DO NOW
•Turn to page 5B.
•Get out your Springboard book
and tear out page 16 and 17.
THE HERO’S JOURNEY
UNIT 1 LESSON 1.5
OBJECTIVES
•IWBAT analyze how a film uses the Hero’s
Journey to structure it’s plot.
•IWBAT apply the Hero’s Journey archetype to
a new text.
ACADEMIC LANGUAGE GLOSSARY
• Hero’s Journey- a plot pattern that shows the
development of a hero
• 3 Stages: The Departure, the Initiation and the Return
• 3 Steps under each stage
STAGE 1 (DEPARTURE):
STEP 1, CALL TO ADVENTURE
We start to understand
Mr. Incredible’s
character—
-he might not realize
it, but he works best
when he is with a
team.
-His life is about to
change through
marriage and kids,
which initially disrupts
his ability to be a
hero.
STAGE 1 (DEPARTURE):
STEP 2, REFUSAL OF THE CALL
We see that Mr.
Incredible has
rejected the hero’s
life (since he has
gone into hiding,
along with the rest
of the superheroes)
and now has a
regular job—which
bores him.
STAGE 1 (DEPARTURE):
STEP 3, THE BEGINNING OF THE ADVENTURE
Mr. Incredible gets a
literal invitation to rejoin
the adventure. He gets a
very technologically
advanced invitation to go
the island.
STAGE 2 (INITIATION):
STEP 1, ROAD OF TRIALS
There are many parts of the movie that fall under this
category—the majority of the rising action is going to
leading to the point where Mr. Incredible realizes that his
family is essential to helping him battle his enemy. This,
however, is the beginning of the Road of Trials, where he is
still on his own.
STAGE 2 (INITIATION):
STEP 2, THE EXPERIENCE OF UNCONDITIONAL LOVE
At this point, we have moved through much of the plot of the story. This is right
after they all reunite on the island after Elasti-Girl and the kids went to go
save Mr. Incredible. Mr. Incredible thought they had died in a plane crash, but
from this point forward he is going to get some a lot of direct help because of
the unconditional love his family has granted him.
STAGE 2 (INITIATION):
STEP 3, THE ULTIMATE BOON
Here, we see the remote, the
object struggled for throughout
the rising action. This is, on the
surface, the boon that will give
the Incredibles’ victory. But, in
the end, it is teamwork itself
that is the boon that will allow
Mr. Incredible to show his true
strength and vanquish his
enemy.
STAGE 3 (RETURN):
STEP 1: REFUSAL OF THE RETURN
We don’t have as strong a Refusal of
the Return as we had the refusal of
the call. We know that the public is
happy with the return of the heroes
(the initial reason that Mr. Incredible
had to leave the superhero biz). But,
we do see a phone call that shows
that the return to superhero life isn’t
going to be as easy as the
Incredibles had planned. This is
where the babysitter is calling to
report some…issues with the baby.
STAGE 3 (RETURN):
STEP 2, THE MAGIC FLIGHT
Here, we have the final
struggle. Mr. Incredible has
regained his sense of selfworth and the love of his
family, but there is still one
final struggle to be worked
through.
STAGE 3 (RETURN):
STEP 3, RESCUE FROM WITHOUT
Just as it seems like Mr.
Incredible’s enemy is going to
get what he wants after all,
we have an outside force (the
baby) suddenly come to the
rescue. The fact that the
outside force is another
member of the family
strengthens the film’s theme
about the importance of
family.
STAGE 3 (RETURN):
STEP 4, THE CROSSING OR RETURN THRESHOLD
In our final scene, we
see the theme
revealed—this time,
the family is ready to
fight evil together from
the beginning, and Mr.
Incredible knows what
his true strength is.
PACING
•Pacing: a narrative technique that refers to the
amount of time a writer gives to describing
each event. It also is how long the author takes
to develop each stage of the plot.
•PAIR SHARE: How do good writers pace plot
events?
DO NOW
• Get out your Hero’s Journey notes on 5A and B
HERO’S JOURNEY AND PLOT STRUCTURE
• Make a plot mountain with your group and place the steps of the hero’s
journey along the coinciding parts of the plot mountain.
HOMEWORK
• Your homework tonight is to complete the Hero’s
journey graphic organizer (page 19 in the
springboard book) on a story you have read in the
past.
• If your stuck, use The Giver as an example.