb image of the belly of the whale. The hero, instead of conquering or conciliating the power of the threshold, is swallowed into the unknown, and would appear to have died.”
The Hero with a Thousand Faces - Joseph Campbell
My understanding:
After the hero has taken action to cross the threshold and has succeeded, he now is a new born relative to this new world. Meaning he is in unfamiliar territory and thus needs to go through trials and tests to grow in order to become more familiar with the new world.
Examples from films:
Baby Driver
Timecode: 36:00ish-41:00ish
At the diner, Baby gets to learn more about Debora and she seems to be the catalyst for him to undergo change, which we see in the next sequence of Baby having to get a real job. That starts the next stage. He’s falling in love.
Interesting to note, Debora is told that Baby’s mom used to work at the same diner. The diner which he has been coming to since the time his mom worked there. This is also the same time Debby learns his name is Baby.
World War Z
Timecode: 47:00ish-48:00ish
Gerry cannot return from South Korea and therefore must undergo change, which he learns the information necessary to continue on the investigation to find the cause and resolve the issue of the virus.
Black Swan
Timecode: 36:00ish
Having been awarded and celebrated on the role of Swan Queen, Nina must now go through the metamorphosis into the Swan Queen. This will send her on the road of trials to integrate the black swan into her role. Her first trial was LeRoy suggesting she go home and touch herself. She must be willing to undergo change if she wants to succeed at the role.
Stage 6 | Road of Trials
“Once having traversed the threshold, the hero moves in a dream landscape of curiously fluid, ambiguous forms, where he must survive a succession of trials.”
The Hero with a Thousand Faces - Joseph Campbell
My understanding:
Now a new born, the hero must become prepared for his moment of renewal/redemption/final test before he can return with the boon. These are the trials that prepare him for this event.
Examples from films:
Baby Driver
Timecode: 42:00ish
Baby has to get a real job, one where he brings joy to people and only has to “wash his hands once…and not put anyone in danger.” This is a step that brings him to playing the game of work in society that is relative to a good character.
Trial - Get a real job - Success
Doc calls Baby back into the crime world and at this point Baby has to choose between serving Doc or serving himself for the life he desires. He tells Doc “no” thus choosing his own life path, but once threatened by Doc, Baby succumbs and chooses to serve Doc on this last job. We can sense where Baby’s heart is and its with Debby, “heading west on 20 in a car they can’t afford with a plan they don’t have” as we see at 52:00ish as the temptress.
Trial - Stand for what he wants against Doc - Failure
Stage 7 | Meeting with the Goddess
“The ultimate adventure, when all the barriers and ogres have been overcome, is commonly represented as a mystical marriage of the triumphant hero-soul with the Queen Goddess of the World.”
The Hero with a Thousand Faces - Joseph Campbell
My understanding:
After having succeeded at the previous trials, the hero is now able to meet with the goddess and attain the gift that will help him in the future tests. If the hero is not prepared to meet with the goddess, he will not be able to gain what is rightfully his. The birth of something new within the hero as he has been prepared for this.
Examples from films:
Baby Driver
Timecode: 47:00ish
I would say Debby is considered the Goddess, that which carries the unconditional love of a mother. It seems to boil down to the two paths for Baby, one path of love with a woman and an unknown plan or the continued crime world with Doc. And Baby has paid off his debt and is almost ready to start anew but isn’t complete yet.
Stage 8 | Woman as Temptress
“The mystical marriage with the queen goddess of the world represents the hero’s total mastery of life; for the woman is life, the hero its knower and master. And the testings of the hero, which were preliminary to his ultimate experience and deed, were symbolical of those crises of realization by means of which his consciousness came to be amplified and made capable of enduring the full possession of the mother-destroyer, his inevitable bride. With that he knows that he and the father are one: he is in the father’s place.”
The Hero with a Thousand Faces - Joseph Campbell
My understanding:
This to me represents whatever it is that will divert the hero off his path.
It also seems to me to be, even after the hero was prepared to be birthed to light with the woman as goddess and bring forth new information into the self, the woman as temptress represent the old worldview still clinging on within the psyche, tempting the hero to go back and hold on to what was known. At this point the hero may turn back not having had enough meaning/faith in his new view.
The temptation to give up what he has gained.
Examples from films:
Baby Driver
Timecode: 52:00ish
This is rather difficult to me to discern. I would say as the temptation goes, its Baby’s desire to head west on 20 with Debby, which is what is pulling him out of the crime world. I think it can also be looked at as the temptation of money by Doc and the inability for Baby to stand up to his threat keeps Baby of the path of becoming a good model citizen. Because as the story goes, Baby has met the Goddess after he overcame his subjugation by means of obedience which means he was almost ready for the mystical marriage, but he has yet to learn to take a stand for himself which keeps him in the underworld. So I would say the temptress is represented as the money orders Doc wants and therefore due to Baby not standing up for his good nature, succumbs to the path that Doc desires.
Stage 9 | Atonement with the Father
“Atonement (at-one-ment) consists in no more than the abandonment of that self-generated double monster - the dragon thought to be God (superego) and the dragon thought to be Sin (repressed id). But this requires an abandonment of the attachment to the ego itself; and that is what is difficult. One must have faith that the father is merciful, and then a reliance on that mercy.”
The Hero with a Thousand Faces - Joseph Campbell
My understanding:
Awareness and recognition the fault within ones behavior along with the desire to redeem self of fault. The generation of the redemptive behavior in thought. Then the belief that by acting it out one will have the grace of the Father to allow that radical change in heart. This stems from the mercy aspect of the Father. Its like the relationship between a child and a father where the child believes that the father wants the best for them and then relies (has faith) on the mercy and grace of the father when that child is to act in their journey. This creates the relation between the two.
The atoning of that new knowledge with the father, the integration of the new order, both into the father and into the hero.
Examples from films:
Baby Driver
Timecode: 1:18:00ish
After being accused of as a snitch and the truth being revealed as he just likes to make music out of conversations, and is interested in Debora, Baby takes a stand. He is denied by Doc to drive but demands that he is the driver for the job and is not a squealer or slow. Baby shows he is not afraid of standing up to Doc or any of them, knowing that he has truth to stand on. He believes in himself and that the Father figure has his back through mercy and grace.
