The love scene is also commonly used as a reward for the hero after overcoming some major obstacles… an act of sexual or romantic compensation for a job well done. When it appears at the end of the film, the love scene helps to add a sense of resolution to the story by resolving all the sexual tension that has been building throughout the film. The love scene can be an emotional catharsis, a psychological unification, an archetypal integration, and a romantic consummation. Through the magic of film, all of these complex issues can be portrayed through just one little kiss.
ARCHETYPAL QUATERNITIES
CHAPTER NINE SUMMARY POINTS
According to Jung, the lessons we learn from the archetypes encountered in both myth and dreams serve a transcendent function. By revealing the wisdom from the realm of the collective unconscious and applying it to the issues and conflicts we are experiencing in our personal unconscious, we transcend our personal discord and become psychologically “whole.”
The transcendent function is achieved by encountering and integrating the different conflicting parts of the Self—which are symbolically represented by the archetypes.
The quaternity represents a complete whole comprised of four parts. The quaternity of archetypes is a balance between two opposing archetypal dualities.
The quaternity of archetypes in the male psyche is composed of the persona, shadow, anima, and wise old man archetypes. The quaternity of archetypes in the female psyche is composed of the persona, shadow, animus, and goddess archetypes.
If we apply Jung’s theory of quaternity to film, the movie character’s archetypal quaternity is seen to be composed of the hero, villain, mentor, and love interest.
The hero’s ultimate goal in terms of character development is transformation — becoming a better or healthier person by integrating his different archetypes.
Synchronicity in Jungian theory is an “acausal connecting principle” that links all people and all events on a metaphysical level.
Synchronicity is represented in film by plot lines involving extremely lucky coincidences, as well as plot lines involving destiny, fate, and dramatic irony.
Hieros gamos is an archetypal theme that means “sacred copulation” or holy marriage. It is typically represented in film by the love scene.
Another common archetypal theme is spiritual healing or spiritual rebirth. Often times, this rebirth occurs as a result of the hero integrating the love of his anima.
The divine child archetype represents rebirth.
The divine child is the hero, reborn after integrating his primary archetypes and vitalized by the divine power of spiritual wisdom and psychological balance.
CHAPTER NINE EXERCISES
1. Analyze your favorite male film character and identify the four archetypes within that character’s “quaternity.”
2. Do the same for your favorite female film character.
3. Watch a movie you’ve never seen before and analyze it from a Jungian perspective. What archetypes can you recognize in this film? How does the hero transform as a result of encountering these archetypes?
4. Identify the theme of synchronicity, as interpreted in this chapter, in five of your favorite films.
ADDRESSING ARCHETYPAL PLOTS IN YOUR SCRIPT
1. The quaternal whole of the hero character consists of hero (persona), villain (or rival), mentor, and love interest. Does your hero encounter and integrate all three of these figures? If not, do you think that incorporating this idea in your script could add an element of wholeness or completion in your hero’s character?
2. Character development can occur through a variety of transformations. How do your main characters develop or transform? If you cannot see a transformation in their characters, think of how you can create a wound or fault in your character that must be healed.
3. As an archetypal function, the love scene should provide more than just a physical reward, gratuitous nudity, or sex. The love scene should “complete” the hero in some way. Does your love scene help to complete the hero? If not, how could your love scene provide a symbolic completion or healing of your hero’s character? In other words, how is the love interest complementary to the hero?
ARCHETYPAL PLOTS AT A GLANCE
ARCHETYPES
FUNCTION
PLOT DEVICES
EXAMPLES
Quaternity
Integrating the
villain, mentor &
love interest
Resolution &
Denouement
Luke Skywalker integrating
Vader, Obi Won & Leia
Transformation
Spiritual Rebirth
Character
Development
Oskar Schindler transforming
from egoist to savior hero
Synchronicity
Advancing
the Plot
Lucky
Coincidences
Marty in Back to the Future
keeping the lightning bolt flyer
Healing
Becoming
“Whole”
Wounded
Heroes
Parry in The Fisher King
being healed by the Holy Grail
Fate
Love as Fate
Death as Fate
Soul Mates
Destiny
Dr. Hartdegen & Emma in
The Time Machine
Hieros Gamos
Integrating the
opposite
sex archetype
Love Interests
Love Scenes
Richie & Margot’s kiss in
The Royal Tennenbaums
PART FOUR
Joseph Campbell
Chapter Ten
THE HERO WITH A THOUSAND FACES
Joseph Campbell was not a psychologist. He was a scholar of humanities, the classics, and world myth. Yet his vast knowledge of the psychoanalytic models of theorists such as Freud, Jung, Erikson, and Otto Rank gave him the background to apply psychological theories to his studies of world myth. Of his many books, The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949) endures as his most popular and influential. It is a psychological analysis of the classical myth formula that breaks down the myth into a basic structure. By revealing the structure of myth, Campbell uncovers the vast psychological power of the hero archetype and the archetypal “Hero’s Journey.”
The hero “Ventures forth” into the world and encounters various figures and characters. Though he embarks on an external journey, the myth symbolizes an inner journey – a journey on which the hero must encounter and integrate different parts of his own Self. No matter where the hero goes and what his adventure entails, his journey is always an inner journey of self-discovery, and his goal is always that of character development. The hero is seeking to become psychologically complete.
THE MYTHICAL HERO
William Wallace (Mel Gibson) in Braveheart (1995) and Maximus (Russell Crowe) in Gladiator are both traditional heroes who traveled traditional mythical journeys. Both films were tremendous box office and critical successes, selling millions of tickets and garnering numerous Academy Awards. Braveheart won the Oscar for Best Picture and Best Director (Mel Gibson) and was nominated for best Screenplay (Randall Wallace). Gladiator won for Best Picture and Best Actor and was nominated for Best Director (Ridley Scott) and Best Screenplay (David Franzoni, John Logan & William Nicholson). Obviously, the filmmakers involved with these incredibly successful productions did a lot of things correctly. The one we’ll focus on is their choice of a classical hero’s journey as a template for their screen-stories. By using the archetypes of the hero’s journey, the filmmakers adopted a story structure that has proven its ability to communicate to billions of people across the world for thousands and thousands of years. The structure is a rock solid foundation for heroic tales.
ACT ONE: DEPARTURE
The first stage of the hero’s journey is a departure from his “world of the common day.” Wallace’s
world was his childhood world of political violence in 11th Century Scotland, a world in which his father was a leader in the Scottish rebellion against the brutal English imperialists. Maximus’ world was the world of warfare as a Roman general under the command of his emperor, Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris). The world of the common day represents home, the starting point and ending point of human development. The hero ‘Ventures forth” in the first stage of his journey, and he returns home in the latter stages. Venturing forth and returning is a universal symbol for identity development. Just as a teenager leaves home for army service or college, the hero figure leaves his home as an undeveloped character and returns as a full-blown hero.
In the world of the common day, the hero typically encounters and integrates his primary mentor figure – the archetype of his father. Wallace’s primary mentor was his own father, a martyred Scottish rebel. Maximus’ primary mentor was his Emperor, a wise old man who calls Maximus “the son I should have had.” The hero may find a secondary mentor figure in his world of adventure, but the primary mentor is the most significant. While the secondary mentor may offer wisdom, guidance, and inspiration to the hero, the journey ends with the hero symbolically becoming the primary mentor. This is why the primary mentor typically dies in the 1st act. As a deceased figure, the primary mentor is a spiritual inspiration that the hero carries with him throughout his adventure – an inner compass leading him home and guiding his journey.
There is also an element of fulfillment in the hero’s return, as the hero fulfills a quest bequeathed to him by a father figure or mentor. Wallace’s father dies in his childhood world, a martyr to the cause of rebellion against the English. In Wallace’s final stage, he also will become a martyr to the same cause. Similarly, Emperor Marcus is killed shortly after charging Maximus with the task of making Rome a republic once again. In his final stage, Maximus kills the Emperor’s murderer and fulfills his promise of returning democracy to Rome. Writing the hero’s world of the common day takes a lot of forethought and planning. The common-day world sets up the hero’s primary tasks and goals, and provides both a beginning and endpoint to the hero’s journey. If the hero’s return does not fulfill some integral prophecy, quest, or need – then the entire journey will feel unresolved and incomplete.
STAGE ONE: THE CALL TO ADVENTURE
Though heroes are natural adventure seekers, they usually require several “calls to adventure” in order for their inner natures to be revealed. The call lures the hero out of his inert state of inactivity and launches him into the realm of heroism. Sometimes evil forces enter the hero’s world and confront him in his home. Wallace, for example, is home in Scotland when an English soldier rapes and kills his wife. Other times the hero wanders into the world of adventure by mistake. And other times, the hero is thrust unwillingly into the world of adventure and forced to fight his way back home. Alfred Hitchcock often used the latter device. In North by Northwest (1959), Roger Thornhill (Gary Grant) is an “ordinary fellow” in a typical Hitchcock plot. Mistaken by villains as a spy, Thornhill is thrust suddenly and unwillingly into a world of danger and intrigue.
THE HERALD
Herald figures bring news to the hero of the terrible foe or impending evil that must be fought. They call upon his honor to enter the fight. Maximus is called upon by his Emperor to become the liberator of Rome in Gladiator. Wallace’s father’s former allies call upon him to rebel against the English in Braveheart.
Joseph Campbell noted that in Celtic myth, the hero’s journey typically begins when he follows a mystical fawn into the woods while hunting. The herald fawn lures the hero into a mythical realm. The herald then transforms or “shapeshifts” into another archetype, such as the “Queen of the Fairy Hills,” and the hero finds himself “in full career of an adventure.” The herald in fairy tales is often a friendly talking animal such as a rabbit. The rabbit, though harmless, is a force of nature and a bearer of natural wisdom. Animals have a sense of intuition that transcends human knowledge. They can foretell changes in the weather and disturbances in their natural environment.
The rabbit herald appears most notably in Alice in Wonderland (1951), as the mystical White Rabbit who lures Alice into the magical parallel dimension of Wonderland. In East of Eden, an old drunk named “Rabbit” sets Cal on his journey, when he tells him that his mother is alive and living as a madam in Monterey. No matter how it comes, the call to adventure is typically made early in the film. It creates the first element of conflict in the hero’s character and draws the audience into his story. If the film is more than 20 minutes into the 1st act and the call has not been made, you run the risk of losing your audience. They’ll start asking themselves: “What’s going on?” “What’s the conflict?” “What is this movie about?”
STAGE TWO: REFUSAL OF THE CALL
The archetypal hero is typically a Reluctant Hero, a character who has the inner nature of heroism but who needs to be drawn out. The hero’s reluctance represents the inner reluctance that all people have when faced with great challenges or adventures. It is always easier to do nothing. To stay at home. To avoid danger and hardship and let others heed the call. At this stage of reluctance, an upping of the ante is needed to push the hero out of his nest of unwillingness and into the risky world of heroism.
Wallace refuses the call of his father’s old allies to aid in their rebellion against the English. Wallace is moved to rebellion only after his wife is raped and murdered by English soldiers. Maximus initially refuses his Emperor’s call to liberate Rome. But after the Emperor is murdered by his degenerate son, Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix), Maximus is perceived by Commodus as an enemy. He escapes his own execution and returns home, only to find his wife and kids murdered by Commodus’ assassins. Though Maximus is captured and sold into slavery, the goal of his journey is now directed squarely at returning to Rome and destroying Commodus and his dictatorial regime.
Movies work primarily on an emotional level. Effective films manipulate the audiences’ emotions, making them feel what the hero feels and making them identify with his motivations. Vogler (1998) notes in his book, The Writer’s Journey, that a “raising of the stakes” is often needed to pull the hero into action. The function of upping the ante or raising the stakes is to direct anger at the bad guys, and to make the audience identify with the hero’s motivations to fight them. Vengeance for the murder of a loved one, freedom from tyranny, and the eradication of evil are the classic motivations behind the hero’s journey. One of the main reasons why films like Braveheart and Gladiator do so well is because these mythical themes build intense emotions in the audience, and create powerful motivations for their heroes that their audiences can identify with. Nothing creates more tension, builds more emotion, or produces more motivation than the slaying of the hero’s wife and kids. Not only is vengeance and extreme violence justified, it is emotionally necessary. Furthermore, the hero becomes a man with nothing to lose, a dangerous force of vengeance that cannot be stopped. The extreme emotions created by these movies testifies to the critical importance of setting up strong and clear character motivation early on in your script.
STAGE THREE: SUPERNATURAL AID
Before the hero plunges forth into the wild, he is usually provided with some necessary weapons of power. The classical heroes were sons of gods who were fittingly suited with supernatural aid in the form of powerful weapons. Perseus was provided with an unbreakable sword, an invisibility helmet, and a flying horse. Arthur was provided with Excalibur, and in the modern version of the knight’s tale, Luke in Star Wars was provided with a light saber. At this stage of the journey, the would-be-hero also may go through training with a mentor figure. Wallace inherits a secondary mentor in the figure of a fiery old Scottish rebel, the father of his best friend and a former comrade of Wallace’s own father. Maximus finds a secondary mentor in his new master, Proximo (Oliver Reed), the owner of the gladiator academy. Proximo also happens to be a former gladiator who was freed by Maximus’ primary me
ntor, Emperor Marcus. Proximo teaches Maximus his most valuable lesson as a gladiator: “Win the crowd, and you will win your freedom!”
Wallace and Maximus also are provided with symbolic objects that empower them with spiritual, if not supernatural, strength. Wallace holds onto his deceased wife’s handkerchief, a memento that gives him strength and motivation in his moments of weakness. Similarly, Maximus holds onto a pair of clay figurines, the only physical remembrances that he has of his crucified wife and son. The figurines are a symbolic link between Maximus and the spiritual forces that drive him. Each of these symbols is a leitmotif – a recurring theme and central symbol in the film. Every time we see the handkerchief in Braveheart or the figurines in Gladiator, we know that we are looking at the symbol of the hero’s identity and soul. Though overt symbolism in films should not be overused, it can be an effective tool for expressing subtle emotional and psychological themes that cannot be depicted well through action, dialogue, or voice over.
Psychology for Screenwriters Page 17
