Captivated: A Glimpse at the Hero's Journey

Abstract

Have you ever watched a film in which a bold hero travels to a distant land, defeats a seemingly unstoppable evil, and returns home forever changed? If so, you have probably seen a film that contains a remnant of Joseph Campbell’s concept of “the hero’s journey,” which is the common structure he noticed among countless mythological narratives. I discovered the concept of “the hero’s journey” through academic study on the hero and the antihero as I researched desirable qualities for the protagonist of my original screenplay: Captivated. Through further research, I was inspired by the noble characteristics of the hero, and I became fascinated with the narrative structure of “the hero’s journey.” Therefore, I implemented the sacrificial journey of the hero clashing against a resilient evil force through my original feature-length screenplay. At the core, this thesis focuses on the selfless nature of the hero and the high calling the hero answers, in hopes to truly inspire those who read.