The Hero's Journey In Moonrise Kingdom

In the movie Moonrise Kingdom, directed by Wes Anderson, the hero’s journey structure is very apparent. The movie focuses on the ten-year-old orphan Sam, who runs away into the woods with his friend Suzy. They set up a camp, fish, and continue on their journey through the wilderness. During the journey to run away together to a nearby island, Sam cares for his friend Suzy by teaching her how to set up camp and fish. When Suzy’s family sends a search party out for the two missing children, Sam protects Suzy and himself from anyone who tries to stop them from being together or making them return home. Eventually, even after reaching the island, the pair of friends are found and Suzy is taken to her home while Sam is placed in the care of the Island Police, Captain Sharp. In the conclusion, with the help of his fellow Camp Scouts, Sam is reunited with Suzy and gets adopted by Captain Sharp.
Sam grows as he becomes a part of the Captain’s family, and he realizes he always had the capability to be a part of a family as well as belong somewhere. The structure of Moonrise Kingdom follows each of the stages of the Hero’s Journey from being the orphan, to becoming a wanderer, then the caregiver, warrior, and finally the magician. Sam goes through a transformation as he changes his attitude and faces his insecurity of not belonging to a family. Once he allows himself to join a family, he receives what he desired most and was also able to remain friends with the person who was with him during his journey of transformation. In some ways, Suzy’s situation parallels Sam’s, although she is not an orphan. The two children form a bond through their initial feelings of not belonging to where they are, and both of them change throughout the journey by learning that they had the chance to belong somewhere all