For centuries, stories of brave heroes and heroines who overcome great evils to selflessly protect others have captured the hearts of many. A number of such stories can actually be found to possess parallel structures to each other. The 12 Stages of The Hero’s Journey is a form of structure commonly found in Romance Narratives and was introduced in Joseph Campbell’s Monomyth from his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Campbell shows that many journeys, either literal or metaphorical, follow a similar structure. The hero starts in an ordinary, known world but is called to adventure and passes through into an extraordinary, unknown world where he faces challenges, acquires friends and mentors, and ultimately overcomes a central ordeal. His
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These stages can easily be found in The Matrix. Thomas Anderson, an ordinary class computer programmer, leads a double life as a hacker known as “Neo”. He repeatedly encounters the cryptic phrase “the Matrix” during his online work and grows curiouser and curiouser. He receives his call to adventure when he is told to “follow the white rabbit” and meets Trinity, an infamous hacker, who tells him that a man named Morpheus can explain its meaning. His attempt to meet Morpheus, however, is interrupted by the Agents, powerful programs meant to eliminate threats to the Matrix program. Neo’s refusal to the call occurs when he is unsure of fully trusting Trinity and considers leaving the car during their escape. However, he ultimately decides to follow her, which leads him to meet his mentor, Morpheus. This is crucial, as the mentor essentially acts as the hero’s gateway into the unknown world, where the next four steps of the hero’s journey …show more content…
As mentioned before, the mentor allows the hero into the unknown world. The same is seen in the The Matrix, where Morpheus presents to Neo the option of the red or blue pill. By choosing to discover the truth by taking the red pill, Neo finally emerges into the extraordinary world, or the world behind the Matrix. There he learns the truth of his, and the rest of humankind’s, existence. He undergoes training to learn skills such as kung-fu and jumping between buildings in the Matrix. In the time span of his training exercises, he overcomes interactions with the Agents while acquiring friends and learning who his enemies are. Then the approach happens, where their team member, Cypher, betrays them and allows the Agents to capture Morpheus. This abduction lures Neo into the final ordeal: rescuing Morpheus as the real test of his character and ability. After an action-packed confrontation, Neo is able to successfully defeat the Agents, something no other human has been able to
These stages can easily be found in The Matrix. Thomas Anderson, an ordinary class computer programmer, leads a double life as a hacker known as “Neo”. He repeatedly encounters the cryptic phrase “the Matrix” during his online work and grows curiouser and curiouser. He receives his call to adventure when he is told to “follow the white rabbit” and meets Trinity, an infamous hacker, who tells him that a man named Morpheus can explain its meaning. His attempt to meet Morpheus, however, is interrupted by the Agents, powerful programs meant to eliminate threats to the Matrix program. Neo’s refusal to the call occurs when he is unsure of fully trusting Trinity and considers leaving the car during their escape. However, he ultimately decides to follow her, which leads him to meet his mentor, Morpheus. This is crucial, as the mentor essentially acts as the hero’s gateway into the unknown world, where the next four steps of the hero’s journey …show more content…
As mentioned before, the mentor allows the hero into the unknown world. The same is seen in the The Matrix, where Morpheus presents to Neo the option of the red or blue pill. By choosing to discover the truth by taking the red pill, Neo finally emerges into the extraordinary world, or the world behind the Matrix. There he learns the truth of his, and the rest of humankind’s, existence. He undergoes training to learn skills such as kung-fu and jumping between buildings in the Matrix. In the time span of his training exercises, he overcomes interactions with the Agents while acquiring friends and learning who his enemies are. Then the approach happens, where their team member, Cypher, betrays them and allows the Agents to capture Morpheus. This abduction lures Neo into the final ordeal: rescuing Morpheus as the real test of his character and ability. After an action-packed confrontation, Neo is able to successfully defeat the Agents, something no other human has been able to