Act One: Separation
Ordinary World
Call to Adventure (1)
Disruption & Awakening
- Bargain w/out Knowing
- Refusal of the Call (2)
- Supernatural Aid (3)
- Meeting the Mentor
- Meeting the White Spirit
Act Two: Supreme Ordeal
Special World
First Threshold (4)
Resistance & Commitment/Transformation Begins
- Threshold Guardians
- Whale's belly (5)
- Enemies
- Allies (Helper)
- Obstacles
Road of Trials/Tests (6)
Challenges and Temptations
- Tests challenge & prepare hero
- Consciousness expands
- Helpers arrive as needed
- Synchronistic events
Nadir/Abyss (Death & Rebirth)
Supreme Ordeal
- Meeting with the goddess (7)
- Woman as Temptress (8)
- Atonement with Father (9)
- Revelation brings new perspective
Transformation
Revelation brings Rebirth
- Transformed perspective gives birth to the transformed self
- New attitudes, beliefs and behaviors emerge
- Self is reborn
Apotheosis (10)
Final death and rebirth
- Ultimate Boon (11) (gift of the goddess)
- Consolidate experience
- Build new meaning
Return Threshold (15)
Challenges of the return
- Refusal of the return (12)
- Magic flight (13)
- Rescue from without (14)
- Final challenge
Return
- Master of the two worlds (16)
- Freedom to live (17)
Campbell | Star Wars | The Matrix |
---|---|---|
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 |