This page contains a bunch of material to help you understand traditional plotting using
mythologist
Joseph Campbell's notion of "the hero's journey"
or "the monomyth" from his book,
"The Hero with a Thousand Faces."
First you'll see a few diagrams that show the journey visually, which I find
really helps, and then you'll find a wonderful chart on the bottom
of this page that analyzes how Star Wars and The Matrix used
Campbell's monomyth. Here's a simplified diagram:
Next up, a detailed diagram by Lisa A. Paltz Spindler:
Now one with great detail:
Finally, I love this gameboard-style depiction:
Next up, a nice analysis of two popular SF works and how they use Campbell's ideas, by the "Star Wars Origins" people.
Campbell |
Star Wars
|
The Matrix
|
I: Departure
|
The call to adventure |
Princess Leia's message |
"Follow the white rabbit" |
Refusal of the call |
Must help with the harvest |
Neo won't climb out window |
Supernatural aid |
Obi-wan rescues Luke from sandpeople |
Trinity extracts the "bug" from Neo |
Crossing the first threshold |
Escaping Tatooine |
Neo is taken out of the Matrix for the first time |
The belly of the whale |
Trash compactor |
Torture room |
II: Initiation
|
The road of trials |
Light-saber practice |
Sparring with Morpheus |
The meeting with the goddess |
Princess Leia (wears white, in earlier scripts was a "sister" of a mystic order) |
The Oracle |
Temptation away from the true path |
Luke is tempted by the Dark Side |
Cypher (the failed messiah) is tempted by the world of comfortable illusions |
Atonement with the Father |
Darth and Luke reconcile |
Neo rescues and comes to agree (that he's The One) with his father-figure, Morpheus |
Apotheosis (becoming god-like) |
Luke becomes a Jedi |
Neo becomes The One |
The ultimate boon |
Death Star destroyed |
Humanity's salvation now within reach |
III: Return
|
Refusal of the return |
"Luke, come on!" Luke wants to stay to avenge Obi-Wan |
Neo fights agent instead of running |
The magic flight |
Millennium Falcon |
"Jacking in" |
Rescue from without |
Han saves Luke from Darth |
Trinity saves Neo from agents |
Crossing the return threshold |
Millennium Falcon destroys pursuing TIE fighters |
Neo fights Agent Smith |
Master of the two worlds |
Victory ceremony |
Neo's declares victory over machines in final phone call |
Freedom to live |
Rebellion is victorious over Empire |
Humans are victorious over machines |
Common Mythic Elements
|
Two Worlds (mundane and special) |
Planetside vs. The Death Star |
Reality vs. The Matrix |
The Mentor |
Obi-Wan Kenobi |
Morpheus |
The Oracle |
Yoda |
The Oracle |
The Prophecy |
Luke will overthrow the Emperor |
Morpheus will find (and Trinity will fall for) "The One" |
Failed Hero |
Biggs |
In an early version of the script, Morpheus once believed that Cypher was "The One" |
Wearing Enemy's Skin |
Luke and Han wear stormtrooper outfits |
Neo jumps into agent's skin |
Shapeshifter (the Hero isn't sure if he can trust this character) |
Han Solo |
Cypher |
Animal familiar |
R2-D2, Chewbacca |
N/A |
Chasing a lone animal into the enchanted wood (the animal usually gets away) |
Luke follows R2 into the Jundland Wastes; The Millennium Falcon follows a lone TIE fighter into range of the Death Star |
Neo "follows the white rabbit" to the nightclub where he meets Trinity |
And there it is, a pretty good introduction to Campbell's Hero's Journey; now
start using this to analyze your own work. I hope you find this useful!
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