Moneyball: A Hero's Journey Story

The hero’s journey story structure is commonly used to tell fictional stories of a hero going on an adventure and coming back as a changed or transformed person. Even though this story type is most applicable to fictional stories, the ideas within it can also be applied to the sharing of a nonfiction story. Take for example the movie Moneyball. In this movie, the general manager of the Oakland Athletics, Billy Beane, acts as the hero. The Athletics have very little money to spend on their team, and as a result, they cannot afford to pay many of their star players after the 2001 season. After losing the core of his team, Beane realizes he cannot compete with teams who have more money unless he changes his strategy. This allows him to adopt the …show more content…
While Beane did not achieve his goal of winning the world series during the 2002 season, he still greatly exceeded expectations. As a result, the Boston Red Sox offered Beane the largest ever contract for a general manager. This presented a serious test to Beane’s commitment to winning a world series with Oakland. This third and final trial represents the woman as a temptress trying to push the hero to abandon his journey. In this case, money is a direct metaphor for the woman. Beane’s entire journey was based on how to work around the problem of having very little money. In a twist of fate, Beane could easily secure tons of money for himself, but also join a franchise that could support a team with the highest salary in the league. This made an especially strong temptation for Beane because the biggest obstacle he has faced for his entire career could quickly and easily be solved. In order to stay on the path of his journey and not give in to temptation, Beane had to achieve atonement with his father figure, his failed baseball career. In the hero’s journey, a father figure is represented by something that is a source of great conflict for the hero and also holds significant power over the hero’s life. When Billy Beane was a kid, he had secured a full ride to Stanford to play baseball but turned it down to become a professional baseball player. Throughout the movie, flashbacks were frequently shown demonstrating Beane’s playing career going downhill. As this happened, he started to throw temper tantrums and lost the calm demeanor that he had as a younger kid. These temper tantrums continued on into adulthood, as Beane frequently would react aggressively when his team was playing badly. This change in personality helped to demonstrate the internal conflict that stuck with Beane in regards to his choice of becoming a professional baseball