Plot

An anthropologist called Joseph Campbell once wrote a book called ‘The Hero With A Thousand Faces’. In it he examined hundreds of myths and stories and distilled the common elements from those.

In the previous article I used ‘Star Wars’ as an example of this format applied to a film. In response to e-mails, here I’ve adapted it to cover a non-Science Fiction film, American Beauty. Made in 1999 by director Sam Mendes and written by Alan Ball, I feel that this a wonderful film that perfectly illustrates the format Campbell wrote of.

Separation

The hero/heroine decides or has the decision formed upon him/her that he/she must leave the ordinary world and enter a special world.

Here Kevin Spacey’s character, Lester Burnham,in the form of a voice-over introduces the ordinary world. We are shown the rules of this suburban life in the interactions of his bumbling character with the others.

Descent

Hero/heroine descends into a special world. Here the rules that make this world special are established.

When asked by his boss, Brad Dupree, to justify his work position we find Lester Burnham steps into the other world. His resistance to the arrogance of his employers marks his decent into the special world where the ordinary social rules no longer apply.

Initiation

Hero/heroine is initiated into a new life via. Death and re-birth.

Here Lester Burnham is initiated into the secrets of the special world by the mentor character Ricky Fitts, with whom he shares pot with, thus becoming initiated.

Ordeal

Hero/heroine undergoes ordeal. The hero/heroine must be tested to allow to growth of their character.

The ordeal here is the loss of him family. This happens via two actions. First is his infatuation with his daughters cheerleader friend, Angela Hayes and the problems that creates and second is the damage to his marriage that his entry into the special world causes with his wife, Carolyn.

Return

End of story, joining of special and ordinary world. The completion of the story is established and the growth of the characters is revealed.

Having resolved the ordeal of the temptation with Angela Hayes we find Lester staring at a photograph of his wife and realising that now armed with that which he had lost, he can now enter the ordinary world again. (Of course then, he gets shot, but hey! It’s only a guide!)

Next, we will apply Campbell's theory to the characters in American Beauty.