Two Story Experts Present
"The Hero's 2 Journeys--Revisited"
By Joe Dungan

The Seminar Series on November 20, 2004 featured two acclaimed screenwriting teachers and authors offering a sale on the CD and DVD made of their previous lecture to the Network two years ago, as well as delivering a new talk. Christopher Vogler (The Writer's Journey) and Michael Hauge (Writing Screenplays That Sell) presented their complementary analyses of what they call the hero's two journeys. While both speakers were in general--and often specific--agreement about the outer and the inner paths the protagonist of a screenplay takes, their respective lectures and terms were substantially different.

Vogler spoke first and began with a little background. He and Hauge were teaching a seminar in Stockholm, Sweden and had been looking for some time to work on a project together. Eventually, they both agreed that in every story, there was both an outer and an inner journey. "The outer one is the one we [screenwriting teachers] talk about the most," Vogler said. "But what Michael and I were more interested in--and what is often missing in scripts--was this inner journey, where someone is going from one stage of their life to a new stage."

Vogler frequently encountered the need for this story element while working at Disney in the late 80s. He noticed that since the fairy tales Disney was considering adapting were very simple stories, they had little to no character development. The screenwriters sometimes had difficulty extrapolating what was going on inside for the hero, be it a life lesson or a character flaw that needed repair. (This begat a memo he wrote that was the one of the seeds of his book, The Writer's Journey. )

This idea that the protagonist of each story had both a physical, outer goal as well as an inner one led Vogler to more discoveries. One, the story is an energy system that's trying to have an effect on both the audience and the character, whether evoking a feeling in the former or forcing growth or a realization in the latter. Another idea is that the story is filled with polarities, such as good versus evil, shallowness versus depth within a character, or fear and courage. Among those polarities is the dynamic of the inner and the outer, a combination that Vogler feels is tightly woven together, but not immune to deconstruction. By example, he and Hauge chose to break down The Last Samurai, a film that they feel is rife with polarities, including the inner and outer journeys taken by Nathan Algren (Tom Cruise).

Once the external plot situation occurs for Algren, his inner journey comes more to life. "What I was interested in is how the filmmakers [John Logan, Marshall Herskovitz, and Ed Zwick] work to bring out that inner journey," Vogler said. "The story sets up a series of tests for the hero, which he will typically fail at first. But he shows his character because he keeps trying." Algren's willingness to keep trying reveals previously unseen levels of character that compel the audience to wish him to succeed.

As Algren is presented with these tests, either by samurai teachers or by antagonists, concepts and lessons are presented to him, which, through mechanisms of the plot, he eventually learns. The result is that the hero becomes human. But finessing this information out is key. "You're looking for those ways to demonstrate in a visual medium those changes within the character," Vogler said. There are three ways to do it.

1. Having characters talk about it. This is the weakest way. (Remember, this is film. Not prose.)
2. A change in appearance. This is a stronger choice because it's visual. (In Samurai, Algren starts wearing Japanese clothes, learns samurai moves, etc.)
3. A change in behavior. "This is the way you really show that someone has learned all the stages of the lesson," Vogler said, "by putting them into a testing situation and showing yes, now they get it." (One way they did this in Samurai is by starting Algren as an alcoholic. When he is given sake early in the film, he chugs it down. In a later scene, he demonstrates that he has learned to control his alcoholism.)

Once the hero learns these lessons, he is tested again. The character will reach for his "crutch" when opposition appears for the act three showdown. (In Samurai, Algren nearly gives up and returns to his alcoholic ways.) But just when it looks as though all hope is lost, the character rises to the challenge, thanks to the lessons learned in his inner journey. After the hero faces his final test in the external plot (Algren beats the emperor in battle), it is often followed by a payoff (Algren goes home). "The redemption has to be demonstrated somehow that they won something," Vogler said.

Michael Hauge then took over and presented his take on the hero's two journeys. He began with a few core ideas that he felt were vital. First was that the sub-category of character-driven movies represents, in fact, all movies. "All story is about characters reacting to something," Hauge said. "Your first obligation as a writer is to set up a situation where you're creating a reaction in your hero that is going to drive the story in an interesting and original way."

Hauge's second concept was that all stories are built on a simple foundation: hero, desire, and conflict. "Every story is about a protagonist who, in reaction to events, has some desire that he or she is going to pursue, and who then faces seemingly insurmountable obstacles to achieving it," he said. While admitting that it sounds obvious in theory, he often finds it missing when consulting on a script. "Probably the biggest and most consistent weakness in most screenplays is that they just put a character in a situation. The essential desire--particularly the visible desire to reach a clearly defined endpoint--is missing."

Hauge emphasized that that end of the movie--the "finish line"--needs to be in an audience's sights. "The inner journey...is built on the foundation of the visible goal.... [W]ithout that visible goal, everything else falls apart, because the audience can't be going in just to watch someone change if it's not against the backdrop of 'they're changing as they pursue this goal.' And it's actually the pursuit of the goal that's going to precipitate that change."

In Hollywood movies, Hauge has noticed that physical goals almost always fall into four categories: winning, stopping, retrieving, or escaping. "Plot structure is a map of that physical journey, that outer journey, which is a journey of achievement, accomplishment, visible reward," he said. "And the kicker is that the structure is always the same. The individual sights you see along the way may differ from movie to movie, but the key moments, the key turning points are going to occur at essentially the same time in every properly structured film."

Also integral to Hauge's view of the two journeys are the hero's wound, fear, and identity. The wound is a source of emotional pain that has never been healed and that the hero is trying to run and/or hide from. This is rooted in a traumatic event that happened to the hero, usually before the movie starts. "Out of that wound," Hauge said, "is going to come a belief that, one, if these circumstances happen again, the character believes he or she will experience pain, and, two, that it will be a pain that he or she can't handle." (In Samurai, Algren is trying to forget his killing of Indians, hence his heavy drinking.) This fear forces the character to adapt an identity, also called persona or false self, "that the hero presents to the world, that may not be who they are, but it's going to protect them from ever having to face that fear or risk experiencing that pain again." (In Samurai, Algren uses his persona to downplay his heroic side.)

Hauge added that the choices made by the characters based on these fears and beliefs are never conscious. They believe their identities are their true selves. "They're carrying [their beliefs] around like baggage they don't know they're dragging around. It's just so close to the surface that it affects their behavior."

Your job as a writer, Hauge averred, is to compel your hero to pursue a goal that forces him to abandon his identity in order to attain that goal. To that end, Hauge presented an effective trick for determining the identity of the hero you're writing. "Ask yourself how they would fill in this blank: 'I'll do whatever it takes to achieve my goal and get what I want, just don't ask me to "blank" because that's just not me.'"

The inner journey then becomes the hero figuring out his true self. Ironically enough, the hero believes that their pursuit of the goal will actually help them maintain their identity. "They cannot go after the goal because they think it will get them in touch with their essence," Hauge said, "because they don't know they're living in an identity and, to realize it would terrify them." This is the core of what Hauge calls a "tug-of-war" between a character's identity and essence that will go on throughout the movie.

Having explained that, he broke down one of his handouts, on which the six-stage inner journey parallels the six-stage plot structure. Each of the five turning points in the plot structure gives rise to a new stage of the hero's inner journey.

Stage One is the first 10% of the movie, The Setup. We meet the hero and see his life. "It's the point in the story where you could say, 'This is who this guy was yesterday, the day before that,...'" Hauge said. He added that at this stage, you want your hero to be stuck in some way. And it is here that you must also get the audience emotionally connected to him.

Stage Two: What Vogler calls a "call to adventure," Hauge calls Turning Point One, which is an Opportunity, the first significant event that happens to the hero. (In Samurai, it is when Algren gets the offer to go to Japan.) This leads the hero into Stage Two, The New Situation. Here the hero must figure out what's going on, but within the safety of his false self. "Here he stays in his identity, but he gets a glimpse of what his essence looks like," Hauge said.

Stage Three is the "Progress" stage, where the hero's identity takes on serious challenges. "When the hero moves into Stage Three, that's where they vacillate the most between identity and essence," Hauge said. It is brought on by Turning Point Two: "Change of Plans." This is the end of act one, the point where the hero goes from assessing his situation to pursuing a specific goal with a clear finish line. ( Samurai represents an unusual exception; all of Stage Three shows the hero observing rather than pursuing a physical goal.)

Turning Point Three, the "Point of No Return," comes at the midpoint of the script and represents the moment "where the hero becomes so fully committed to achieving their goal that there is no turning back." (In Samurai, Algren unites with the samurai to defend the village from the attack). It begets Stage Four, which is what Hauge calls "Complications & Higher Stakes." Here the hero is now fully in his essence, but the outside world starts closing in and the hero's newer version of himself is more seriously tested, until finally the hero goes backwards by retreating into his identity.

Turning Point Four occurs at the end of act two and represents a "Major Setback," an event that makes the audience, if not the hero, think the plan has fallen apart and that all hope is lost. (In Samurai, Algren abandons the samurai and returns to the American military.) At this point, Stage Five, "The Final Push," begins. Upon revisiting his identity through the lens of his newly discovered essence, however, he abandons it. "That façade is not going to 'fit' anymore, so to speak, once the hero has experienced what it's like to live who they truly are," Hauge said. "Now they're painted into a corner. They can't go back to who they were, but the original plan is out the window because of the Major Setback. So the hero has only got one choice: 'I'm either going to achieve this goal or I'm going to die trying.'" (In Samurai: Algren reunites with his ally, Katsumoto, and fights the emperor's army.)

Turning Point Five, The Climax, is where the visible goal is resolved. (In Samurai, Algren kills his nemesis in the final battle.) But this is only the outer motivation; we still need to see Stage Six: The Aftermath. "We must see the hero's new life now that they've completed their arc," said Hauge. "And so we must see the hero not just living in his essence but what it's now going to mean."

Hauge added, "When the hero completes the journey, it is not the hero abandoning his identity and replacing it with his essence. It is actually the hero moving into his essence and integrating the best parts of his identity." (In Samurai, Algren doesn't cut himself off from his past, but he no longer needs to drink to cope with it or feel guilty about it.)

The afternoon ended with Vogler and Hauge ruminating on the curious parallels and differences between their analyses--a fitting dovetail for the discussion of the hero's two journeys.

To contact Michael Hauge about his coaching and consultation services, or to see a detailed article on his Six-Stage Structure, visit his Web site at www.ScreenplayMastery.com.

To get in touch with Christopher Vogler, go to his Web site at www.thewritersjourney.com.

To get in touch with Nathan Algren, you'll have to journey into the mountains of Japan.