The Monomyth of Hero’s Journey in Cinema and Fiction
A storytelling method as old as time that remains relevant today.
While studying myths from around the world, mythologist Joseph Campbell observed a universal overarching structure. He discovered that as long as storytelling has existed, human beings have been using the same elements and patterns to tell stories. In his book, ‘The Hero With a Thousand Faces’, Campbell articulated and arranged these patterns into a story structure known as ‘Hero’s Journey’.
Hero’s journey is an archetypical story structure where a relatively naive protagonist embarks on a transformative adventure, struggles, suffers, gets tested, slays the symbolic dragon, finds ‘treasure’, and returns home a changed individual.
Mythological tales, folklore, religion, films, fiction, video games, your favorite superhero story — this story structure is everywhere. We come across this story arc so often, we acknowledge its elements and their symbolic significance subconsciously. The prevalence, however, does not make it any less special.
Hero’s journey is a monomyth — one myth emerging from elements shared in many cultures. Close similarities in stories from completely different and disconnected cultures seem surprising until we consider that the essence of our human condition transcends our differences. We all dream, aspire, fear, love, suffer, celebrate, and mourn. In Jungian psychology, the hero’s journey is a part of our collective unconscious — our behavior derived from ancestral memory and experience, ingrained in all members of our species. These stories speak to our deep-seated psychology and tendencies.
12 Stages of the Hero’s Journey
The protagonist goes through 12 stages as she traverses through her journey, experiencing inner and outer transformation at each stage.
- The ordinary world
We are introduced to the protagonist in her known and predictable life. Benign and naive, she lives an unfulfilled life in her comfort zone.
Harry Potter is an orphan who lives in the shadows of the Dursleys.
In the Alchemist, Santiago is a humble shepherd boy who yearns to see the world and find treasure.
2. Call to adventure
The comfort zone is disrupted by events that pose a challenge for the protagonist. To confront the challenge, the protagonist will have to leave their known world and step into the unknown.
Neo is asked to follow the white rabbit.
Santiago’s recurring dream of finding treasure at the Egyptian pyramids.
3. Refusal of the call
The high stakes of the adventure intimidate the protagonist and she succumbs to her fears and insecurities.
Frodo is reluctant to leave the shire and travel with the ring.
Santiago stands at a ticket booth selling boat tickets to Africa and backs away at the last minute.
4. Meeting the mentor
Help arrives in the form of a mentor who prepares the protagonist with wisdom, insights, training, and material objects.
Bruce Wayne meets Ra’s Al Ghul. Hagrid takes Harry to the diagonal alley.
Santiago meets the gypsy woman and Melchizedek.
5. Crossing the threshold
The protagonist commits and descents into the unknown. There is no turning back at this point.
Neo takes the red pill.
Santiago leaves his life of a shepherd behind and takes a boat to Tangier.
6. Tests, allies and enemies
The protagonist gets initiated into the unknown with a harsher set of rules that contrast that of the ordinary world. The protagonist faces tests and meets new people who might turn out to be friends, foes, or rivals.
Harry meets Ron, Hermoine, and Draco. Nala finds Simba. Neo trains with Morpheus.
Santiago meets a thief who robs him and then a crystal merchant who helps him.
7. Approach to the innermost cave
Having survived the descent into the unknown, the protagonist observes a pause. The protagonist and her allies regroup, resolve internal conflicts, and rekindle their morale. She approaches the most dangerous ordeal of her quest.
Nala asks Simba to return to pride rock and take the throne from Scar.
Santiago prepares for the journey through the desert and prays with the people in his caravan.
8. The ordeal
The protagonist faces her biggest tribulation yet. Despite all her efforts, she faces a rock bottom moment that dangles on the brink of death. All hope is lost. This is the most transformative stage of the journey as only through death, the protagonist can be reborn a hero with newfound wisdom and abilities.
Harry faces ‘death’ at the hands of Voldemort. Bruce Wayne is broken and thrown into the pit, a symbolic abyss. Neo is killed by Agent Smith.
Santiago faces the prospect of death at the oasis.
9. The reward
Having survived death and overcome her biggest fear, the protagonist earns the reward that justifies her entire adventure. The reward takes many forms; physical objects of value, higher knowledge or wisdom, connection with the spiritual realm, or love. It is the absence of this reward that is often the source of unfulfillment in the protagonist’s ordinary life. This is the beginning of the climb from the abyss.
Simba meets his father’s ghost. Bruce Wayne finds his will to live to climb out of the pit.
Santiago finds love in Fatima and learns of his powers.
10. The road back
The protagonist is compelled to re-commit to their journey. She has to face off malevolence one final time before she can return to the ordinary world.
Simba returns home to face Scar. Bruce Wayne returns to Gotham to face Bane.
Santiago leaves the oasis for the pyramids.
11. The resurrection
The final face-off with darkness. The protagonist is all that she was and everything that she has become during the journey. We get to observe this growth in their encounter with evil this time. They have been resurrected, they are now the hero.
Neo and Harry are revived from death to face their antagonists. Batman faces Bane in Gotham.
Despite being beaten up at the pyramids, Santiago does not lose heart. He knows where the treasure is now, his hope in his quest is resurrected.
12. The return
The hero returns home, a changed person. A balance is restored to the ordinary world and the storylines are resolved. Love flourishes. The hero’s journey ends, until another adventure calls.
Alfred spots Bruce and Selina at a cafe. Simba reclaims his throne at pride rock.
Santiago finds his treasure buried under the sycamore tree. He can now return to Fatima and spend his life with her. He is now a transformed individual.
The wandered returns home in the end, after years of exile, struggle, and suffering. He brings a gift for people. That gift arises from what the hero has seen, what he has endured, what he has learned. It isn’t just the raw material. But something refined by the hero’s now skilled and loving hands.
There is a simple reason transformative stories of adventure are appealing to us. We can see through all the motifs and symbolism to recognize it as a story of ourselves. We cannot help but revere it.
Hero’s journey is a reminder to not give in to our fears when a call to adventure presents itself. There is a Latin saying of alchemic origin, In sterquiliniis invenitur or ‘In filth it will be found’. What we most want in our lives, will be found where we least want to look. The greater your fear towards a task, the more fulfilled you will feel at its completion. But first, we must cross that threshold and step into the unknown.
The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.
Hero’s journey is a reassurance that our pain has meaning if we rise above it. A reminder that our struggles are also our transformations in disguise. Deep learning often coincides with pain, discomfort, and anxiety.
It is a reminder to adjust our expectations that success without any real struggle or suffering is fool’s gold. It does not transform us. The biggest reward is what the journey transforms us into.
The hero journey is an inevitable calling of life. It allows us to tap into aspects of our consciousness and being that lie dormant within us. Jung considered this journey an obligatory part of individuation — the process of becoming fully human. Accepted or rejected, it is there in life’s different stages and challenges.
The hero wanders. The hero suffers. The hero returns. You are the hero.
