I am convinced that you know what the hero’s journey is, only don’t you know it by name. The Hero’s Journey or Monomyth is a formula or a structure presented by Joseph Campbell in his book called The Hero of a Thousand Faces (1949). In this book, Campbell describes twelve stages of a narrative, and comes up with a conclusion that in great and successful narratives, the characters are all the same. Therefore, these stages can be applied in (almost) every narrative, from cinema or literature.
The following picture is going to clarify what are the twelve stages.
Now it is time to know a few narratives in which “The Hero’s Journey” is present.
1 The Lord of the Rings
This story is a classic example of The Hero’s Journey. As the story happens in a different world, at the very beginning the world is presented and later we meet the hero. It is important to mention that the ordinary world of a story does not necessarily correspond to our ordinary world. Frodo is chosen by Gandalf, his mentor, to destroy the One ring. At the beginning, he refuses the adventure. …show more content…
K. Rowling. We are presented to Harry’s ordinary world, and he receives the letter to Hogwarts. In this movie, Harry refuses to believe that he is a wizard and the mentor, Hagrid, is responsible for proving this to him and for leading Harry through stage 5. Once in the school, the stages 6 and 7 flows naturally. The stage 8 is when Harry finally faces Lord Voldemort, the man who killed his parents and Harry, therefore, his biggest fear. After had defeated the enemy, at least for now, Harry recovers and with a picture of his parents (the reward) in his possessions, he goes back to the initial point, but not the same as he was. It is very interesting to notice that even though the other movies are not about the beginning of the story, the stages of “The Hero’s Journey” are