Nemo

The widely popular children’s movie Finding Nemo, directed by Andrew Stanton, follows the heroic journey of a father through a great deal of obstacles as well as triumphs while on his journey to reunite with his son. His quest follows the same pattern as every other heroic journey throughout time; the universal monomyth. The key components that allow the universal monomyth to be seen throughout Finding Nemo are the basic steps of the hero myth, the different archetypes that characters fit perfectly to, and the universal themes that are visible throughout the movie. The heroic journey within Finding Nemo follows the story of Marlin, a small fearful clown fish who is afraid of everything from the wide open sea down to basically his own shadow. Even though it may seem that Marlin is an unlikely hero, he fits Joseph Campbell’s definition of a hero to a tee. Campbell said, “A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a religion of supernatural wonder. Fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won, the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow men” (Campbell). This is exactly what Marlin did, he ventured out from the comfortable world he knew in order to get his boon, his son Nemo. Like all other heroes, Marlin’s heroic journey started with his “call to adventure”. This call to adventure, or event that initiated Marlin’s journey, was the capturing of his son by the scuba diver. At first, Marlin does not know how to react and is very reluctant to going on this frightening quest. Marlin’s fearful and apprehensive personality is the cause of his initial “refusal to the call”. In order to get past this fear, Marlin needed the assistance of a mentor or supernatural aid who could give him the boost of confidence he needed to face the adventure. Dory, a flighty and forgetful fish whom Marlin befriends at the start of his journey, becomes this god-like figure for him and provides him with