Deep Dives: The Rubric - Writing (Hero's Journey)
Welcome back to Deep Dives: The Rubric! This next installment will be a sub-series of sorts because we are talking about one of the more complex elements of film - the writing. Now, this is not to say that writing is any more important than the other elements; merely it's a recognition that there are many different approaches, styles, and ways to think about a screenplay. Also, while there are certainly exceptions, the heart of any movie starts from the story it is trying to tell.
For this initial sub-part, I want to take a look at the Hero's Journey which was popularized by writer and professor of literature Joseph Campbell. You can think of the Hero's Journey as a template, or as a technique, or a style. But, at its core, the Hero's Journey is all about story structure. So, the goal is simple; we will look at the Hero's Journey, its origin, Cambell, its application, and its legacy.
WHAT IS IT
The basics are pretty simple - the Hero's Journey is the 'monomyth'; it's a tale where a hero embarks on a journey, is challenged along the way, conquers those challenges, and emerges on the other side as a changed person. The monomyth has existed for as long as we have been telling each other stories. Its applications are rooted in the studies of mythology and religion, but are universal in nature. This is why it continues to be relevant amongst writers to this day since it can act as a framework for building new stories.
A QUICK OVERVIEW OF CAMPBELL
As I mentioned, Campbell was a writer and academic that focused on comparative mythology and religion. He began his studies as a student while attending Dartmouth College. Initially, he was a biology and mathematics student, but later altered course and achieved a Bachelors in English literature and a Masters in medieval literature. After spending years doing independent studying and traveling, Campbell accepted a position as a professor of literature at Sarah Lawrence College. During this time he published his first book along with his co-author Henry Morton called A Skeleton Key to Finnegan's Wake which was was a critique and analysis of James Joyce's novel Finnegan's Wake. The work is mostly unimportant to our discussion here, other than to say Joyce and his term 'monomyth' served as an inspiration for Campbell's next book. The Skeleton Key also garnered the attention of editors at Simon & Schuster who approached Campbell about writing his next book.
After some back and forth with the publishers, Campbell settled on the idea of creating a guidebook for reading mythology. In addition to Joyce, Campbell has cited two inspirations for the idea: German ethnologist and archaeologist Leo Frobenius, and anthropologist Arnold van Gennep. More specifically, Frobenius' work included the study of repetitive motifs in various mythologies and the idea of 'culture circles', while Gennep's work inspired the notions of repetitive ideas buried within the initiation rites of various cultures. From there, Campbell began crafting the idea of a circular trajectory that underlines the journey of nearly all mythological heroes. He then outlined his thoughts on the matter in his book titled The Hero with a Thousand Faces which was first published in 1949.
THE STAGES AND STEPS OF THE HERO'S JOURNEY
Now, let's actually get into what the Hero's Journey actually is.
At the broadest level, Campbell's idea revolves around three stages: Departure, Initiation, and Return. Then, within the three stages, there is a collection of 17 steps that the hero undergoes. However, there is a crucial part to recognize when it comes to this structure - not every single element needs to be present. Rather, while the hero must endure the broad three stages, they do not have to experience each of the 17 steps. Nor does the hero need to hit these steps within its prescribed stage. Point being, a lot of people can make the mistake of assuming Campbell's work was meant to be taken as a rigid structure. But, it is instead meant to act as a framework that encompasses the need for fluidity.
DEPARTURE
The departure stage is obviously the beginning of the story. We meet out protagonist as they exist within their ordinary world. Then, an event occurs which propels the hero to embark on their journey. That's really it for the first stage.
Now, within this stage Campbell assessed that there are five steps. First, we have the 'Call to Adventure'. This is where an event or a person disrupts the hero living in their 'normal' world and upsetting the status quo. This could be in the form of a unexpected complication, a new danger, or a chance to accomplish something. Second, we have the 'Refusal of the Call'. This represents an early example of how Campbell's work is not rigid because not all stories feature a refusal. Regardless, the basic premise is that the hero is unwilling to heed the call to adventure. Third, we have 'Supernatural Aid'. This steps usually involves some sort of mentor that inspires or empowers the hero to accept the quest. Fourth, we have 'Crossing the Threshold' which is where the hero actually embarks on the journey. And finally we have 'Belly of the Whale' which is where either the protagonist hits a point of no return or encounters the first obstacle.
INITIATION
Our next stage, initiation, is less straight forward than the departure. It is also the one most heavily influenced by the idea of the rites of initiation that Gennep helped inspire. Here we will see the hero encounter various trials and tribulations while they undergo a transformation.
Within the initiation stage, there are six steps. First, we have 'The Road of Trials'. This is perhaps one of the longer steps depending on the story, but revolves around the hero undergoing a series of tests. Second, is 'The Meeting of the Goddess' which is where the hero meets allies that help them on their journey. The third step is 'Woman as Temptress' which involves the hero becoming confronted with a temptation that could cause them to stray from the path. Despite the name, the 'woman' can take many forms whether that be something like fame, money, or really anything that takes the hero off task. Fourth, we have 'Atonement with the Father'. This is where the hero is confronted with why the journey is happening. This is a more complex step that can take many forms, but ultimately is a central hinge point around which the story revolves. Fifth, is 'Apotheosis' which is a continuation of 'Atonement' where the hero discovers something from confronting the matters that launched their journey. Last but not least, the sixth step is 'The Ultimate Boon'. This marks the end of the initiation stage and revolves around achieving the initial objective of the 'Call to Adventure'.
RETURN
Our final stage of the Hero's Journey is the return. Having achieved their goal that started at the 'Call to Adventure', the hero returns to the 'world' that they started in, but as a different person. The transformation that they underwent during the initiation stage will now become fully formed before the story's ultimate end.
Again, we have six different steps within this stage. First, mirroring the first stage, we have 'Refusal of the Return'. This is where the hero, having changed, may not want to return to the world they came from. Second is 'The Magic Flight' which features the hero potentially fleeing, or just leaving, with the things that they gained during initiation. Third, 'Rescue from Without' is where the hero again receives aid from allies or a mentor in order to be able to return to the world. Fourth, we have 'The Crossing of the Return Threshold' and, as the name implies, is where the hero arrives back within their 'world'. Fifth is 'Master of Two Worlds' and occurs once the hero finds a balance between his old self and current self. And our final-final step, 'Freedom to Live' is where the hero arrives at a place of peace having come to the end of the story.
CASE STUDY
Now, there is little point in learning this detailed framework without it actually being applicable in a useful way. And with that said, the Hero's Journey is not really a 'be all, end all' way of how to craft a story. This is just a useful way to recognize that mythology follows patterns and has repetitive motifs. Knowing this really just shows that humanity, and the stories we tell, have universal archetypes. Writers can then take these concepts and reverse engineer them to outline the journey they want to create.
The next question is, if Campbell developed the Hero's Journey by studying mythology and religious stories, is it still applicable to modern storytelling? The obvious answer is yes, but let's take a look at a specific example. And while there is no shortage of stories we could choose from, we are going to use a story that was directly inspired by mythology and whose writer was a known fan of Campbell and his work.
In a 1985 speech at an event honoring Campbell, George Lucas remarked:
I wrote many drafts of this work and then I stumbled across The Hero with a Thousand Faces. … It was The Hero with a Thousand Faces that just took what was about 500 pages and said, here is the story … here’s the way it’s all laid out…After reading more of Joe’s books I began to understand how I could do this.
The work Lucas is referring to is, of course, Star Wars - one of the most iconic and influential pieces of film ever created. So, how exactly did Campbell influence the making of Star Wars? Let's apply our stages and steps and see.
0. The Ordinary World - Luke Skywalker is a young man living with his aunt and uncle on the remote planet of Tatooine. Luke may just be a farm boy, but at his core he wants to be apart of something bigger. In particular, he wants to join the Rebel Alliance in their fight against The Empire.
1. The Call to Adventure - One day, Luke and his uncle purchase two droids and Luke discovers that one of them is carrying a secret message from Princess Leia calling for help.
2. Refusal of the Call - Luke is excited at idea of helping the Princess, but is hesitant to take the next step and feels he must be resigned to his current life.
3. Supernatural Aid - Through happenstance, Luke encounters Obi-Wan Kenobi while he is out searching for R2-D2. Obi-Wan reveals to Luke that his father was once a great Jedi Knight and gives him his father's old lightsaber.
4. Crossing the Threshold - Armed with new knowledge and tools, Luke agrees to help Obi-Wan. However, he is still partially stuck in the 'refusal of the call' and only commits to help get Obi-Wan somewhere he can get off-planet from.
5. Belly of the Whale - Upon returning home, Luke finds that The Empire has murdered his aunt and uncle while seeking R2-D2 and C-3PO. His ties to his ordinary world have been broken, and he now fully embraces 'the call to adventure'.
6. The Road of Trials - This steps spans most of the second act, but begins with Luke and Obi-Wan traveling to Mos Eisley to secure passage off-planet. Here they are confronted with challenges from both The Empire and local thugs at the Cantina.
7. The Meeting with the Goddess - Here we encounter our first step that doesn't fully fit Campbell's framework as described in The Hero with a Thousand Faces. However, during this part of the film, Luke does indeed encounter allies that will aid him on his journey; Han and Chewbacca.
8. Woman as the Temptress - Luke begins learning more about the force and receives training from Obi-Wan during their transit to Alderaan. Again, this step isn't perfectly applicable as described by Campbell, but Luke does seem to start to care more about learning about his past than returning the droids - his initial call to adventure.
9. Atonement with the Father - The step is comprised of various story beats during Luke's adventures on The Death Star. However, the ultimate conclusion of this section of the film is Luke seeing his father (though he doesn't yet know that) kill his mentor. This is the part of the story that all things before it were leading up to, and from which the rest of the story will come from.
10. Apotheosis - Having witnessed the death of his mentor and rescuing the Princess, Luke is confronted with the seriousness of his journey. He once daydreamed of fighting against The Empire, but now the consequences of that reality are hitting him.
11. The Ultimate Boon - Luke, having rescued Princess Leia and returning R2-D2 to the rebels, has completed the journey he set out on originally. Also, this is the completion of his transformation stage. Luke is no longer the lonely farm boy who dreams of joining the war - he is now something new.
12. Refusal of the Return - Having completed his quest, Luke is free to return to his life or even join Han and Chewbacca on their adventures instead. However, Luke has been changed and he feels he cannot just go back to how things were before.
13 - 17 - In the final act of A New Hope, we start to stray further and further from the rigid application of Campbell's work. However, as mentioned earlier, Campbell's work allows for that. Instead, most of the remaining steps of the Hero's Journey for Luke coalesce together. 'Magic Flight' could be the rebels attack on the Death Star. 'Rescue from Without' may be Han and Chewbacca returning just in time to save Luke. 'Master of Two Worlds' could be Luke embracing the use of the force when he hits the kill-shot on The Death Star. His 'Return Threshold' and 'Freedom to Live' are the final triumph of the rebels and the crowning of Luke as a hero. None of these are strictly executed in the way Campbell describes, nor do they occur in the particular order that the steps are laid out in.
So, is our case study a fail then? No. If we rewind to our initial discussion, the hero really only needs to follow the 3 stages: departure, initiation and return. Luke heeds a call to adventure, is changed through a series of trials and tribulations, and emerges as a changed person that is now able to defeat The Empire. This is also just part one of a multi part journey. We could zoom out and apply the framework to the entire original trilogy with similar outcomes. And in the end, Campbell's work is not strict dogma; it's just one of many tools that writers can utilize when crafting stories.
ITERATIONS
There are plenty of other films or TV shows that we can apply Campbell's work to, but I think it's worth noting that The Hero with a Thousand Faces is somewhat outdated. The tales that Campbell studied while developing his framework were derived from a different time, sometimes hundreds of years ago. And while the stories we tell now still share many common themes and motifs, things have evolved over time. Additionally, movies are not constructed in the same way that Homer designed The Odyssey which was one of the works Campbell studied for his book. Point being, there have been attempts to create a more digestible or modernized takes on Campbell's work.
The first update I want to talk about comes from screenwriter and academic Christopher Vogler. Vogler, amongst his many jobs, spent time working for various studios in Hollywood. During that time, he created a memo for screenwriters that was titled A Practical Guide to The Hero with a Thousand Faces which was intended to serve as a tool for writers developing their scripts. He later expanded on that memo and published his book The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers.
In his book, Vogler simplifies the Hero's Journey into 12 steps. Much like Campbell, Vogler's structure includes a departure phase that features five steps; 'Ordinary World', 'Call to Adventure', 'Refusal of the Call', 'Meeting with the Mentor', and 'Crossing the Threshold'. Next, in the initiation phase, Vogler streamlines things with more succinct steps; 'Test, Allies and Enemies', 'Approach to the Inmost Cave', 'The Ordeal' and 'Reward'. The final phase, is much more simpler than Campbell's and includes only three steps; 'The Road Back', 'The Resurrection' and 'Return with the Elixir'.
Now I could breakdown each of these steps, but the similarities with Campbell's work is obvious. If anything, Vogler mostly just consolidated the steps and simplified/modernized their definitions.
The second contemporary update to Campbell's work comes from writer Dan Harmon and is known as the 'Story Circle'. Harmon, another fan of Campbell, first developed his idea while trying to overcome writer's block early in his career. Then, in a blog post, he more formally laid out the structure for his fans, which includes an eight part framework shown below:
- You (a character is in a zone of comfort)
- Need (but they want something)
- Go (they enter an unfamiliar situation)
- Search (adapt to it)
- Find (find what they wanted)
- Take (pay its price)
- Return (and go back to where they started)
- Change (now capable of change)
These iterations of Campbell's work show that stories (and writers) benefit greatly from having a strong structure. It also shows that rigidness is not the goal. Rather, if we understand how to build a story - whether that be from Campbell, Vogler, Harmon, or somebody else - we can convey ideas and explore characters in a comprehensible and engaging way for any audience.
FINAL THOUGHTS
As I mentioned in the opener, writing is a complex part of the rubric because it can be so multifaceted. This sub-series will continue with other writing techniques, but for this initial entry I wanted to start with how we structure our stories because that will serve as the backbone for an entire script.
Campbell's Hero's Journey is not the only way to structure a story. Nor is it the most applicable to modern media. However, The Hero with a Thousand Faces was a highly influential piece of analysis and helped pave they way for many writers to understand not just mythology, but also the process of writing. It is also not without its critics. Many folklorist, in particular, take issue with Campbell's work. They believe that he has a shallow understanding of mythology, various cultures, and feel that he cherry picked examples that served to prove himself right. Nevertheless, Campbell himself did not intend for the Hero's Journey to be all-encompassing and neither should we. Instead, we can take the tools provided by him, Vogler, Harmon, or others, in order to better understand the stories we see.
If you made it this far, thanks for checking out another Deep Dive. It may be awhile until I revisit the 'writing' section so that I can focus on the other series, but I promise I'll get to it eventually. In the meantime, if you want to learn more about Campbell or the Hero's Journey you can check out the sources that I used below.
Sources
https://blog.reedsy.com/guide/story-structure/heros-journey/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero%27s_journey
https://www.jcf.org/learn/joseph-campbell-heros-journey
https://www.masterclass.com/articles/writing-101-what-is-the-heros-journey
https://www.grammarly.com/blog/literary-devices/heros-journey/
https://thescriptlab.com/features/screenwriting-101/12309-the-heros-journey-breakdown-star-wars/
https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/dan-harmon-story-circle/
https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/joseph-campbells-heros-journey/
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