A Thousand Faces Hero's Journey

According to Joseph Campbell’s A Hero With A Thousand Faces, a hero’s journey is described as a “monomyth” that follows a narrative formula similar to the cosmogonic cycle, which is cycle of creation. The movie Up is one of the innumerable stories that fit the various stages of hero’s journey specified in Stuart Voytilla’s Myth and Movies. In addition, many archetypes and roles are clearly demonstrated in the story, such as Carl sacrifices and serves as the hero, the little boy Russell issues challenges as the herald, etc. However, the archetype “mentor”, who serves as a guide, is somewhat ambiguous as it changes from time to time. As the story develops, the protagonist, who originally wants to fly the house to Paradise Falls, sees a more profound meaning to his quest and begins a new one to save Kevin the bird and become a hero. Due to the shifting purposes in his quest, one of the mentors in his previous journey alter and transform into the Shadow. The shift of mentors lead to interesting discoveries. …show more content…
Muntz, an adventurer travelling in his airship, to explore the world. Also emboldened by Muntz’s speech, Ellie, a girl Carl incidentally meets(eventually falls in love with), convinces Carl to go on a journey: to live next to Paradise Falls when they grow up. After Ellie’s death, Carl recalls the promise they made and Muntz’s inspirational speeches. Motivated by his mentors’ inspirations, Carl crosses physical and mental thresholds, and flies his house to find Paradise Falls with a boy Russell and Kevin the exotic bird. At the start of the story, before the change of journey, the mentors -- Muntz and Ellie -- can be distinguished