- The Donor- The person who provides the hero with essential objects to help with along his journey.
- The Helper- The person who will aid the hero in any way possible, so that the hero’s journey will be successful.
- The Princess- The person (female) who may be captures by the villain, and saved by the hero. The princess and the hero tend to have some sort of romantic connection.
- The Father of the Princess- The person (obviously the father of the princess) who will thank the hero and reward him with the princess.
- The dispatcher- This person is the one who actually sets the hero off on his journey, or mission.
Hero’s Archetypes
Hero’s will have different characteristics, depending on what type of action film they are actually in. A hero archetype is a term used by Carl Jung to describe universal and recurring characters.
There are eight main different hero archetypes that appear in action films:
- The Chief- The dynamic who tends to have to time but for his work. For example Detective Spooner in the film, “I, robot”.
- The Bad Boy- The dangerous character, who likes to walk on the wild side. For example Anakin Skywalker in the trilogy “Star Wars”
- The Best Friend- The sweet and safe character, who never lets anybody down. For example (to a certain extend) Spiderman, because although he does let people down, he tries not to.
- The Lost Soul- A tormented being, he lives in solitude. For example Batman.
- The Charmer- A smooth talker; he likes to create fantasies. For example Will smith in the film “Hitch”
- The Professor- The man with all the answers, he is very analytical. For example (the start of film) Indiana Jones.
- The Swashbuckler- “Mr. Excitement”, he likes an adventure. For example El Zorro.
- The Warrior- A noble champion, he always acts with honour. For example Maximus in the film “Gladiator”.
The Hero’s Journey
In the book “The writers Journey”, Christopher Vogler analyses modern Hollywood films and points, to their underlying mythic structures.
Al the stages of the hero’s journey, in action films, tend to follow the same stages. Those stages are:
- Crossing the First Threshold
- Tests, Allies and Enemies
- Approach to the Innermost Cave
In “Gladiator”, the stages are followed in this order.
Ordinary World is the scene where Maximus leads his army into battle. To Maximus, this is the “Ordinary World” because he is a general; therefore his job is to lead his army into battle. An example of an Ordinary World in another film would be in Indiana Jones, when Jones is teaching students at a university.
Call to Adventure is the scene where the king offers the thrown to Maximus, and where he wants Maximus to “free Rome”. Although this may not be a particular exciting adventure, it is still an adventure. Another example of “Call to Adventure” would be in Indiana Jones, when Jones is asked to find a special artifact
Refusal of the Call is where Maximus turns down the offer to become king. “Refusal of the Call” often involves reluctance and/or fear.
Meeting with the Mentor is where Maximus meets his owner, the owner of the slaves. He is a mentor because he gives Maximus advice on how to won over the crowd in Rome, and in the arena. The mentor is a key character.
Crossing the First Threshold is where Maximus decides to take on the role as a “Gladiator”. This is crossing the first threshold because this is where Maximus’ journey begins. This part of an action film normally involves the hero committing himself to the adventure.
Tests, Allies and Enemies are all found half way through the film. The tests Maximus faces throughout are physically, mentally and emotionally tough. He has to live with the fact that his family has been murdered, and he also has to battle in an arena without dieing, wearing limited armor. Maximus’ allies are the people that he must fight along side with, as they are all like one big group, all trying to stay alive together; helping each other out. Apart from the people who Maximus must kill inside the arena, his main enemy is Komodus, the new ruler of Rome. This part of the film also makes the hero learn the rules that will govern his quest.
Approach to the Innermost Cave is where Maximus fights in the arena with restricted weapons. This is his biggest fight in the arena yet because he has not faced this much danger before, and has not had to face such a high degree of skill. This, in most action films, is the most dangerous confrontation yet, which may involve finding treasure, or solving the quest of the journey that the hero set on.
Ordeal is where Maximus has to watch the struggle of his colleagues fighting and dieing, and he cannot do anything to help them. This is because he is on the run to his army. This, in most action films, is where the hero must face his fear or mortal enemy, who will seem more powerful. It may also include mental or physical torture.
The Road Back is where Maximus is captured and held “prisoner” in Rome. This is where vengeful forces controlled by the villain are unleashed.
Resurrection is where the “final showdown” between Maximus and Komodus takes place. In most action films this is where the final confrontation between the hero and villain occurs, or also where the final confrontation with “death” occurs.
Return with the Elixir is where Maximus defeats Komodus in battle and “saves Rome”. In most action films this is where the hero returns to his ordinary world with some wisdom, or something else gained from the journey.
Analysis of a scene
Analysing a scene can help pick out key points about the type of action film it is, and also can help pick out key information about important characters. The scene I am going to analyse is out of Indiana Jones, and is the starting introductory scene, where the “explores” are walking through the jungle. At the start only non- diegetic music is being played, and the main character (Indiana Jones) hasn’t been introduced yet. When Jones is introduced, he walks into the light, to give the impression of importance. When the pair enter the cave, mant traps have been set to stop Jones from getting what he came to get. Eventually, he gets the item and the cave goes into “destroy mode”. This is where the guy betrays Jones and runs off with the artifact. Ironically, Jones finds the guy dead with the artifact in his hand. When Jones gets out, he finds his arch-rival, belloq, who takes the artifact of him.
