Psychology for Screenwriters

by William Indick

  STAGE FOUR: THE CROSSING OF THE FIRST THRESHOLD

  When the hero has finally accepted the call to adventure and is ready to embark on his journey, his first task is to pass the “threshold guardian” that blocks the entrance to the road of adventure. In movies, the threshold guardian is usually a character who tries to stop the hero from starting his journey. The irate captain in “buddy cop” movies is a threshold guardian who tries to stop the renegade cops from pursuing the underworld crime lord. The stuffy doctor in sports movies is the threshold guardian who tells the athlete hero that he’s not fit to fight or compete in the big match. The frightened villager in horror movies is the threshold guardian who warns the young hero against venturing up to the haunted mansion or vampire’s castle. And the stalwart studio sentry who stands post at the cross-barrier to the Hollywood studio gates is the archetypal threshold guardian for the hero with dreams of movie stardom.

  In Braveheart, Wallace must confront his own Scottish comrades and rouse them to fight in the first major battle scene. In Gladiator, Maximus must organize his fellow gladiators into a cohesive fighting unit so they can battle their Roman competitors in the coliseum. The gathering of allies is a common threshold barrier that the hero must deal with in order to embark on his journey. Without allies, the battle cannot be won. In gathering allies, the hero proves his leadership abilities. And in inspiring the ragtag band of misfits to fight, the hero inspires the audience, as well.

  STAGE FIVE: THE BELLY OF THE WHALE

  Upon entering completely the world of adventure, the hero is now in the “sphere of rebirth… symbolized in the worldwide womb image of the belly of the whale.” The hero is fully immersed in the journey that will transform him. He entered the whale in one form, and he will emerge in another. Wallace enters the world of adventure as an angry man just out for vengeance. He will emerge a leader and mentor for his people. Maximus’ transformation will follow the identical path. At a certain level of abstraction, all hero transformations follow the same path. They start out being inspired by a mentor, and they end up becoming that mentor. The journey is a “mythological round” – a character arc that begins in one spot and ends in the same place.

  ACT TWO: INITIATION

  In the 2nd act, the hero becomes fully initiated into the realm of heroism. The “initiation” is similar in function to the puberty rituals common in just about every culture around the world. The puberty ritual (such as the Confirmation, Bar Mitzvah, Vision Quest, etc.), is a ceremony in which the adolescent male undergoes an ordeal, passes a test, or progresses through a gauntlet in order to prove his worth. After completing the ritual, the adolescent is initiated into the world of manhood as a full member of adult society. In the hero’s initiation, the hero must prove his worthiness by passing through various trials and ordeals along his path to heroism.

  STAGE SIX: THE ROAD OF TRIALS

  The “succession of trials” at this stage of the journey is a series of tests. They are meant to harden the hero, rather than wound or destroy him. The tests passed along the road of trials are also the great deeds that the hero must perform in order to establish his reputation as a hero and leader of men. Wallace establishes himself as a great warrior and leader on his road of trials by leading his army of rebels into successive victorious battles against the English. Maximus also establishes himself as a great warrior and captain by leading his gang of gladiators into successive victories in the coliseum. In a typical action or war movie, the action-packed road of trials fills most of the scenes in the 2nd act.

  STAGE SEVEN: MEETING WITH THE GODDESS

  In Campbell’s model, the Goddess archetype represents both mother and wife. She is the divine figure who provides nurturing and caring, and she is also the feminine part of the psyche with whom the hero must unite, vis-á-vis the “sacred marriage.” By uniting with the holy mother, the hero-son replaces the father and usurps his position as master, thus becoming one with his own mentor. Hence, the Goddess archetype is best represented as a ghostly or spiritual figure. The deceased wives in Braveheart and Gladiator provide perfect examples of the Goddess archetype. Though she was once romantic, she is now a spiritual apparition, and therefore asexual. Because she was killed by the enemy, she also provides motivation toward victory, as well as spiritual comfort. And because she is a ghost, she is pure spirit, existing entirely in the hero’s own psyche.

  The Meeting with the Goddess is a spiritual encounter that provides the hero with emotional strength and resilience at his weakest moments. Maximus meets his Goddess at various times on his journey, through memories, flashbacks, and visions. These meetings always occur when Maximus needs the love and inspiration of his wife the most. The Meeting with the Goddess provides the same power as the “Hieros Gamos” or sacred marriage. By integrating the Goddess, the hero is born again as the “divine child,” who retains the power of both the masculine and feminine archetypes. Wallace’s goddess, his wife’s ghost, appears to him in a dream to provide him with strength and courage. His meeting with the goddess is strategically placed right before his encounter with a different feminine figure… the Temptress.

  STAGE EIGHT: WOMAN AS THE TEMPTRESS

  The temptress figure plays the function of anima, acting as a sexual and romantic interest for the hero. Princess Isabelle (Sophie Marceau), the king of England’s stepdaughter, is the anima/temptress in Wallace’s journey. Lucilla (Connie Nielsen), Emperor Aurelius’ daughter, is the anima/temptress on Maximus’ journey. Both characters are conflicted. They are both officially allied to the hero’s tyrannical enemies, but they are also both emotionally and sexually drawn to the heroes. In a sense, the temptresses are also shapeshifters – turncoats who betray their masters in order to help the rebel heroes. The challenge of the hero at this stage is to trust the temptress. He must overcome his well-earned pessimism and take a leap of faith by believing the temptress and joining her to defeat the tyrants whom they both despise. These sexy princesses play the part of desirable love interests for the heroes, as well.

  STAGE NINE: ATONEMENT WITH THE FATHER

  At the apex of his journey, the hero “atones” with the father by following in his footsteps and becoming what he once was. By the middle of Act Two, Wallace has become a great rebel hero like his father. He is respected by the same men and reviled by the same enemies. At the same stage in Gladiator, Maximus arises as a gladiator hero, respected by the people of Rome but hated by Commodus. The heroes in both films have succeeded where their mentors have succeeded; but now they are at the most dangerous stages of their journeys – the place where they may fall in the same way that their mentors fell. The atonement is a moment of “at-one-ment” with the father – the point of his journey when the hero fulfills his destiny by becoming “at one” with his father and living up to his legacy.

  STAGE TEN: APOTHEOSIS

  At the end of the 2nd act, the hero faces his greatest challenge. This moment of crisis is realized through the hero’s “supreme ordeal” – in which the hero encounters his shadow. While undergoing his ordeal, the hero either literally or figuratively dies (like his father), but he is reborn with the power and spirit of the divine. This symbolic death and spiritual rebirth is the “apotheosis.” Through ordeal and apotheosis, the hero encounters his greatest peril and fear, the threat that killed his father. But where his father failed and died, the hero succeeds and endures.

  Wallace is betrayed by his fellow Scotsmen at the fateful battle of Falkirk. Though Wallace is struck down by an arrow to the heart, his symbolic death is a death of his spirit, when he is crushed by the treachery of his most noble comrade, Robert the Bruce (Angus MacFadyen). Wallace’s secondary mentor is killed, his soldiers are beaten, and even his supernatural aid (his wife’s handkerchief), is lost in the battle. But Wallace himself lives, his ferocity and rage multiplied by his ordeal. He emerges from his crisis and is reborn as a demonic force of vengeance, haunting the dreams of his betrayers and hunting them down, one by one.

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sp; Maximus undergoes his ordeal in the coliseum. By order of Commodus, Maximus is pitted against the greatest gladiator who ever lived. While he fights for his life, wild tigers are also set against him. Maximus is repeatedly mauled by tigers. He is wounded and nearly dies, but ultimately he overcomes and is victorious. Though the hero at this stage does not have to actually die, he should at least be touched by death in the form of a flesh wound and/or near death experience. By being brought to the brink of death in the ordeal, the hero encounters the world of the gods. Through apotheosis, the hero gains the psychological power of the gods, and is symbolically reborn with divine power.

  STAGE ELEVEN: THE ULTIMATE BOON

  The hero is rewarded for surviving his ordeal. The reward is a moment of victory and fulfillment. The hero has fulfilled the prophecy of his birth. He has met his destiny and he has avenged, or atoned with, his father. The boon is also accompanied by a moment of epiphany. The hero realizes what he has accomplished, and he gains insight into his purpose and significance in the universe. He sees through himself and his own actions and into the eternal myth. For one moment, the hero does not see himself as one man, but as a symbol of man. In a sense, the hero sees himself as we, the audience, see him. The reward is not just a boon for the hero; it is a symbol of divine grace, a “magic elixir” that could save his people. Like the sword Excalibur, the Holy Grail or Prometheus’ flame, the boon is the divine gift that the hero must return to human kind in the final act.

  When Wallace reemerges after his apotheosis, his legend grows and he becomes an even greater inspiration to the Scots. He is rewarded with the epiphany that he is a legendary figure – a liberator of Scotland who will live on forever, no matter when he dies. He is also rewarded with a love scene, in which he receives some tenderness and passion from his temptress, Princess Isabelle. When Maximus emerges from his ordeal in the coliseum, he is rewarded with the love and adulation of the citizens of Rome. He also realizes that he still has devoted soldiers who are willing to fight for him. Finally, he realizes that he is on his way toward fulfilling his destiny as the liberator of Rome. The ultimate boon for both Wallace and Maximus is their destiny as liberators, a boon that they must deliver to their people in the final act of their journeys.

  ACT THREE: RETURN

  The final stages of the journey depict the hero’s return to his spiritual birthplace. Wallace returns to his role as leader of the Scottish rebellion, the birthright he inherited from his father. Likewise, Maximus returns to his role as liberator of Rome, the charge he was given by his emperor.

  STAGE TWELVE: REFUSAL OF THE RETURN

  Just as the hero is reluctant to leave his common-day world for the world of adventure, he may now be reluctant to leave his world of adventure to return home. The hero has changed through apotheosis. He is no longer the man he used to be, and he is not sure if he can return to the place he once was. The hero may also be reluctant to trust the threshold guardians inviting him back into his old world. He’s been burnt by trickery and deception before, and he’s wary to put his faith in others. At first, Wallace refuses the Scottish nobles’ petition for him to return as the leader of their rebellion. Similarly, Maximus at first refuses Lucilla’s request to escape Rome and return as the general of a liberating army. However, both heroes quickly accept the inevitability of their roles. They have learned through their own epiphanies that they were destined to free the world of tyranny, and they are ready to accept their fate.

  STAGE THIRTEEN: THE MAGIC FLIGHT

  The return home is a “magic flight” because the hero is now a semi-divine figure. The magic flight in movies is often depicted as a hectic and suspenseful chase, with the hero flying at full speed to save the maiden or kill the villain or complete his quest in whatever way it must be completed. In Braveheart and Gladiator, the magic flight is more solemn. Each hero knows he must return. Each hero knows he will probably face his own death. But each hero has the courage to make a “willing sacrifice” of himself, because he carries the strength of his integrated archetypes, and the divine power of his own identity.

  CATHARSIS

  Though Campbell did not include it as a distinct stage in his model, it is important to mention that at some point in the 3rd act, there must be a catharsis – an emotional release of the hero’s pent-up feelings. This catharsis typically occurs at the emotional climax of the film. If the hero is feeling hatred, anger, and a need for vengeance toward the villain, then the hero achieves catharsis by killing the villain. Maximus achieves this catharsis when he kills Commodus at the climax of their final battle in the coliseum. Wallace achieves catharsis throughout the film in numerous scenes of violence and vengeance against both the English and the Scottish nobles who betrayed him. His final catharsis is accomplished through a final act of defiance, in which he screams out the word “freedom,” even as he is being tortured to death. In romance movies, catharsis is achieved when the sexual tension or conflict between the two principal characters is resolved, and they share a passionate kiss. In sports movies, catharsis is achieved when the athlete hero achieves his great victory on the field. In any case, the catharsis is a crucial element of resolution in the 3rd act. Catharsis must happen, and it must be directly related to the hero’s primary conflict.

  STAGE FOURTEEN: RESCUE FROM WITHOUT

  The hero is often carried home on the arms of others. Campbell’s model focuses on a “rescue from without,” a stage in which the hero is rescued from his world of adventure and brought back home by his allies. For example, in The Empire Strikes Back, Luke is rescued by his allies in the Millennium Falcon after his climactic duel with Darth Vader. In Braveheart and Gladiator, the heroes are captured rather than rescued, and they are brought back to their point of origin on the shoulders of their enemies. Whether the return is accomplished via “magic flight,” “rescue from without,” or enemy capture, the hero is brought back to face his shadow in a final showdown, in which the hero’s destiny will be determined.

  STAGE FIFTEEN: THE CROSSING OF THE RETURN THRESHOLD

  “At the return threshold the transcendental powers must remain behind.” When the hero returns to the common-day world, he leaves behind his godly status in the world of adventure, and reenters the common-day world just as he left it… as a mere mortal. By returning as a mortal, the hero sets up the possibility for a real death, not just a symbolic death, allowing the hero to finally become truly one with the father by repeating the identical act of martyrdom. The crucial symbolism at the crossing of the return threshold is the hero’s relinquishment of his holds on the material world. He gives himself up completely to his father’s cause, his people’s cause, and his own cause.

  STAGE SIXTEEN: MASTER OF THE TWO WORLDS

  Back in the world of the common-day, the hero’s great deeds, his fame, his wisdom, his experience, and his encounter with the divine make him an awesome and inspiring figure. The hero is now the master of the common-day world from which he came, and also the master of the adventure world in which he journeyed. As Master of the Two Worlds, he is no longer just a hero, he is a mentor, as well. In this sense, he is also the master of the two archetypal worlds of heroism and mentorship. Now that he is a mentor, the hero must inspire another young hero, just as his primary mentor inspired him. The hero-mentor’s role at this stage is a “generative” function. He must inspire a new hero to take his place, now that his journey has just about reached its end. I refer to the emerging hero that our primary hero-mentor must inspire as the “sub-hero.” In Star Wars, for example, Han Solo is the sub-hero – the character who is inspired by the primary hero… Luke. Every great hero must become an inspiring mentor by the end of his journey, thus completing his character arc by becoming the kind of man he identified with in the beginning.

  In Braveheart, Wallace starts out as a boy inspired by his mentor, his father. By the end of his journey, Wallace has become a mentor who inspires a sub-hero, Robert the Bruce. Wallace inspires Robert to carry on the cause of rebellion after
he dies. Though Wallace never brings independence and freedom to Scotland, his sub-hero, Robert the Bruce, does. Maximus also becomes a mentor in his final stages to Proximo (Oliver Reed), the man who taught him what it means to be a gladiator. Maximus inspires Proximo to sacrifice his own selfish needs and join in the fight to overthrow Commodus. He does so by telling Proximo that it was Commodus who killed Emperor Marcus, their mutual mentor figure. Hence, in a very reciprocal fashion, Maximus becomes a mentor to his own secondary mentor figure by invoking the name of their mutual mentor. The key point is, the hero at this stage must become an inspiring mentor to an emerging sub-hero.

  STAGE SEVENTEEN: FREEDOM TO LIVE

  In the final stage of his journey, the hero completes the mythological character arc by developing from hero to mentor, and then finally from mentor to legend. As a legend, the hero becomes an eternal inspiration to all people for all times. In films that are true to the ancient mythological structure, the hero almost always dies in the end. There is no greater legend or inspiration than a martyr. A courageous, valiant, and climactic death is the most dramatic and fitting end to the hero’s journey, serving a variety of purposes:

  1. The climactic death cements the hero’s story as an inspirational legend for all time.