The Heroes Journey and Film
Presented by Eli Williamson-Jones in 2005


What the following movies have in common; they are the top fifteen highest grossing movies of all time.

This is how much money they took in worldwide.

1. Titanic (1997) $1,835,300,000

2. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) $1,129,219,252
3. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001) $968,600,000
4. Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) $922,379,000
5. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) $921,600,000
6. Jurassic Park (1993) $919,700,000
7. Shrek 2 (2004) $880,871,036
8. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) $866,300,000
9. Finding Nemo (2003) $865,000,000
10. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) $860,700,000
11. Independence Day (1996) $811,200,000
12. Spider-Man (2002) $806,700,000
13. Star Wars (1977) $797,900,000
14. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) $789,458,727
15. Spider-Man 2 (2004) $783,577,893

What these movies share in common besides their popularity: All revolve around heroes and their journey. All but 4 involve epic battles between good and evil.

What these movies tell us about the collective consciousness of the majority of our human population is that the heroes journey resonates with our species. The majority among us want to see stories where heroes partake in fighting in and then ending epic battles between good and evil. What this usually entails is a massive series of unfortunate events that lead to a worst case scenario the hero must overcome. The paradox is that we want to see good defeat evil but evil is needed so that good can be tested, fight and eventually triumph in the end. The harder it is for the hero to do this, the greater the capacity of the audience to enjoy the story.

Artists are considered the myth makers of our day and thus, students of the heroes journey. In order for filmmakers to make new myths that resonate with audiences, they have to understand the subtle details that build the most attractive heroes journey, capturing the imagination of the masses. These stories tap into the human hunger for a larger purpose to life by being connected to forces greater than the self. Furthermore, ordinary people love stories of ordinary heroes becoming extraordinary. If it can happen to them, it can happen to anyone.

Some examples of unassuming and unlikely heroes from our movies: Frodo a country boy from the Lord of the Rings, Neo, an office worker in The Matrix, Luke, a farm boy in Star Wars, Ellie a loner scientist in Contact, Peter Parker, a nerd along with Harry Potter. These are ordinary characters who become extraordinary.

The heroes journey or mono myth, transcends race, economics, culture and religion. It taps into our primordial being. Theaters help facilitate this in darkness where a projector's light flickers on the screen much like our ancestors experienced the flicker of the campfire light on their faces during story telling sessions.

Story telling is an art that captures the response of our humanity to the dramas of life. This has always been the inspiration behind our movies. All over the world, there are millions of real dramas unfolding, all worthy of the theater but only need artists and story tellers to capture them in a format presentable for the big screen. Some examples of our movies inspired by real events: Malcolm X, A Beautiful Mind, Jerry Maguire, Titanic, Schindler's List, Sea Biscuit, October Sky, Amadeus, The Elephant Man, Remember the Titans, Gandhi, American Splendor, Hotel Rewanda, Antwone Fisher, Kundun, etc.

Do the highest grossing dramas we like to see on the big screen have something to do with the dramas we create for ourselves in the world? In the drama going on now, America is presented to us as hero facing a great sinister axis of evil. After viewing the devastating destruction of the World Trade Center during 9-11, many thought the news footage felt unreal; like it was just a scene from an action packed Jerry Bruckheimer movie. Are the tragedies that unfold in the world just giving us more of the same thing we like to see in our movies; a massive series of unfortunate events that lead to a worst case scenario the hero must overcome?

We are all actors in this massive cosmic drama. Our eyes are like super high definition cameras giving us a perfect seat in the everyday action of our lives. The dramas that play themselves out for us are formed by written and unwritten scripts shaped by ourselves and society. The scripts our culture have been following, are setting the stage for a great test humanity must undergo as collective hero. The full capacity of the human spirit must respond in order to avert the disaster outlined by our prophetic scripts, moving us towards a drama with a worst case scenario in our near future.

One of the most well known examples of these scripts we are taught in the west, is the Biblical paradigm. In it, the human race as we know it, is a doomed entity. The worst in our nature manifests through our reckless leaders who compel us to wage a final battle of apocalyptic and cataclysmic proportions. The only hero who saves us from ourselves is a super Jesus who returns to unite the world and establish a new kingdom of eternal peace because we utterly failed to do this on our own.

Another widely popularized script for the future is the Star Trek vision. Like the Bible, its outlook for humanity's near future is almost as bleak. Although the religious and secular scripts end with a united human race governed in peace and prosperity, both of them have a horrendous transition period between now and then. In the Biblical version, a third of humanity is destroyed. Even in the Star Trek timeline, World War III is unavoidable and six hundred million people are murdered in this catastrophic event.

There are many who believe humanity is headed for a cataclysmic upheaval in the near future. If these cynical perspectives populating our media, religious communities and scientific circles are correct, then we are indeed moving towards fulfillment of the same kind of heroes journey equation that traditionally makes for the best selling movies at the box office. Evil manifests as a series of unfortunate domino effect like events leading to a worst case scenario in which the hero can only survive by overcoming incredibly daunting odds. Some examples of these events we've all seen in the headlines: environmental crises such as global warming, the Israeli and Palestinian conflict dividing the world, American and world addiction to Middle East oil as reserves decline, 9-11, war on terror, Iraq invasion, efforts to present war as an entertaining video game in recruiting tactics for the next generation of soldiers, threats leading to a nuclear armed North Korea and Iran, international anger at America and all the weapons to fight World War III waiting and ready for use.

If the dramatic conflicts we see unfolding are moving us closer to a worst case scenario, humanity as the collective hero will have to wake up in order to avert the catastrophe of the evil unleashed upon ourselves. If we hope to avoid such a nightmarish fate between now and our destiny as a united civilization, we will need to revise and create a more superior script for our future and then act in accordance with it. Such a script would inspire the citizens of the world to unite and avert a World War III apocalypse scenario while leading us into a heroic and peaceful transition towards a global federal government.

Action heroes from our movies like Schwarzenegger, Van Damme, Stallone or Vin Diesel, save society with violent deeds of courage after evil has been unleashed. Wisdom heroes also use courage but knowledge is the weapon they wield to keep evil from being unleashed in the first place. They see preventative medicine as the greatest good. This is more desirable than waiting for the worst case scenario to escalate beyond the point of no return, requiring the less than certain invasive surgery to cut out the cancerous tumor of evil before it destroys the body. This is the World War III scenario to be avoided, where entire civilizations are vilified and dozens of cities all over the planet are incinerated in a nuclear holocaust.

Filmmakers take the journey of wisdom heroes because it is through film that we can create the preventative medicine needed to transform society with new ways of thinking about and seeing the world. Joseph Campbell was a wisdom hero who wrote extensively about the heroes journey and mythology. He stated that the new myth for the future will bring the society of our planet together. It will come out of realization from a symbolic form.

In pictures of the Earth from space, we find this symbolism. We see no divisions of nations or states. It is this Campbell says, that will inspire the new mythology. "Earth is the country we are going to be celebrating and the people on it are going to be those we become one with." With the help of filmmakers, this realization can spread and incite the required action without needing to experience the outcome of nation states unbound by a global country; the horror of world war on a nuclear scale. In Earthborn, I want to use film to help facilitate the spread of the new mythology by creating movies that move people to awaken to a world centric perspective. This will involve experimentation in breaking down social barriers to highlight what we have in common rather than what makes us so different. It is the new mythology we can use to harness the heroic aspirations we feel, towards making our ordinary lives more extraordinary and meaningful than what they are.


1. Some ideas on the heroes journey in this presentation, were taken from Peace Knights: of the Soul: Wisdom in Star Wars by Jon Snodgrass.