The Hero's Journey is the template upon which the cast majority of successful screenplays are built upon. Films as diverse as Gladiator (2000), Million Dollar Baby (2004), Raging Bull (1980) and Scarface (1983) were all constructed around the Hero's Journey Template.
The Character Arc takes the hero though four major stages of change: overcoming the refusal, the transformation, the rebirth through death and the apotheosis.
Through all of the above stages the hero subtly changes or transforms.
Following the truism: "I am how I act and behave as opposed to what I say," a hero's transformation is indicated by doing.
One excellent example of transformation is John Dunbar in Dances with Wolves (1990). And it is a subtle and delicate process of change.
John rides into the Indian village dressed proudly as a US soldier and carrying the US flag. Gradually and through the symbollic actions of slowly removing pieces of his clothing and exchanging them for Indian items, he transforms from US soldier to proud Sioux, eventually rejecting his Old Self.
Initially the change is resisted (he wants to keep his hat), but finally he melts into the Indian landscape like a natural.
Language, in this story, is another marker of change. Initially, John's grasp of Sioux is non-existent but post his rebirth, he is a master of it.
Learn more…
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Kal Bishop
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Kal Bishop is a management consultant based in London, UK. His specialities include Knowledge Management and Creativity and Innovation Management. He has consulted in the visual media and software industries and for clients such as Toshiba and Transport for London. He has led Improv, creativity and innovation workshops, exhibited artwork in San Francisco, Los Angeles and London and written a number of screenplays. He is a passionate traveller. He can be reached at
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