Part I: How I deciphered the “mythic source code” within my favorite theme parks, movies, and TV shows…and how you can, too

I was 12 years old the first time my family visited Walt Disney World. It was one of the most exciting vacations of my life, and I remember nearly every moment as though it had all happened last week. But my strongest recollection is the feeling that I had not only been transported out of the ordinary world of my suburban Atlanta childhood, but had somehow become subtly transformed—if only briefly—during my time at Disney. I still felt like myself…but a more adventurous version of myself.

Later, I realized that it was the same feeling I had when viewing my favorite movies and reading my favorite books. And it would be the same feeling that I would soon share with countless other moviegoers upon viewing the first installment of the original Star Wars trilogy in its original theatrical release.

Like many other early Star Wars fans, I returned to our local theater to see the movie again and again that summer. I knew that something was happening on that screen that resonated with me in very profound ways, and I sensed that it involved more than just the imaginative settings, the awesome space hardware, the compelling characters, the dazzling visual effects, or the soaring musical score.

Years later, as a film student at Art Center College of Design, I learned how George Lucas had been strongly influenced by the book The Hero with a Thousand Faces and other works by the celebrated mythologist Joseph Campbell. Fascinated by the revelation, I soon became an avid student of the Campbellian Hero’s Journey. At last, I finally understood why that first Walt Disney World experience had made such a deep and lasting impression on me.

The Hero’s Journey is a timeless story that connects with people of all ages and cultures on a deeply satisfying emotional level. It has been told and retold in countless variations since the dawn of human communication—first through the oral tradition, and eventually adapted and assimilated into every form of media.

The essential structure and character “archetypes” of the Hero’s Journey—heroes, mentors, threshold guardians, and others—are not unique to certain stories. On the contrary, they are to be found in virtually every coherent story to one extent or another, including the most popular motion pictures, television shows, stage dramas, musicals, literary works, and theme parks.

Some storytellers integrate the Hero’s Journey more explicitly than others—sometimes knowingly, but very often purely by intuition. In the entertainment world, the skillful use of the Hero’s Journey can work box office magic…which brings us back to George Lucas and his Star Wars saga. But you’ll also find countless examples of movies, before and since, that employed the Hero’s Journey to great success—from The Wizard of Oz to Avatar. Of course, the filmography of the Walt Disney Company is a hit parade of Hero’s Journey classics—from Snow White and Pinocchio to The Princess and the Frog to all three Toy Story movies.

Whenever you spot the Hero’s Journey in your favorite theme parks—and you’ll find it playing out everywhere in the parks once you know what you’re looking for—you’ll notice that the mythic content surrounds you in three dimensions, creating an immersive experience. The impact of this experience can be intense. Indeed, the deft integration of the Hero’s Journey into the guest experience is what sets the best theme parks apart from ordinary amusement parks. And it’s one of the main reasons so many guests want to visit those parks again and again.

Of course, if you’re like the 12-year-old me, you may not be aware of the presence of the Hero’s Journey as you roam the theme parks, go to the movies, watch a play, read a compelling book, or kick back in front of the TV set—even though it’s “hidden in plain sight.” And that’s okay. Really, it is. There’s nothing wrong with enjoying your entertainment purely on a surface level. Hey, I do it all the time.

On the other hand, there’s a certain thrill of discovery when I comprehend the pattern of the Hero’s Journey within a story—and find that I’m even able to predict key events still to come. “But doesn’t that spoil the fun?” you may ask. For some, perhaps. But I prefer to compare my approach to the experience of a hypothetical music student. As a child, our student loved listening to all sorts of music without really understanding the musical principles involved. But then, after taking several music appreciation classes, she found herself becoming fluent in the “language” and techniques behind the music. Yet her newfound insight in no way diminishes her enjoyment of the music itself; if anything, it actually heightens her listening experience by adding another dimension to it.

And that brings us to the purpose of my Hidden in Plain Sight articles: to give you the insight you’ll need to recognize and comprehend the Hero’s Journey in all your favorite theme parks, books, plays, movies, and television shows. So consider this your Call to Adventure!

Part II: It’s all a lie! Honestly!

Mythologists like to say “A myth is a lie that tells the truth.” In other words, they are metaphors for the real events in our lives, taking important moments that are common to everyone and re-casting them in fictional and even fantastical terms. And I’m not just referring to tales of ancient Greek, Roman, or Norse gods and heroes. Instead, I’m talking about any story that serves to express the hopes, dreams, fears, and aspirations that we all share.

Whether they’re presented in the form of an animated summer blockbuster, a bestselling novel, or a thrilling theme park attraction, mythic stories let us experience big truths about “the human condition” on a personal level. The great movements in our lives—all the tragedies and triumphs, life-cycle events and milestones that mark the major turning points in our individual journeys—these are the raw ingredients of the grand metaphor that is myth. And, conversely, they are the reasons why mythic stories resonate so deeply in our collective psyches.

The Hero’s Journey is mythic storytelling in its most powerful and pervasive form. As a narrative framework, it enables storytellers to present a nearly endless assortment of other mythic themes tailored to their specific audiences while reflecting their own outlooks.

It was the late, great mythologist Joseph Campbell who first brought the Hero’s Journey to widespread attention with the publication of his groundbreaking book The Hero with a Thousand Faces along with other works. Of course, the Hero’s Journey had already been integral to storytelling for thousands of years. But Campbell was the first to break it down into its constituent elements, give it a name, and describe it in a coherent, accessible way.

Campbell’s findings emerged as he studied and compared countless legends, folk stories, fairy tales, and myths he had collected from cultures all over the globe. The deeper he delved, the more he realized that all these stories had certain crucial elements in common. He ultimately synthesized those components into a universal model or “paradigm”: the Hero’s Journey.

Also known as “the mythic round,” “the monomyth,” or “the heroic cycle,” the Hero’s Journey consists of four major movements (like the movements of a symphony) that metaphorically echo the major events in our lives: separation, descent, ordeal, and return. Within each of these movements are several stages. We’ll look at those stages in Hidden in Plain Sight, Part III. For now, the important thing to know is that we all respond to these movements because they are psychologically “true.”

Of course, different cultures and generations over time will adapt and tailor the events within those movements to reflect their own outlooks, creating endless variations of the Hero’s Journey. But the movements of the monomyth remain essentially the same:

• We are born dependent on our parents but as we get older, we gradually find our individual identities and learn to rely on our own abilities (separation).
• As we mature and find our way in the world, we face challenges—in school, in sports, summer jobs, and in our family lives—that shape our character and outlook (descent).
• We embark on life-changing “quests” in which we sacrifice our time and childhood illusions (ordeal) to pursue a vocation or career, and perhaps marriage and parenthood. Some of us may devote our adult lives to national service, which adds another layer of heroism and sacrifice to the mix.
• Ultimately, we strive—often surmounting daunting obstacles—to create the circumstances that will allow the next generation to grow up and flourish, bringing our personal Hero’s Journey full circle (return).

Those movements occur not only on the scale of a lifetime, but also on much smaller, more prosaic levels. Thus, we embark on a personal Hero’s Journey when we start our first day at a new school; when we are faced with a medical crisis; when we are laid off from work and must seek out a new job; when we volunteer in our communities; when we ask that cute classmate out on a date; when we finally sit down to write the Great American Novel….

Do the creators of our favorite movies, novels, stage shows, TV productions, and theme park attractions knowingly consult the Hero’s Journey as they are developing their stories? Undoubtedly, many do. Movie directors like James Cameron (Terminator, Titanic, Avatar), the Wachowski brothers (the Matrix films), and of course George Lucas spring immediately to mind. And J.K. Rowling displays a brilliant grasp of all things mythological, as demonstrated in her Harry Potter novels.

How about the original Imagineer, Walt Disney? I think his mastery of the Hero’s Journey was probably intuitive—especially since he created the bulk of his work before Joseph Campbell and his theories were widely known or appreciated. Like all great storytellers, Walt instinctively recognized which elements of his stories would connect emotionally with his audiences. And, just as importantly, he was able to restrain himself from censoring his own and his artists’ boldest, most imaginative ideas as they bubbled up, dreamlike, from the creative wellsprings of their subconscious minds.

Now that we have delved into the reasons why the monomyth is such a powerful storytelling tool, the next stop on our voyage will be to meet the character archetypes and then explore the stages of the Hero’s Journey—which we’ll cover in the next two installments of Hidden in Plain Sight. 

Part III: What a bunch of characters!

Joseph Campbell described the character archetypes of the Hero’s Journey as “…the expressions of the structure of the human psyche.” He went on to observe that these “forms” are constant and fundamental—even though they appear in stories told over countless generations by people completely unconnected to one another and hailing from vastly different backgrounds, cultures, and even continents. 

Think about that for a second: these are stories that were told and re-told and passed down through the centuries by societies around the globe that had never communicated with one another. Yet they all feature the same basic character types: heroes and mentors, shape-shifters and threshold guardians, heralds and tricksters and shadows. Where did those “archetypes” come from?

In fact, all the archetypes of the Hero’s Journey exist within the unconscious mind of every human being. When the hero meets these characters in the course of her adventure, they symbolize the different facets of her own personality. Thus, they are actually metaphors for the different aspects of your own personality. Each character represents a different facet of who you are. That’s why those archetypes resonate with you. Ultimately, the goal of the Hero’s Journey (as in your own life journey) is to learn how to control and integrate the different parts of the hero’s personality, as represented by the character archetypes, in order to form a complete, mature identity.

It’s tempting to think of the archetypes as fixed and unchanging, but as you learn to recognize them in stories, you’ll soon realize that they are far more flexible than that. So try thinking of the archetypes as virtual “masks” that the various characters wear. Just like real masks, the characters can change or switch these virtual masks when the demands of the story require it. One character may wear several masks at different points during the story, or even simultaneously (a character may serve as both mentor and herald, for example…and sometimes the hero can be his own mentor). By the same token, several different characters can take turns wearing a single mask.

But before I get ahead of myself, let’s formally meet the archetypes. You’ll notice that the accompanying examples are all from recent movies. But once you know how to recognize them, you’ll find the same archetypes in novels, TV shows, computer games, stage productions, theme park attractions…and in virtually every other storytelling medium.

Hero – Obviously, this is the story’s protagonist, the central character—the one who makes the journey. The hero must be prepared to serve and sacrifice him/herself, either literally or figuratively, for the benefit of the greater community. Sigmund Freud would have described the hero as the embodiment of the human ego—the aspect of your identity that distinguishes you from everyone else in the world.

The hero may venture into the Special World in order to restore balance to the Ordinary World. In Fantastic Mr. Fox, when the Fox family faces starvation after being (literally) uprooted from their home tree, Mr. Fox, aided by his woodland friends, decides to launch a daring raid on the farms of Bogus, Bunce, and Beans. Or the hero may answer the Call to Adventure as an “internal quest” in response to a need for personal growth or self-healing, or to find true love. Thus, in Disney/Pixar’s Up, the recent death of his beloved wife Ellie and his impending eviction from his home impels Carl Frederickson to transform his house into an improvised airship and pursue his lifelong ambition to find Paradise Falls.

Mentor – The mentor is the hero’s guide to the Special World, psychologically symbolizing the hero’s higher Self—the wiser, nobler aspect of the hero’s (and therefore your own) personality.

The mentor is a motivational figure, providing knowledge, insight, and training to help the hero face the challenges ahead. In How to Train Your Dragon, Gobber the blacksmith is initially the mentor to Hiccup and his young compatriots, but eventually Hiccup accepts the mask of the mentor, sharing his newfound knowledge of dragons with the others. The mentor may also equip the hero with magical gifts (weapons, tools, articles of clothing, etc.) to assist him on his journey. In Avatar, the hero Jake Sully finds multiple mentors, including Grace Augustine, who provides him with the machinery needed to establish the mental link with his blue alien avatar, and the Na’vi princess Neytiri, who introduces Jake to his winged alien steed, the dragon-like “banshee.”

Threshold Guardian – As the protectors of access to (and sometimes egress from) the Special World, threshold guardians psychologically symbolize the hero’s self-doubts, inner demons, and negative energy—the neuroses that test your own readiness for the challenges ahead and your willingness to accept the changes which your personal life journey will entail.

A threshold guardian may place obstacles in the hero’s way to protect the Special World or to test the hero’s worthiness and commitment to the quest while keeping out posers and wannabes. In Julie & Julia, when Julia Child enrolls at the Cordon Bleu cooking school, the snooty staff force her to work extra hard to prove herself. But the threshold guardian may not even be a character (at least in the ordinary sense); it may instead be an animal, a booby trap, a force of nature, or some other entity. In Alice and Wonderland, one of the early threshold guardians is a teensy, weensy locked door that offers the only access from the bottom of the rabbit hole to the rest of Wonderland/Underland.

Herald – The herald’s role is to alert the hero to the challenges and changes awaiting her in the Special World. From a psychological standpoint, the herald represents the voice inside you that notifies you that it is time to make a change in your life.

The herald may announce the Call to Adventure, which serves to get the story underway. Thus, in Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, teenage weather intern Sam Sparks informs her TV audience of the success of Flint Lockwood’s “Dynamic Food Replicator” invention, setting up Flint’s collision with his destiny. The herald may also alert the hero to significant challenges in the course of the adventure, as when Sam later tries to warn Flint of the approaching “food storm,” presaging the perils Flint will soon face in attempting to disable his out-of-control invention.

Shapeshifter – The shapeshifter lives to mislead, confuse, or otherwise deceive the hero by disguising his or her true nature, objectives, loyalties, or motives. On the other hand, the hero may sometimes wear the shapeshifter mask to overcome the obstacles in his or her Journey. When the shapeshifter appears in the form of the opposite sex of the hero, the archetype may represent either the female elements of the male hero’s psyche (the “anima,” as described by the Swiss psychologist Carl Jung), or the female elements of the male hero’s psyche (the “animus.”)

In the first Iron Man movie, Tony Stark learns that his trusted business partner Obadiah Stane has betrayed him and is selling weapons to the enemy. The Other Mother in Coraline, meanwhile, is a literal shape shifter, transforming into a spider-like monster after revealing her less-than-maternal true nature.

Shadow – The hero’s antagonist or foe is called the “shadow” because this archetype embodies the hero’s (and therefore your own) darker impulses, fears, and desires, or your repressed feelings of guilt, regret, or resentment—feelings that threaten to hold you back from your full potential and may even bring about your personal downfall.

Often, the shadow will take the form of the story’s “bad guy” or may even be a monster. The Doctor Facilier character in The Princess and the Frog is a literal “shadow man.” But occasionally the shadow is a loved one or someone close to the hero. Thus, in How to Train Your Dragon, Hiccup’s father Stoick the Vast wears the mask of the shadow as he seeks to thwart Hiccup’s destiny, though later in the movie the shadow mask is passed to the primeval “giant dragon” (a monster in every sense).

Trickster – The trickster’s purpose in life is to unleash chaos and mischief, disrupt the status quo, and force change. The trickster points out folly and hypocrisy, bringing hero and shadow down to earth and placing their conflict into the proper perspective.

In Fantastic Mr. Fox, the title character is the hero while also wearing the mask of the trickster as he improvises one clever scheme after another to thwart the vengeful farm bosses. Likewise, James Kirk is also both hero and trickster in Star Trek, arrogantly rigging the “unwinnable” Kobayashi Maru test and later employing more audacious deceptions to defeat the vengeance-crazed Romulan, Nero. 

There are other “secondary” archetypes (the damsel in distress, the gadget guru, etc.) who you may meet in stories from time to time, though they are usually variations on the core archetypes. But now it’s time to move on the fourth and final installment of Hidden in Plain Sight as we examine the discrete stages of the Journey that comprise the major movements of separation, descent, ordeal, and return.

Part IV: Ding-dong! Adventure calling!

Now that we have met the character “archetypes” that populate the Hero’s Journey (in Hidden in Plain Sight, Part III), the time has come to examine the discrete stages of the Journey that comprise the major movements of separation, descent, ordeal, and return.

As you tour these stages, you should keep in mind that the model (or “paradigm”) of the Hero’s Journey is not set in stone. On the contrary, the structure is capable of spinning off in different directions to accommodate the demands of the story (a tragedy, for instance, would naturally have a different dramatic trajectory than a comedy).

You’ll also find that some stories add or subtract certain stages (the hero may experience several Supreme Ordeals, for instance, or may cross many Thresholds), or the stages may be introduced in a different sequence. Sometimes, the entire story may only deal with one or two movements of the journey…or  a story may contain several complete Hero’s Journeys experienced by a number of different characters…or a single character may undergo more than one complete Hero’s Journey.

Remember also that the Hero’s Journey is more than a physical voyage for the hero; it’s also an emotional or psychological voyage. In the course of her Journey, the hero is challenged to grow in character and outlook as she internalizes the lessons learned in her adventures. In the process, the hero begins to integrate the competing elements of her personality to ultimately become a more mature, well-centered individual. In this way, the external events of the Hero’s Journey are actually metaphorical representations of the stages of the hero’s (and therefore your own) transformational inner journey.

In addition to the written descriptions (below), you can follow along graphically using this handy-dandy “Clip-art Hero’s Journey” diagram I have created for your entertainment and enlightenment.

1^st MOVEMENT: SEPARATION

The Ordinary World – This is where it all begins as the hero is introduced in surroundings that are familiar to him (though they may be foreign to us). The Ordinary World contrasts with the unaccustomed realm of the Special World which the hero is about to enter. But even though the journey has yet to formally begin, the seeds of the challenges and conflicts to be encountered in the Special World have already been planted, and the audience may even now be getting a sense of what is at stake.

In the Ordinary World of The Princess and the Frog, adult Tiana works multiple jobs and neglects her inner life while trying to save up enough money to open her own New Orleans restaurant.

The Call to Adventure – Before long, something happens that throws the hero’s Ordinary World out of balance. This event may occur on a personal level, or it may have an impact on the hero’s entire community. Either way, the hero finds herself faced with a situation that must be set right and which cannot be ignored.

In Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, the white rabbit leads Alice down the fateful rabbit hole, presenting the first of several Calls to Adventure issued in the movie.

Refusal of the Call – Often, the hero declines the Call to Adventure, believing the mission or quest to be too risky, frightening, or challenging, or perhaps feeling himself unworthy of the task.

There are several Calls to Adventure in Disney/Pixar’s Up, and several refusals as well, beginning when Carl Fredrickson refuses to help young Russell earn his final Wilderness Explorer merit badge.

Meeting with the Mentor – For the mentor, the wonders of the Special World are familiar and understood. So it is the mentor’s job to share with the hero any special insights or advice the hero may need to accept the Call to Adventure and fulfill her destiny in the Special World.

In Avatar, Jake Sully is alternately mentored by Grace, Neytiri, and Neytiri’s mother Mo’at, who take turns teaching him about the moon Pandora and the ways of its people.

2nd MOVEMENT: DESCENT

Crossing the Threshold – By transitioning from the Ordinary World to the Special World, the hero demonstrates that he has accepted the Call to Adventure, though he may not yet comprehend the challenges that he will meet along the way. And there may be additional thresholds still to be crossed, with each passage delivering the hero ever closer to his destiny.

In Up, the threshold crossing that signals the beginning of the Descent stage of the journey is actually an ascent, as Carl Fredrickson rides his improvised airship house into the wild blue yonder.

Tests, Allies, and Enemies – Moving through the Special World, the hero soon realizes that the rules are different here. The tests she will face at this stage and the allies and enemies she will meet in the process will allow her to navigate the unfamiliar terrain of the Special World. At the same time, they will help her gain confidence in her abilities while preparing her for the challenges that lie ahead.

In The Princess and the Frog, the frog incarnations of Tiana and Prince Naveen rapidly hone their survival skills as they evade hungry alligators, frog-hunting yokels, and other dangers in the bayou, assisted by Louis the trumpet-playing gator and Ray the firefly, and the blind voodoo priestess Mama Odie (their chief mentor).

Approach to the Inmost Cave – As the hero nears the greatest challenge of his journey (for the moment), he must take the opportunity to make final preparations for the encounter.

Facing starvation in his family’s underground hideout, meanwhile, the title character in Fantastic Mr. Fox is aided by woodland accomplices as he prepares to launch a daring raid on all three nearby farms.

3^rd MOVEMENT: ORDEAL

The Supreme Ordeal – At last, the hero reaches the heart of the crisis and must now confront a challenge of monumental proportions. The stakes are high…and the hero’s own death (real or symbolic), or the death of a close ally, may not be out of the question.

In Star Trek, acting first officer James Kirk, accompanied by cadet Sulu, make a peril-fraught space jump onto the Romulan drilling platform in a desperate attempt to disable it.

Reward – The hero has survived the Supreme Ordeal (otherwise the story would be over—duh!), and now either takes the Reward she has rightfully earned…or simply steals it. But despite the climactic finality implied by the word “supreme,” the hero will soon find that her journey is far from complete.

After successfully making her way into the Red Queen’s castle, Alice befriends the Bandersnatch, which then helps her escape with the precious Vorpal Sword from the Knave of Hearts and his palace guards.

4^th MOVEMENT: RETURN

The Road Back – In order to complete his journey, the hero must make his way back to the Ordinary World. However, the return trip promises to be a dangerous one, as the forces of the shadow figure are determined not to let the hero get away.

Aboard the starship Enterprise, acting captain James Kirk races to head off the Romulan ship Narada, which is on a deadly course for Earth.

Resurrection – There may be one final life-or-death confrontation for the hero to overcome, which will prove that she has absorbed the lessons of her journey. In the process, the hero will be reborn (literally or figuratively) with her new hard-won abilities.

In Avatar, Jake Sully nearly dies when his avatar link unit is destroyed during the climactic battle of Pandora, but then is reborn when the Na’vi permanently transfer his mind into his avatar body.

Return to the Ordinary World/Bestowal of the Boon (Elixir) – At last, the journey is now complete. It is finally time for the hero to cross the final threshold and return to the Ordinary World. But he is not the same person he was when he set out on his journey, for the hero is now equipped with the “Elixir” (a great treasure, a magical object, a powerful tool, love and wisdom…whatever) that is required in order to restore harmony and balance to the Ordinary World.

In New Orleans, having found true love and a new sense of meaning in their lives, frog Tiana and frog Naveen are married by Mama Odie—and promptly transform back into humans.

Now you have been initiated and are ready to “decode” the mythic content of your favorite movies, TV shows, books, theme park attractions, and other storytelling mediums. So let the adventures begin! (But feel free to refer back to these Hidden in Plain Sight articles whenever you need a refresher.)