Pen Freak

The Hero's Journey (also known as the Monomyth) is the template upon which the vast majority of successful stories and Hollywood blockbusters are based upon. It is upon this structure that situations are superimposed. This is why stories such as Alien (1979), Gladiator (2000), Godfather (1972), American Beauty (1999), Annie Hall (1977) and many others (all deconstructed at www.clickok.co.uk/index4.html) appear to be different but are all constructed, almost sequence by sequence, in the same way.

The following blockbusters have all been structured around the Hero's Journey template: Titanic, 1997 - grossed over $600,000,000; Star Wars, 1977 - grossed over $460,000,000; Shrek 2, 2004 - grossed over $436,000,000; ET, 1982 - grossed over $434,000,000; Spiderman, 2002 - grossed over $432,000,000. So how come you don't know it inside out?

For a number of very valid reasons, if you want to write (and sell) successful stories, whether they're Hollywood blockbusters, Indie successes, novels or other story forms, you need to master the Hero's Journey in a very detailed way...

EVERY HERO MUST SEIZE THE SWORD AND GAIN AN EXPANSION OF CONSCIOUSNESS

The Seizing of the Sword (a fixed and critical stage of the Hero's Journey) is a metaphor for an Expansion of Consciousness.

The Sword is often a tangible (in Syriana (2005), it is simply a post-it note) that represents the intangible (an Expansion of Consciousness).

It is only with the Expansion of Consciousness, the Enlightenment, that the Hero can go on to be Reborn and Atone with the Father (all of these stages are incremental Transformations that eventually lead the Hero to his (or her) New Self).

In classic structure, the Sword is a tangible object such as treasure (representing wealth) or fire (representing power) or a bride (representing the Romantic Challenge). Often all three are gained. In Scarface (1983), when Tony takes over Frank's territory, he gains wealth, power and Elvira.

The intangible gain (the Expansion of Consciousness), is demonstrated by characteristics such as joy (Joy of Infancy Regained) and New Knowledge. In The Godfather (1972), after Michael marries Apollonia, they play around in the car like little kids (Joy of Infancy Regained) and she learns to drive and speak English (New Knowledge).

Critically, the Sword and Expansion of Consciousness also represent the gaining of a capacity that was previously lacking. In Thelma and Louise (1991), it is at this stage of the Journey that Thelma suddenly gains the capacity to be able to nonchalantly put the cop in the trunk of his car and take his shades.