Old music. Do you like to listen to the classics?
YMCA is one of these well-known songs with a silly move. I encounter this kind of music everywhere, in Germany, in England, USA and even Costa Rican guys know these. Who knows if Lady Gaga will one day move up to one of those. Madonna definitely made it - she sang classics that cross decades.
Which songs do you listen to that you're maybe even ashamed of sometimes? The macarena is probably the most ridiculous song that people (mostly with a bit of alcohol) love to dance. At least English people do. We have a night called "Big Bad Cheese" - it took me a year to figure out that it's an ironic title commenting on the cheesy music they play there. The macarena is a weekly special. YMCA not so much, though I'd have loved to do the moves. I'm lucky though, because it's played quite often in Germany.
In Star
Wars, the Jedi reappear and the old threat is finally gone with the destruction
of the Death Star. E.T. is reunited with his family and takes back something
from the world; initially they came to earth to collect plants and seeds. Also,
Elliot has grown into a post-puberty state and can accept the absence of his
father and even the mother has learned to realize the good things – family, her
kids. In the end, Elliot is not the small brother anymore, but somewhat a
leader of the gang, the cool kid, even if it’s just for a while. Happy end.
Part 11 of the Hero’s Journey
Oh my.
As in the Ordeal phase, the hero symbolically – rarely even really – dies and experiences a miraculous resurrection. This is just as important as the ordeal, because the hero, often back in the ordinary world with his new powers, still struggles to defeat the enemy that is so much bigger than the ordeal phase. He nearly dies, showing how extraordinary his achievement is, when he finally conquers the evil. It’s all about drama, really. Through that final dead/not-dead experience, the hero also learns the last drop of holy knowledge which sometimes gives him the strength and will to survive and win.
The Star Wars films of course play with death all the time. Luke nearly dies so many times it’s needless to count. In the last film, he turns off his radar and symbolically dies while his father guides him through the gun shots. E.T. already died for real, but this time it is Elliot that needs to learn to let go, which E.T. teaches him by saying, he will always be right there inside of him. The old boy Elliot is dead and the new accepting Elliot appears who can cope with E.T. departure (a symbol for the Dad who left him of course).
This is always the heart-touching part, but as we know, in Hollywood films there will be a happy end. In our writing, maybe it’s the reader that should imagine what happens here. Sometimes you don’t need to give him all the answers (although novels tend to do so and it’s kind of expected as well).
Better get back safely. That’s not always as easy as it sounds. The bad guys probably don’t like it if you stole their precious prize and want it back.
This is the best place for chase scenes, however, the hero doesn’t win by getting back. The journey is not at an end yet. Most stories have a little twist here. You think everything’s won, but in reality you still need to finish what you started. This may have been something unexpected in the early days, but now it is a significant part of most stories, as the hero commits again to the change his quest has brought him.
The initial threat in E.T. was the illness and his need to be reunited with his family. At this point, the real threat shows its face in form of the police who appear to be nice, but in effect try to hinder the boys from bringing E.T. back – this is where the spectacular moon bicycle ride comes in handy. For Luke in Star Wars, he escapes the death star and joins the rebels. The new ultimate goal is to destroy the death star.Like I said, this quest is like another part of the story that gives us a new goal, one which makes the first success necessary to win this ultimate one. To be fair, it gives the story a larger, more-than-one dimensional appeal.
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Finally the hero gets something.
The task is accomplished and the hero can take the treasure he has been looking for. Sometimes it’s only knowledge that the main character gains or he realizes his own potential at last. Often it is something the hero needs for the Ordinary World to heal someone or beat an enemy. And other times he just gets the girl, even though the story is not yet finished.
Luke’s prize is that he knows his father is not as bad as he thought and they escape with the plans of the Death Star. Elliot in E.T. finds out that the machine to call home is still working, so they know that the mother ship is coming to pick E.T. up.
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Part 8 of the Hero’s JourneyMight not seem as important, but it’s the heart of the Hero’s Journey. It’s where the magic comes from.
For the reader or viewer, it’s tragic, sad and unbelievable. The hero appears to lose, to fail or to die. He has to face the greatest ordeal so far and is likely to go down trying. It is where the hero figuratively dies and is born again anew – and so is the viewer after a shock period.
E.T. is sick, found by the older brother at the creek, and Elliot has the same symptoms. “We are sick”, he says. Then E.T. dies on the operating table. Luke and the others with the rescued princess Leia are in the worst place you could imagine – the waste bin of the Death Star – and a monster pulls Luke down, so it appears for a moment that he is dying.
This works because you’re never more alive than when you were just reborn, when you faced the worst. In real life, this could be a threatening disease or a murder attempt, and once that is survived, we get the best reward you can imagine.
Part 7 of the Hero’s JourneyAll the tests have prepared the hero for this one sinister place – the cave.
This is where the hero closes in on the dangerous space, mostly underground or somewhere very far away, probably a dark area. The hero will be challenged to go near something hazardous to achieve his goal, to obtain his treasure.
In Star Wars it’s where Luke gets sucked into the Death Star to save Leia. In the whole film, this is the most dangerous place and its name itself tells you how dark it is – pure death awaits you. In E.T., it’s less obvious to define, but you can take the Halloween night, when the kids and E.T. set out to call for help in the woods at night as this stage. Here Elliot learns something crucial about friendship from his alien friend.
For the sake of tension and as another incentive to keep reading, this is pretty important in every story and it usually comes as a pre-climax in the middle somewhere in the Special World.
Part 6 of the Hero’s Journey
Yes, the fighting can begin.
In a way, this is where we are shown the Special World, where our enemies and our allies are introduced. The typical scene in the bar in the Star Wars series is where Luke learns about the rules in this new world. He has to prove himself in a fight and also finds new friends that will come in handy much later. Elliot needs to hide E.T. from his mother and E.T. explores Elliot’s world, getting drunk, experiencing adulthood and lastly getting sick.
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Part 5 of the Hero’s Journey
So we made it out of the Ordinary World, the exposition is over and the adventure begins. The hero has taken a leap of faith.
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In E.T. that happens through a less physical, but metaphysical event. Elliot and E.T. start getting to know each other, they enter the house. We can see that a connection between them has been established, through E.T.’s magic, when they both fall asleep in dodgy manner. In Star Wars Luke travels with a spaceship and the empire suddenly becomes real as he enters the new world.
Part 4 of the Hero’s Journey
The Mentor isn’t always included and he can turn up anywhere in the story, but it’s usually right before the departure to the Special World. As discussed in Part 3, he might help the hero to overcome his last reluctant fear before leaving the Ordinary World.
Honestly, I love the Mentor in stories. It makes you feel safer and the scary truth becomes less frightening. Unfortunately, it is necessary for the Mentor to leave at some point, or the hero will never develop on its own.
Part 3 of the Hero’s Journey
Well, you can’t jump right into it, can you?
Or is it actually important to make it believable? After all, the journey out of the Ordinary World leads to something unknown, most likely even dangerous. Something is needed to convince the hero, who more or less is jinxed with confusion and reluctance, – this could be the mentor, which I will talk about tomorrow.
In a nice story, this last threshold before the adventure is merely old memories, let’s say an old relationship failed, so we don’t wanna rush into it too quickly. In Star Wars, it is rather dramatic, because Luke decides to stay at home, not going away with Obi-Wan, when his Uncle and Aunt are slaughtered. In E.T., Elliot runs away twice and tells his family to not go looking in the shed – as if that had ever worked.
Part 2 of the Hero’s Journey
At some point, our hero needs an incentive to set the story in motion. The Call to Adventure initiates the journey, by introducing some kind of problem or challenge. This also poses a question that holds the suspense for the rest of the film: will the hero be able succeed?
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Part 1 of the Hero’s Journey:
The beginning most likely takes place in the here and now, the Ordinary World.
It often introduces us to the problems, the boring reality, and the characters merely hover in it. After all, if you want to show how amazing or plainly different the Special World will be, the reader/viewer needs to know the comparable side, too.
In Star Wars, we find out that the empire rules the galaxy and the Jedi’s disappeared, while Luke is wasting his life. In E.T. we find out that Elliot’s father has left and the family struggles to cope with it. At the same time, E.T. was left behind by his family and is searched for by the government. Here you see that the “hero” can be anything, in this case even two characters at the same time.
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