In Joseph Campbell's 'The Hero with a Thousand Faces' the writer establishes the journey taken by an archetypal hero in mythologies. This structure is also apparent in films and in many ways it made Campbell the original screenwriting guru. The guys over at Moon Gadget have neatly outlined how Star Wars and The Matrix both faithfully adhere to the structure of 'The Hero with a Thousand Faces'.
These films, essentially adventure stories with their heroic protagonists, are more prone to abide to the Hero's Journey due to their genre and style, however plenty of other films in less directly related genres also follow this structure, from crime films to social realist dramas. It's well worth familiarising yourself with the Hero Journey structure, as it highlights particular circumstances, challenges and changes that your protagonist can go through that will sub-consciously resonate with an audience and naturally make your story feel more complete and conclusive.
| 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 | Lightsaber 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 |
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