The Hero’s Journey: An Analysis of James Cameron’s Avatar

February 24th, 2010

As an enthusiast, I see a lot of films but don’t fall in love with many. Avatar however pushed my movie love button for many reasons both personal and global. So as with anyone in love, I have tried to spend as much as I can with the film and what has been written about it. Over the three months from movie release to this writing I have read a variety of interesting viewpoints and analyses on Avatar running the gamut from political (Wolf), to Gaia theory ecological (Eywa Eveng), to Freudian (Covert), to Jungian (Anastasia M). Each is instructive and feels “correct” within its own paradigm. Especially Gaia Ecology which Cameron himself has pushed as the dominant message behind the film; (see Wilhelm and Mathison). A few others have already taken a stab at this kind of analysis using Joseph Campbell’s “The Hero’s Journey” (a Google search only turns up two or three; Segers’ is the best and is included in the bibliography). Here is my effort with an attempt to remain faithful to Joseph Campbell’s original structure as proposed in his 1949 The Hero with A Thousand Faces. But first some history on this paradigm and a few comments:

As paraphrased from Wikipedia, Joseph Campbell (March 26, 1904 – October 30, 1987) was an American scholar of comparative mythology. His thinking and writing were influenced by philosophers, artists, authors and psychological thinkers of the last half of the nineteenth century and first half of the twentieth. Karl Jung’s concepts of archetype and collective unconscious were prominent influences in his theories. (Wikipedia: 2) Before Campbell it does not appear anyone had looked rigorously for a universal pattern in story telling beyond the three act structure.

Again as presented in Wikipedia, in his seminal work The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Campbell’s underlying MonoMyth thesis was that myths and stories follow the same fundamental pattern across all cultures; a pattern that resonates with universal, spiritual truths of human life. The elements can be re-shuffled and some left out of any one story, but the pattern endures none the less. It has been noted that his theory of MonoMyth works universally and structurally even if you leave out the early twentieth century psychoanalytic Freudian and Jungian concepts he used to support it. His work was popularized outside of academia by George Lucas, who after working on the original myth based script for Star Wars realized that he too had been influenced by the pattern. He then credited the book as one of his influences, and presumably consciously used Campbell’s ideas in his script writing. Bill Moyers also contributed to Campbell’s celebrity with a series of PBS interviews entitled The Power of Myth broadcast in 1988, a year after his death. Christopher Vogler, wrote a screenwriters guide based on Campbell’s work The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure For Writers. (Wikipedia: 3) Other writing instructors and authors of how to guides for writers have popularized and expanded the concept, and Hero’s Journey courses are now a standard in U.S. High School English curricula. While writing this piece I watched a 2002 Biography Channel program on the life of George Lucas. In it James Cameron was interviewed on Lucas’ use of myth and he commented on how he had been inspired to use the same process in his films.

Here is an interesting excerpt from the section in Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces on the Apotheosis or deification of the hero. It parallels some of the imagery in AVATAR pretty closely:

Those who know, not only that the Everlasting lives in them but that what they, and all things, really are is the Everlasting, grow in the groves of the wish-fulfilling trees, drink the brew of immortality, and listen everywhere to the unheard music of eternal concord. These are the immortals. The Taoist landscape paintings of China and Japan depict supremely the heavenliness of this terrestrial state. The four benevolent animals, the phoenix, the unicorn, the tortoise, and the dragon, dwell amongst the willow gardens, the bamboos, and the plums, and amid the mists of sacred mountains, close to the honored spheres. Sages with craggy bodies, but spirits eternally young, meditate among these peaks, or ride curious, symbolic animals across immortal tides, or converse delightfully over teacups to the flute of Lan Ts’ai-ho. (Campbell, 142)

In 1949 Joseph Campbell wrote about a universal pattern in storytelling never before elucidated. But now popularization of his theory has blurred the line between unconscious storytelling paradigm and a consciously followed construct. Never the less it is a powerful structure that taps into and fulfills human emotional and spiritual needs. It is also clear that Hollywood has bought the concept and has consciously used it as a formula for blockbusters. Not that it is a bad thing. Great entertainment should provoke us to deep thoughts and feelings, and confirm our belief in ourselves.


I have included all seventeen of Campbell’s elements in this analysis, although not necessarily in the order he wrote about them.

Act One: Departure

Call to Adventure (first notice given that everything is going to change, whether the protagonist knows it or not.) (Warren): RDA taps Jake to take his murdered brother’s place on Pandora and become an Avatar. Jake: “All I wanted in my life was a single thing worth fighting for.”

Refusal of the Call (Often when the call is given, the future hero refuses to heed it, or has made a bargain without knowing it) (Warren): Jake makes no overt refusal in our story but is held back by his allegiance to the human mission on Pandora, the human world of material things, and his own personal agenda “to get his legs back”. Although he has “Hoo-rah” military enthusiasm, his concept of the adventure he is called to is very different from what it will become. Others express the sentiments of refusal in their dialog. Grace: “So you just figured you’d come out here to the most hostile environment known to man, with no training of any kind, and see how it went? What was going through your head?”

Mentor and Supernatural Aid (Once the hero has committed to the quest, consciously or unconsciously, his or her guide and magical helper appears, or becomes known) (Warren): Three female/mother figures who can also be seen as manifestations of “The Goddess” (see Meeting with the Goddess below). Grace is the mentor and helper who gives Jake the gift of “magical” (technological) transference into a Navi body, encourages him to learn Navi ways, and protects him from the corporate and military corruptions of Selfridge and Quaritch. (While herself remaining firmly rooted on the human/earth/science side of the threshold until the moment of her death when she too crosses to the spiritual side saying of the goddess Eywa “I’m with her Jake --She’s real –“). Eywa is the supernatural power who drives Jake deep across the threshold in the guise of the Thanator, designates him as Chosen with her wood sprites, and then aids him in his spiritual transformation and fight. Neytiri is Jake’s Navi teacher, mentor, love, and receiver of the “signs” from Eywa; making her the godess Eywa’s physical representation on Pandora.

Crossing the First Threshold (leaving the known limits of his world and venturing into an unknown and dangerous realm where the rules and limits are not known.) (Warren): Jake’s entry into his Avatar and his seduction by the intense appreciation of the mobility, power, sensory pleasure and spirituality of that body and of the world it can inhabit and perceive.

Threshold Guardians: On the Earth side of the threshold. Humans who hold him back, tell him he’s going too fast, and remind him of his allegiance to the human tribe, culture and viewpoint: The corporate RDA who made his adventure possible, the military by whose code he lives, Quaritch and Selfridge for whom he is a spy in deep cover, and science which roots him in the world of that which can be measured, tested and proven. On the Pandora side of the threshold: the Thanator (who drives him deep across the threshold), Viper Wolves who try to kill him on his first night in the forest, Neytiri who tells him “You should not be here….Go Back”, and a chorus of Navi who tell him he is an unwelcome, insane moron whose cup is already full and who will never be able to “see” the world.

The Belly of the Whale (The separation has been made, or is being made, or being fully recognized between the old world and self and the potential for a new world and self. (Warren): Jake is at “site 26 /camp/shack” with Grace, Norm and Trudy. He is spending all of his time in the link as an Avatar and “the days are starting to blur together”. As his Avatar strengthens and learns, he is clearly killing his human self which begins to look emaciated, hair and beard growing, personal hygiene deteriorating, and then “Everything is backwards now. Like out there is the true world, and in here is the dream.”

Act 2: Initiation

The Road of Trials (a series of tests, tasks, or ordeals that the person must undergo to begin the transformation. Often the person fails one or more of these tests, which often occur in threes) (Warren): First day in the forest: Territorial dual with the Hammerhead Titanothere; Survival of the chase by the Thanator; Fight to the death with the Viper Wolves. Lessons with Neytiri: 1000 falls off the Dire Horse; the jump from the forest’s canopy to its floor; “breaking” the Banshee to “make the bond” and become a hunter eligible for membership in the Omaticaya clan and the Navi people/species.

Allies who aid Jake in his trials: Grace, Norm, Trudy, Max, Neytiri, Tsu’tey (at first a possible enemy)

Enemies who impede him: Quaritch, Selfridge, the RDA mercenaries.

Meeting with the Goddess (the person begins to see him or herself in a non-dualistic way, often represented by the person finding the other person that he or she loves most completely.) (Warren): Falling in love with Neytiri and by extension the Omaticaya clan, the Navi people and Pandora. On the night of his initiation into the Omaticaya clan Jake not only consummates his relationship with Neytiri, the goddess’ physical manifestation, but also with the goddess Eywa herself by making the direct neural link with the tree of voices.

Temptation (physical or material temptations of life that may lead the hero to abandon or stray from his or her quest) (Warren): Quaritch’s “devil’s bargain” with Jake that he will get his “real legs back” if he remains allied to the human agenda and betrays the Navi and Pandora.

Atonement; At-One-Meant (Confrontation and initiation with whatever holds the ultimate power over the hero’s life. For the transformation to take place, the person as he or she has been must be "killed" so that the new self can come into being. (Warren)): Meetings with the ultimate power include Quaritch the parent of the old self, and Eywa (in both her goddess and sentient manifestations as Grace and Neytiri) the parent of the new self. The battle for Jake’s soul takes place through the overt battle over Pandora between these Yin and Yang characters. Quaritch “kills” Jake twice. First when he unceremoniously terminates Jake’s link for “Crossing the line” and places Jake’s Avatar into a sleep-like death. Second at the conclusion of the final battle when he smashes the window of the Camp 26 trailer and exposes Jake to becoming “unconscious in twenty seconds and dead in four minutes.” Eywa mediates his final human death and rebirth as a Navi in the final frames of the film.

Act 3: Return

Death and rebirth is a serial event in this film incorporating the remainder of the stages in The Hero’s Journey. Jake’s transformation unfolds with his human self going through a sequence of death-birth journeys in and through coffins or coffin-like machines. We start by watching the cremation of identical twin Tommy into whose life Jake now steps. Then Jake emerges from a drawer in the morgue-like belly of The Venture Star ready to begin a new life on Pandora after lying dead “in cryo for five years, nine months and twenty two days”. In the link, his third coffin, he begins his metamorphosis by entering his Avatar. Wikipedia tells us the term Avatar is from Sanskrit and is translated as: to cross over. It is a name in Hindu mythology for the earthly form taken by deities and most commonly Vishnu the preserver or sustainer within the Hindu Trinity or Trimurti. (The Trimurti also includes Brahmā the creator, and Śhiva the destroyer or transformer). In his Avatar forms Vishnu brings dharma, or righteousness, back to the social and cosmic order of the world. (Wikipedia: 3) Each time Jake links he is reborn, but there are three specific instances of this rebirth corresponding to major thresholds in the journey. The first is Jake’s initial entry into his Avatar, his journey into the forest, the meeting with Neytiri, and his provisional adoption by the Omaticaya clan. The second occurs when Selfridge terminates (kills) the Avatar program and Jake’s allies help him steal the link at site 26. In Hero’s Journey terms, a number of steps occur in this sequence: another “death” when Jake and Grace are unceremoniously terminated from their Avatars, and face The Abyss or low point when they are arrested and detained; the Rescue aided by Trudy and Max, The Magic Flight from the Gods pursued by Quaritch, guns blazing, and The Theft of the Boon (the “magic” linking ability Jake needs to complete his task) (Warren). His Avatar then returns to the Navi world as an outcast who is “at the place the eye does not see” and must attain reunification with his people. This occurs through Apotheosis (deification) (Warren) as Toruk Macto. (When the old self dies to live in spirit, he or she moves beyond the pairs of opposites to a state of divine knowledge, love, compassion and bliss) (Warren). He has found his “single thing worth fighting for”. Before his final transformation he must undergo the final trial of battle and victory over Quaritch and Selfridge representing the capitalistic, militaristic and scientific paradigms of human culture. In the battle, all linked Pandoran beings are acting as true spiritual Avatars of Eywa including Neytiri who kills Quaritch and “Rescues” “my Jake” from the near death experience in the link. She then cradles his childlike, paralyzed, helpless human body in her twice his size maternal arms and they “see” each other’s true selves for the first time. He then moves on to his third and ultimate rebirth when he makes the final link through Eywa at The Tree of Souls, crossing The Return Threshold and receiving the second part of The Ultimate Boon becoming truly reborn as a Navi and able “to see”. (The trick in returning is to retain the wisdom gained on the quest, to integrate that wisdom into a human (Navi) life, and then maybe figure out how to share the wisdom with the rest of the world) (Warren). At this point he becomes Master of the Two Worlds achieving a balance between the material and spiritual and becoming comfortable and competent in both the inner and outer worlds (Warren), with Freedom to Live (living in the moment, neither anticipating the future nor regretting the past.) (Warren).

So what are all this symbolism and the journey of our hero Jake Sully, in service of? Certainly the film is entertainment on a grand scale. The imaginative story and visual details and variation James Cameron has built on The Hero’s Journey skeleton is a knock you on your butt immersive experience. The emotional hooks are plentiful and compelling. (Everyone except the most hardened tears up at least once while watching.) So it fulfills its Hollywood purpose: to entertain, and to make gobs of money. But lots of other action-adventure flicks follow The Hero’s Journey format too, and while they make money they don’t compel the loyalty or enthusiasm generated by Avatar. The reasons are complex. But once you get past the movie making technological advancements which suck you so completely into the film, the answer has to be story, story, story. And what makes the story compelling is the artistry and imagination with which James Cameron hit every detail of The Hero’s Journey. If Joseph Campbell’s MonoMyth hypothesis is correct then a well told Hero’s Journey resonates with the emotional, psychological, and spiritual conflicts and needs of every one of us. It suggests we may be hard wired to respond to these story elements given the universality of the pattern across all cultures. But beyond entertaining us and fulfilling our universal need to grow, overcome challenges, and find spiritual balance in the things worth fighting for, good stories also try to teach us something. And stories that immerse us in the hero’s spiritual growth teach the best, because at the end we too have vicariously learned the hero’s lesson. And what are we being taught? Pandora is a world in balance because of the connectedness and reverence all living things feel for each other. This is presented in juxtaposition to the current human cultural paradigm which focuses on mechanistic and scientific use of the earth’s resources without any consideration or regard for balance. The scientific revolution which began 400 years ago established the paradigm that only that which can be rationally observed and measured can be proven. While this paradigm has immeasurably benefitted the knowledge and comfort of mankind, it has also devalued our ability to connect to our environment and remain in balance. James Cameron is trying to teach us to wake up (as Jake did) and see the connectedness and need for balance. Otherwise we will end up “killing our mother.”

References:

Anastasia M. “AVATAR: THE JUNGIAN ANALYSIS.” Online Posting. 1 Feb. 2010. The Internet Movie Database. 24 Feb. 2010 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0499549/board/thread/156500991

briansouter. “Avatar… a mythic story well told.” Online Posting. 8 Feb. 2010. The Internet Movie Database. 24 Feb. 2010 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0499549/board/nest/156945016?p=1

Campbell, Joseph. The Hero with a Thousand Faces, 3rd ed. New World Library. Novato, CA: 2008.

Covert, Colin. “Avatar, the dime-store Freudian analysis.” StarTribune.com. 24 Dec. 2009. 24 Feb. 2010 http://www.startribune.com/blogs/80069907.html?elr=karkslckd8eqduoaeyq augoy9cp3dieyckcusi=""

Eywa Eveng. “Secret Message in Avatar Decoded!” Online Posting. 24 Jan. 2010. James Cameron’s Avatar www.naviblue.com. 24 Feb. 2010 http://www.naviblue.com/hometree/forums/7-avatar-the-movie/11698-secret-message-in-avatar-decoded!?limit=15&start=15

Paitz Spindler, Lisa. “Stages of the Journey & the Hero's Journey Worksheet” Applewarrior.com. 1999. 24 Feb. 2010. http://www.applewarrior.com/lps/writing/hero/heroquest_stages.doc

Paitz Spindler, Lisa. “Stages of the Journey Graphic Model” Applewarrior.com. 1999. 24 Feb. 2010. http://www.applewarrior.com/lps/writing/hero/myth_quest_model.gif

Segers, Karel. “Structure: Avatar.” Online Posting. 5 Jan. 2010. The Story Department. 24 Feb. 2010 http://thestorydepartment.com.au/1bn-structure-avatar

Vogler, Christopher. The Writers Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers, 3rd Edition. Studio City, CA: Michael Wiese Productions. 2007

Warren, Liz. “The Hero's Journey : summary of the steps.” Maricopa Center for Learning and Instruction (MCLI) Maricopa Community Colleges. 19 Nov. 1999. 24 Feb. 2010 http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/smc/journey/ref/summary.html

Wikipedia:
1. Avatar (Hinduism). Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/avatar_(hinduism)
2. Joseph Campbell. Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/joseph_campbell
3. The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/the_hero_with_a_thousand_faces

Wilhelm, Maria, and Dirk Mathison. Avatar: A Confidential Report on the Biological and Social History of Pandora. New York: HarperCollins. 2009

Wolf, Naomi. “Avatar and Empire.” Project Syndicate. 29 Jan. 2010. 24 Feb. 2010 http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/wolf20/english


© 2010 Philip W. Sullivan All Rights Reserved

V for Vendetta: The Best Cautionary Tales Entertain

Movie Review

V for Vendetta: The Best Cautionary Tales Entertain

April 7, 2006

We live in an age in need of cautionary tales, and while big budget, action-adventure movies are not the usual form they take, the Wachowski brothers of “Matrix” fame are definitely up to something provocative, and yes perhaps even subversive here. In this film the brothers take second billing as screenwriters and producers, while the director’s chair is taken by their protégé James McTeigue. While the Wachowski’s trademark is omnipresent, fortunately this film can trace its creative lineage to the thought provoking, original “The Matrix” rather than its two disappointing sequels. Many of the professional reviewers of this film "got it wrong" or didn't get it at all. They focused on its comic book origins and the previously mined literary territory it is derivative of. It is much better for the viewer of V for Vendetta to relax and enjoy being swept along by the roller coaster ride of its surprising, and yes, sophisticated plot, allegory, symbols, and message. The echoes of so many tragic and vengeful literary characters are represented in V: from Frankenstein, to Beauty’s Beast, to The Count of Monte Cristo, to The Phantom of the Opera, to Zorro, and yes also to both Batman and his nemesis the Joker. But these literary allusions strengthen the narrative rather than detract from it.

But V is a very different kind of comic book animal, whose motivation and demons are compelling in spite of the broad, archetypal brush strokes with which he is painted. The Wachowskis have improved and updated the original material, crafting a movie that is plot driven, and provocative. They go far beyond the “action-adventure” genre the ads and trailers suggest, and into mystery, romance, and political intrigue with compelling cinematic mastery.

So, who is this V? As played by Hugo Weaving (Agent Smith of the Matrix movies) he is the always masked, lone, cloaked terrorist, fighting a near future, totalitarian, fascist regime. He lives underground in a London, multi-roomed, gothic vault where he is surrounded by stolen artifacts of culture forbidden by the regime, and Julie London’s “Cry Me A River” plays mournfully on his “Wurlitzer Stereophonic” jukebox. He takes as his alter ego the persona of Guy Fawkes, the English, 17^th century, Catholic terrorist who attempted to blow up parliament and king on November 5^th, 1605. Fawkes hoped to bring about a revolt against the repressive protestant government of the time. He was apprehended and along with his co-conspirators was hung, drawn, and quartered. But he remains a vibrant part of modern day British culture where he is burned in effigy with much merriment every November 5^th.

In V for Vendetta, now comes the England of a dystopian near future where the overwhelming geopolitical, economic, ethnic, religious, climatic, and pandemic issues of the present have led to a state of pervasive chaos and fear. In this atmosphere freedoms are willingly given up to strong leaders who promise safety and security. It is clear that the film makers are grinding a present day political axe here, but it is done so seamlessly, within the context of compelling story, that it does not come off as preaching. This film presents us with the perplexing questions of “when do the ends justify the means?” and “how does one tell the difference between a terrorist and a legitimate freedom fighter?” Some may be offended by the conservative politics and fundamental religious clothing in which the fascist government is dressed, but this is really just a metaphor for any rigid and exclusionary belief system which is intolerant of diversity. When V proclaims “People should not be afraid of their governments, governments should be afraid of their people!” he is updating a host of similar exclamations made by our founding fathers at the birth of the modern form of government we call democracy. Those patriots of the 18^th century were a group with intimate firsthand knowledge of the repressive effects of despotic leaders and religious intolerance; and they designed a government to prevent the will and beliefs of a few being imposed upon “the people”.

V is a monster “created” à la Frankenstein by a totalitarian government. But in his world, the average person is so cowed by the pervasive control of the monstrous fascist state, that only another monster, motivated by a need for vengeance, can successfully strike the spark which lights a revolution. The best literary heroes are conflicted, and here we have V who trumps them all in that regard. Quite disturbingly, he is as mentally ill and sociopathic as the political leaders he is planning to topple. V is physically and emotionally injured, disfigured, traumatized, egotistical, sadistic, vengeful, and violent. He is also a cunningly intelligent manipulator who is charming, charismatic, well read, cultured and possessed of unusual physical and mental talents. So, what you may ask is there to like about him and identify with? Despite the perpetually smiling Guy Fawkes mask he wears, Weaving is able to communicate V’s tortured complexity and humanity through vocal intonation, posture, and gesture. Natalie Portman, acting a surprising range of convincing and moving emotional states, is his reluctant compatriot and the foil who brings back some of his humanity as the Beauty to his Beast. But V’s methods are reprehensible, and in the final analysis, the only real difference between V and his fascist antagonists is that his ideals are liberty, freedom, open-mindedness, and altruism, while theirs are power, control, and intolerance. To V’s credit though, he is well aware that he and his antagonists are a yin and yang cut from the same monstrous cloth.

Film is an intensely visual medium, and here in the service of plot and emotional texture the cinematography is as oppressively dark as vibrant Technicolor can get. The explosive and artfully depicted special effects scenes are riveting, but few in number, and they support, rather than substitute for the drama. Two particularly emotionally evocative, visual scenes stay with you long after the final credits have rolled. In one Evey (Natalie Portman) goes through a gestapo-esque torture and then experiences an emotional rebirth on the roof, in the rain, with the camera following enormous, shimmering rain drops down toward her outstretched arms and upturned face. In the other a crescendo pattern of falling dominoes intercuts with a montage of revelatory scenes, and like Stephen Rea’s Inspector Finch with whom we have followed the clues, all begins to become clear to us. As artful and satisfying a pair of scenes as you will see in any movie for some time to come.

Hollywood super hero entertainment this movie is, but also a moving cautionary tale about how easily we tumble toward totalitarianism when fear is close at our heels.

A thought provoking treat…and linger a moment at the closing credits for a perfectly chosen ‘60’s anthem rendered in Dolby digital.

© 2006 Philip W. Sullivan All Rights Reserved