Essay Analysis: Almost Famous And Hero's Journey
雄的旅行任务
作业截止日期：11月5日上午9:30（STAPLED硬拷贝递交至
开始上课，并通过电子邮件发送给我[email protected]）。你的名字
必须在第一页顶部注明电子邮件地址。
作业：这是一篇正式的论文分析，至少有1000个单词;马克西 -妈妈的2000字。
硬拷贝格式：1“边框顶部和底部; 1.25“左右。字体：12
点，双倍间距。作业必须是docx格式。指向Google文档的链接
不被接受。此分配不是可选的。
细节
1.观看故事片“Almost Famous”（2000）。这部电影可以在iTunes上找到，
亚马逊Prime，也是ETC库。注意：不要查看导演
剪切，称为“无标题”。请仅查看原始剧场版。
这两个版本有很大不同。
2.首先，研究Joseph Camp所定义和讨论的英雄之旅 -
钟。他最初的作品名为“千面万侠的英雄”
这项工作的分析后来由克里斯托弗沃格勒撰写，名为“The
作家的旅程。“对坎贝尔作品的许多不同分析都非常容易
在互联网上找到（网页，YouTube视频）。取决于哪种分析
你会发现，一些细节会有所不同。但他们都普遍同意。
3.观看Almost Famous并通过Campbell的镜头解构电影
英雄的旅程。这部电影被广泛认为是英雄之旅。我
这样说是因为我让学生和我争论是否存在。那是
不讨论。然而，这部电影可能令人困惑，因为很多英雄
旅程是奇幻故事。这不是一部奇幻电影。这就是我选择它的原因。
你的目标是讨论电影中旅程的故事“步骤”，以及
人物原型。这些是您对坎贝尔工作的研究
会向你解释。将你在电影中找到的人物映射到坎贝尔的arche-1类型。证明你已经仔细观看了这部电影（不止一次是一部
好主意）以及研究和了解坎贝尔的工作
你的写作和你引用的例子。具体说明你认为的场景
重要的是与旅程相关并告诉我原因。你的深度和细节
分析将决定你的成绩。简单地说“这是最内在的时候
洞穴开始“（例如）是你必须做的最小。最好告诉我为什么
你这么认为。与往常一样，'B'对于ETC学生来说是可接受的工作。
5.不要将电影与你喜欢的电子游戏进行比较。不要添加到你的
相反，通过分析您玩过的视频游戏来分析电影
将字数统计到最小值。专注于电影。不要破坏
诅咒电影的制作历史，预算或发行时间表，
或评论，或任何其他旨在填补字数的信息。我只是
我想听听你对电影故事和英雄之旅的看法。
6.不要使用您可能在网上找到的其他人的分析作为您的分析
拥有。这是抄袭，你不仅会失败这个任务而且会失败
可能会产生反响。
这部电影将于10月24日星期三晚上在RPIS上播出。
ero’s Journey Assignment
Assignment Due: November 5th, 9:30 AM (STAPLED hard copy handed in at the
BEGINNING of class and also emailed to me at [email protected]). Your name
and email address must be noted at the top of the first page.
Assignment: this is a formal essay analysis with a minimum of 1000 words; maxi-
mum of 2000 words.
Hard Copy Formatting: 1” borders top and bottom; 1.25” left and right. Font: 12
point, double spaced. The assignment must be a docx format. Links to Google Docs
are not accepted. This assignment is not optional.
Details
1. View the feature film “Almost Famous” (2000). The film is available on iTunes,
Amazon Prime, and also is in the ETC library. NOTE: do NOT view the Director’s
Cut, which is called ‘Untitled.’ Please view only the original theatrical release.
The two releases are significantly different.
2. First, research the Hero’s Journey as defined and discussed by Joseph Camp-
bell. His original work is entitled “The Hero With a Thousand Faces.” A distilled
analysis of that work was later written by Christopher Vogler, entitled “The
Writer’s Journey.” Many different analysis of Campbell’s work are very easy to
find on the internet (web pages, YouTube videos). Depending which analysis
you discover, some minor details will be different. But they all generally agree.
3. Watch Almost Famous and deconstruct the film through the lens of Campbell’s
Hero’s Journey. The film is widely acknowledged as being a Hero’s Journey., I
say this because I have had students argue with me whether it is or isn’t. That is
not up for debate. However, the film can be confusing because many Hero’s
Journeys are fantasy stories. This is not a fantasy film. That is why I chose it.
4. Your goal is to discuss both the story ‘steps’ of the journey in the film, as well as
the character archetypes. These are terms your research into Campbell’s work
will explain to you. Map the characters you find in the film to Campbell’s arche-
1
types. Demonstrate you have carefully watched the film (more than once is a
good idea) as well as researched and understood Campbell’s work through
your writing and the examples you cite. Be specific about scenes you think are
important vis-a-vis the journey and tell me why. The depth and detail of your
analysis will determine your grade. Simply stating “this is when the Innermost
Cave begins” (for example) is the minimum you must do. Better to tell me why
you think so. As always, a ‘B’ is acceptable work for an ETC student.
5. DO NOT compare the film to a video game you love. DO NOT add to your
analysis of the film by, instead, analyzing a video game you have played in or-
der to get the word count over the minimum. Focus on the film. DO NOT dis-
cuss the production history of the film, or the budget, or the release schedule,
or the reviews, or any other information designed to pad the word count. I only
want to hear your thoughts about the film’s story and the Hero’s Journey.
6. DO NOT use someone else’s analysis that you might find on the web as your
own. This is plagiarism and not only will you Fail this assignment but other
repercussions are possible.
7. The film will be shown here in the RPIS Wednesday night, October 24.
在观看了电影《几近成名》之后，我产生了一种奇怪的既视感：除去表面上以摇滚元素，动荡而迷惑的七十年代为背景，并将故事的主要矛盾塑造的像在青春电影中才会出现的，一个青春期躁动的青少年反抗家人管教的故事，但似乎本质上这部电影仍然拥有一个熟悉的剧情架构和故事线。这个疑惑直到我看了坎贝尔的”英雄之旅“之后才被突然解释。我突然理解了这故事与之前我看过无数电影与小说之间的联系。中国有一句成语，起承转合，形容万事万物都由一个冲突点开始，并通过一段爬升的曲线推进故事内容，在达到故事的高潮后缓慢回落，并留下一个完美的结局令人深思。而“英雄之旅”的概念也传达了类似的叙事结构：一个完整的故事由连续的四幕组成：分离，沦落，转机与返回。而每一幕又可以分为三小部分，利用不同的小事件和人物关系填充故事背景，并围绕英雄自身，目标，导师，障碍和胜利五部分进行展开。自这本书之后的大量艺术作品，包括电影和小说都受此影响，例如《星球大战》， 《功夫熊猫》甚至是《CoCo》，其跌宕起伏的剧情得益于”英雄之旅“所提出的方法论，而《几近成名》也是如此。
电影的主角，或者说英雄是一名被姐姐影响而爱上摇滚的少年。少年热爱摇滚，他的目标是渴望成为一名优秀的音乐记者，并加入了一支非常典型的摇滚乐队的巡回演出。他的障碍则复杂多样，例如青少年的迷茫，摇滚乐队的放纵与狂热背后的迷失，甚至是对报道公正性与完备性的探讨。幸运的是他拥有一名优秀的导师，一位出众的乐评人，而少年经过属于他自己的”英雄之旅“后则获得了成长，并回到了家中继续平凡的生活。
在观看了电影《几近成名》之后，我产生了一种奇怪的既视感：除去表面上以摇滚元素，动荡而迷惑的七十年代为背景，并将故事的主要矛盾塑造的像在青春电影中才会出现的，一个青春期躁动的青少年反抗家人管教的故事，但似乎本质上这部电影仍然拥有一个熟悉的剧情架构和故事线。这个疑惑直到我看了坎贝尔的”英雄之旅“之后才被突然解释。我突然理解了这故事与之前我看过无数电影与小说之间的联系。中国有一句成语，起承转合，形容万事万物都由一个冲突点开始，并通过一段爬升的曲线推进故事内容，在达到故事的高潮后缓慢回落，并留下一个完美的结局令人深思。而“英雄之旅”的概念也传达了类似的叙事结构：一个完整的故事由连续的四幕组成：分离，沦落，转机与返回。而每一幕又可以分为三小部分，利用不同的小事件和人物关系填充故事背景，并围绕英雄自身，目标，导师，障碍和胜利五部分进行展开。自这本书之后的大量艺术作品，包括电影和小说都受此影响，例如《星球大战》， 《功夫熊猫》甚至是《CoCo》，其跌宕起伏的剧情得益于”英雄之旅“所提出的方法论，而《几近成名》也是如此。
神话学家坎贝尔的著作《英雄之旅》对后世的大量艺术作品产生了巨大的影响。在该书中，坎贝尔对世界各地的神话故事进行了研究，总结和提炼，并得出了单主角养成类的故事养成大纲。通过将整个故事情节分为四幕以及十二个阶段，故事的主角从平凡的生活中踏上冒险，历经挑战并脱胎换骨，最终回归平凡世界。尽管该类故事通常出现于超级英雄电影，动作电影（特别是功夫片），但《几近成名》作为一部以70年代和摇滚乐为背景的青春电影，仍然采用了“英雄之旅”的叙事方式，我们可以很轻易地在该片中找到大量典型的叙事性套路。
整体故事可以被分为四幕： 分离，沦落， 抗争与还乡，其中第一幕就是william与家人的分离。英雄之旅的第一个阶段通常描述主角的平凡生活。在这部电影中，William在一个家教甚严，拥有良好教育氛围的家庭环境中成长，并在为成为一名律师，一个被社会所广泛认可的职业所努力着。而刺激性因素则是William热爱摇滚的姐姐，在叛逆期选择离家独自闯荡并给william留下了一打摇滚乐唱片，也在william心中埋下了想成为乐队记者的梦想。而william在影片开始前没有离家的原因则是他拥有一个严格要求的母亲。此时，主角的心灵导师出现了，也就是乐评人Lester。从他给William的35美元到每一次William执笔时对辞藻的润色，这个角色不仅帮助William越过了平凡生活的边界，在他冒险的途中也在不断的给予他帮助和启迪。因此在William不顾反对成为记者后，剧情也进入了第二幕。他结识了Penny，并通过纯粹的热爱感染了Silkwater乐队并成为滚石杂志的记者。在随队报道的过程中，William不断在遭受越来越艰苦的考验，这也正是”英雄之旅“第二幕的主要内容。William在不断受到来自母亲的催促，乐队不和导致的摩擦，以及Penny被看作”Groupie“与Russel产生的感情纠葛。在这个过程中，William不断面临困境，依靠自己，导师，朋友们的帮助和开导不断的走出困境。而剧情的高潮，也就是英雄之旅中所谓的”至暗时刻”，则是乐队在飞机上被卷入雷暴，随时有坠机的可能。每个人都撕下面具说出了自己的心里话，也包括William对Russel喊出的关于Penny的坦白之词。此时第三幕抗争的结局正是William将稿件发给滚石并被驳回的时刻。而William在这段英雄之旅所获得的宝藏则是他的导师和朋友们。除去导师一路上每一通电话讲述的哲理，以及整段旅程中Russel对William的关心，正是Penny骗Russel，将William的住址告诉他，两人才能见面并冰释前嫌，William才能走出被杂志和乐团否定的阴影，也才能重获勇气回到平凡的生活。在最后一幕中，英雄通常回到现实生活，并将混乱和悬疑解释清楚，影片得到升华。William在机场将姐姐带回家，一家三口重新团聚。乐团最终肯定了William的稿件，他们也如愿登上了滚石杂志的封面。WIlliam放弃了遥不可及的记者梦，在目睹了整个年代的挣扎与迷失后看清了世界，也找到了自己。
因此Almost Famous实际是非常经典的英雄之旅型叙事结构， William选择离开舒适区，踏上旅程后不断遭受历练，历经磨难并重新回到原来的世界，而一切也焕然一新。英雄之旅并不一定有具象化的敌人或挑战，他更多代表的是主角会遇到困难和挑战，并通过历经磨难而获得接受挑战和征服恐惧的勇气和信念。
http://blogliwei.com/2017/04/21/what-makes-a-hero/
http://www.woshipm.com/operate/686555.html
https://movie.douban.com/review/1061548/
After watching the film” almost famous”, I gain the sense of Deja’s I for a while. Although this movie’s protagonist is a 16 years old young boy and the story happed with a background of 70’s Rock and roll music or even the hippie era, this movie seems to use the similar narrative routine as many fast paced movies in contemporary era like Iron Man or Matrix. This puzzle is solved after I read the brief introduction of a narrating conception: a hero’s journey, which is firstly brought out by a mythologist called Campbell's book:
The whole story can be divided into four acts: left home, degeneration, resistance and homecoming. The first act is the separation of William from his family. The first stage usually describes the ordinary life of the protagonist, and William grew up with a well-educated family environment and worked hard to become a lawyer, a profession widely recognized by society. The irritating factor is William's rock-loving sister, who leave home alone and left William with rock-and-roll recordings, and also buried his dream of becoming a band reporter. At this point, the protagonist's spiritual teacher, the music critic Lester appeared. From his first $35 for William to every call in the journey, this role not only helped William to get over the boundary of ordinary life, but also enlightened him on his adventure. Therefore, after William ignored the opposition and became a reporter, the plot entered the second act.
He knew Penny and became a journalist for the new band, Silkwater. In the process of reporting the team, William constantly meets dilemmas and tests, which is the main content of the second act of "hero's journey". Including being urged from his mother, the band's friction, and Penny's emotional entanglement with Russel as a "Groupie".William faced those difficulties, relying on his mentor, friends or himself to get out of predicament. The climax of the plot, the so-called "darkest moment" in the hero's journey, is that the band is involved in thunderstorms on the plane, with the possibility of crash at any time. Everyone tore off their mask and said their deepest secret, including William’s frank words about Penny.
The end of the third act of resistance was the moment when William sent the manuscript to the Rolling Stones and was dismissed. The treasure that William acquired on this heroic journey was his mentor and friends. In addition to the philosophies told by the instructor on the way, and Russel's concern for William throughout the journey, it was Penny who lied to Russel, told William's address that the two could meet and bury their suspicions, and William could get out of the overshadow of being disavowed by the orchestra and magazine faculties.
In the final scene, the hero usually returns to real life, and the confusion and suspense in the whole movie are explained clearly, and the film's theme message is sublimated. William took his sister home at the airport and the family reunited. The orchestra finally confirmed William's manuscript, and they also appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine as they dreamed of. William also gave up the dream of a distant reporter. After witnessing the struggle and loss of the whole age, the band's struggling on sex and drugs, or even their dilemma between becoming famous or just be "cool", he saw the brand new chaotic world and finally found himself.
Therefore, Almost Famous has actually a very classic heroic narrative structure. William chose to leave the comfort zone, decided to start out the journey, meet mentors and friends, experience hardships, fix problems and return to the original world, and everything is completely new. A heroic journey does not necessarily have a figurative enemy or challenge. Instead, the principal contradiction can be the representation of the protagonist's difficulties and challenges, and he gains the courage and belief of accepting challenges and conquering fear through hardships.
在观看了电影《几近成名》之后，我产生了一种奇怪的既视感：尽管表面上以摇滚乐，“垮掉的一代”以及动荡而引起争论的七十年代为背景，并将故事的主要矛盾塑造的像大多数青春电影一般，一位处于青春期躁动的青少年反抗家人管教，踏上一条注定令他后悔但却令他成长的道路；但本质上，这部电影仍然采用了一个熟悉的剧情架构和故事线。这个疑惑直到我看了知名神话学家坎贝尔的《英雄之旅》之后才被突然解释。该书所提出的关于Storytelling的方法论对后世的大量艺术作品产生了巨大的影响。在该书中，坎贝尔对世界各地的神话故事进行了研究，总结和提炼，并得出了单主角养成类的故事养成大纲。一个完整的故事通常拥有八种角色的原型，而情节则由连续的四幕组成：离乡，沦落，转机与归乡。而每一幕又可以分为三小部分，利用不同的小事件和人物关系填充故事背景，并围绕英雄自身，目标，导师，障碍和胜利五部分进行展开。自这本书之后的大量艺术作品，包括电影和小说都受此影响，例如《星球大战》， 《功夫熊猫》甚至是《CoCo》，其跌宕起伏的剧情得益于”英雄之旅“所提出的方法论，而《几近成名》也是如此。中国有一句成语，起承转合，形容万事万物都由一个冲突点开始，并通过一段爬升的曲线将故事内容不断推进，在达到故事的高潮后缓慢回落，并留下一个完美的结局令人深思。尽管该类故事通常出现于超级英雄电影，动作电影（特别是功夫片），但《几近成名》作为一部以70年代和摇滚乐为背景的青春电影，仍然采用了“英雄之旅”的叙事方式，我们可以很轻易地在该片中找到大量典型的叙事性套路。
我们可以通过《几近成名》的主角：William是否在旅行而将故事分为两大场景，在家的场景包括第一幕的“离乡”和第四幕的“归乡”，而旅行中的场景则包含了第二幕的沦落与第三幕的反抗。尽管我们没必要像布莱克施耐德的剧情节拍表一样将故事严格的拆分为十多个关键节拍，但按照《英雄之旅》中的方法论，我们更容易站到原作者的角度，通过遍历《几近成名》的每一个关键节点，来搞清楚什么是一个令人着迷的故事，以及如何创造他。
第一幕 离乡
在”英雄之旅“的过程中，主角通常不是最强大，完成了最艰难挑战，或是戏份最多的人。主角最重要的特点是，他通过一段漫长的英雄之旅，达成了某种目标，也成为了成长最多，领悟最多而突破最多阻碍的角色。毫无疑问，William在该整部电影中突破了一个又一个的阻碍，而其中第一个也是贯穿全片的阻碍则是严格的家教，压迫性的家庭氛围，其具象化的体现就是William在大学任教的母亲，在剧中扮演了”守门者“的角色。但除去简单的为William的摇滚记者之旅设下重重阻碍，她也有一层作用是让主角为追寻目标的旅途做好心理准备。在第一幕中对William平凡生活的描写过程中，William应有的生活轨迹是在严格的教育下不断成长，并为成为一位优秀的律师，一个被社会所广泛认可的职业所努力着。而迫使主角走出舒适区，踏上旅程的不确定因素则不止一个。表面上看，William桀骜不驯而热爱摇滚的姐姐是让他成为摇滚记者的首要原因，而实际上，William被母亲逼迫着不断跳级，并禁止大量娱乐活动后，在周围人眼中被看作怪胎一事也暗自推动着William想要逃离现在的生活，而姐姐在准备前往旧金山之前为他留下的那句话，“某一天你会变得很酷”和那叠禁止在家里出现的唱片则成为了William逃离糟糕生活的最好出口。因此在第一幕中，William的姐姐和“摇滚乐”扮演了“使者”的角色，为William提供了通往五彩世界的一扇窗口，也是踏上摇滚之旅的动机。在接触到摇滚乐后，让故事主角踏上旅程，并不断为他灌输观念并造成影响的导师，也就是乐评人Lester出现了。“导师”这一角色不光负责帮助主角踏上旅程，也负责为主角提供中列入客观的评价。从William在唱片店窗外被乐评人的行为所吸引，到Lester与他畅谈并抨击当代摇滚乐的弊端，到旅程中的每一通电话，Lester从未因为是摇滚乐从业者而为William描绘出一个美好，虚幻的摇滚世界。相反，Lester对摇滚乐坛的看法透彻而冷酷，他将摇滚乐称为一项“只为了酷”的事业，而他先知般的理念也不断修正着William旅程中对摇滚乐的看法，并对William最终回归普通生活起到了不可或缺的作用。
第二幕 沉沦
在诸多因素的促使之下，William开始了他的旅程，并开始结识越来越多的盟友，并不断遇到困难。他结识了Penny，并通过纯粹的热爱感染了Silkwater乐队并成功融入他们。通过Lester的帮助，他写出了精彩的文章，并如愿成为了滚石杂志的记者。在随队报道的过程中，William不断在遭受越来越艰苦的考验，这也正是”英雄之旅“第二幕的主要内容。William在不断受到来自母亲的催促，乐队不和导致的摩擦，以及Penny被看作”Groupie“与Russel产生的感情纠葛。在这个过程中，William表面上看起来是在解决一个又一个的问题，而实际上William的成长却主要体现在他对摇滚，以及记者这一职业的看法上。在进入乐队前，William与摇滚的距离是遥远的。可以理解，如果一个十六岁的少年与摇滚的接触只有寥寥几张唱片，和周围人或杂志上的道听途说，他心中的摇滚一定是神圣，高雅而难以接近的，这也可以从进入演唱会现场前William脸上期待的神情和他拘谨的仪态上看出来。但实际上，William在加入乐队后，他与乐队的距离越近，他就能体验到摇滚越真实的一面：混乱，迷茫，纵欲与自私。刚加入乐队时，乐队看起来和舞台上一样光鲜亮丽，一切都无比和睦，Russel采访时甚至会对摇滚发表具有哲理的看法。而随着乐队变得越来越出名，团队角色的冲突，个人的私欲等问题也逐渐附上了水面。例如乐队大吵一架后因为大巴上的一首歌曲重新和好，例如Russel赌气的突然消失等，与其说这支乐队在不断暴露他的弱点，不如说在William的眼里，这支乐队在变得越来越真实。
第三幕 转机
尽管在William眼中，这支乐队在不断变得越来越真实，他也同时在逐渐陷入另一层困境：作为一名乐队记者，他已经获得了足够多乐队的报道素材，作为一名记者，他报道这些真实的素材可能会让这支乐队颜面尽失，或者说与乐队成员内心中自己“酷炫”的一面背道而驰。而除此之外，其他或大或小的矛盾也在逐渐激化，并逐渐将剧情推向高潮，也就是英雄之旅中所谓的”至暗时刻”。乐队在飞机上被卷入雷暴，随时有坠机的可能。这是一个在电影中广泛使用的剧情：人们在绝境中通常会吐露心声，而重获安全后人们面对更加真实的彼此，他们可能也会同时发现一个更真实的自己。在这样一个时刻，每个人都撕下面具说出了自己的心里话，也包括William对Russel喊出的关于Penny的坦白之词。下飞机后所有的人的沉默也恰好印证了：抛去表面的疯狂，名利与数不清的诱惑，这架飞机上的每一个年轻人都有着自己的困境与挑战，也都有着自己的英雄之旅。在离开飞机后，WIlliam重新审视了Penny追求的虚无，Russel的迷茫和乐队的弊端，并决定离开这段旅程，去做回真实的自己。
第四幕 归乡
在机场又一次遇到“使者”也就是他的姐姐并将她带回家后，William终于进入了“归乡”的状态。在稿件被退回后，Wiliam看似经历了一场失败的旅行：和乐队分道扬镳，离开了爱着的Penny，错过了毕业典礼，甚至失去了滚石的记者职位。但”英雄之旅“结构的迷人之处就在于，主角最后总能带着所谓的“万能药”回归，将旅程中的混乱和悬疑一一解除，并将故事推向一个令人深思的结尾，而William所找到的解药就是误打误撞来到他家的Russel。伴随着Russel的出现，他不仅继续扮演盟友的身份，也同时获得了一层”导师“的身份，并对William进行开导。因此，William才能走出被杂志和乐团否定的阴影，也重获勇气回到平凡的生活。不过这一次，一切都变得圆满了起来。William将姐姐带回家并和妈妈久违的冰释前嫌，一家三口重新团聚。乐团最终肯定了William的稿件，他们也如愿登上了滚石杂志的封面。WIlliam放弃了遥不可及的记者梦，在目睹了整个年代的挣扎与迷失后看清了世界，也找到了自己。
因此Almost Famous实际是非常经典的英雄之旅型叙事结构， William选择离开舒适区，踏上旅程后不断遭受历练，历经磨难并重新回到原来的世界，而一切也焕然一新。英雄之旅并不一定有具象化的敌人或挑战，他更多代表的是主角会遇到困难和挑战，并通过历经磨难而获得接受挑战和征服恐惧的勇气和信念。
Essay Analysis: Almost Famous And Hero's Journey
After watching the movie "Almost Famous," I generated a strange sense of dejavu: although the story happened with a background of 70’s Rock and roll music or even the hippie era, and the movie’s protagonist is a 16 years old young boy who is rebellious against family discipline and embarks on a path that is destined to regret him but will taught him a lesson; but in essence, the film still adopts a familiar plot, architecture and story line. This doubt was not explained until I saw the famous mythologist Campbell's book, “Heroes' Journey". The methodology of Storytelling proposed in the book has had a tremendous impact on a large number of artistic works in later decades. In the book, Campbell researches, summarizes and refines the myths around the world, and draws up the outline of the stories with single protagonist. A complete “hero’s journey” story usually has typical prototypes of eight characters, and the plot consists of four consecutive scenes: leaving home, falling, fighting back and returning home. Each scene can be divided into three parts, using different small events and character relationships to fill the story background, as well as five parts of the hero himself, goals, mentor, obstacles and victory.Because of the book, uncountable movies and novels have been affected, such as "Star Wars", "Kung Fu Panda" and even "CoCo". The ups and downs of the plot benefit from the "Heroes Journey" ‘s methodology, and so is the movie "Almost Famous." There is an idiom in China, which means that everything begin with a transition and are depicted from a point of conflict. Then the story continues through a climbing curve, slowly fall back after reaching the climax, then leave a perfect ending to be thought-provoking. Although this type of story usually appears in superhero movies, action movies (especially Kong-Fu movies), "Almost Famous" still adopts the narrative way of "hero’s journey" , and we can easily find a lot of typical narrative routines in the film.
We can divide the story into two major scenes by whether the protagonist William is traveling, the scenes when William is at home include the first act, "escape from home" and the fourth act, "homecoming". On the other side, while William is traveling, the scene contains the second act, “the fall” and the third act, “the resistance”. Although we don't have to split the story into more than a dozen key beats like Black Schneider's plot beats, by using the methodology in “The Hero’s journey”, we are more likely to stand in the perspective of the author by traversing every key node of “Almost Famous”, to figure out what a fascinating story should contain and how to create it.
The first act
In the process of "Hero Journey", the protagonist is usually not the most powerful one, or the one who wins the final victory, or even the person with the most drama. The most important feature of the protagonist is that he has achieved a certain goal through a long journey of heroes, and is the role of the most growth, the most comprehension and overcome most obstacles. There is no doubt that William broke through lots of obstacles one after another in the whole journey, and the first one is the strict education requirement and the oppressive family atmosphere, which can be concretely manifested on William’s mother, being the role of the "gatekeeper" in the play. But except simplly being an obstacle for William's rock journalist trip, she also has a role in making the protagonist mentally prepared for the journey of pursuing the goal. In the first act of describing William's ordinary life, William's life trajectory is constantly growing under strict education, and working hard to become a lawyer in the future, a profession widely recognized by society. In the movie, there are more than one uncertainty forcing the protagonist out of the comfort zone and embarking on a journey. On the surface, William's unruly and rock-loving sister is the primary reason for him to become a rock journalist. In fact, William is forced by his mother to constantly skip grades and prohibit a lot of entertainment, and is seen as a freak in the eyes of surrounding people. The matter also secretly pushed William to escape from his current life, and the sentence that his sister left for him before moving to San Francisco, "You will become cool one day" and the stack of gramophone records that are forbidden to appear at home becomes William's best exit from his current boring life. So in the first act, William's sister and "rock" played the role of "ambassador", providing William with a window to observe the colorful world and also being the motivation to embark on a rock journey. After meeting rock music, William starts the journey. Then the music critic Lester appeared, being the mentor who continue to instill ideas in William’s mind and influence him. The role of "mentor" is not only responsible for helping the protagonist to embark on the journey, but also for providing an objective evaluation of the journey for the protagonist. Attracted by Lester’s behavior at the record store's window, William talked with him and he slammed the shortcomings of contemporary rock music. Lester never painted a good illusory rock world for William because he was a rock and roll practitioner. On the contrary, Lester's view of the rock music scene is thorough and cold, he called rock music an "only for cool" career, and his prophetic philosophy constantly plays an indispensable role in William's journey, and finally make William back to his ordinary life.
The second act
Driven by many factors, William began his journey and knew more and more allies, and constantly encountered with more difficulties. He met Penny and infected the Silkwater band with pure love and successfully integrated into them. With the help of Lester, he wrote a wonderful article and became a journalist for Rolling Stone magazine. In the process of reporting with the team, William is constantly bumped in more difficult tests, which is the main content of the second act of "hero’s journey". William is constantly being urging from his mother, and the band doesn't interfere with the friction inside, and Penny’s emotional entanglement with Russel as a "Groupie". In the process, William's growth is mainly reflected in his views on rock and journalism. Before entering the band, William was far from rock and roll. Understandably, if a sixteen-year-old boy’s only contact with rock and roll are a few albums and the hearsay around him or articles in the magazine, the “rock and roll” in his heart must be sacred, elegant and inaccessible, which can also be seen on William's face and his cautious manner before interviewing the Silkwater Band or before his entering the concert. But in fact, the closer he is to the band after joining the band, the closer he can experience the real pattern of rock and roll: chaos, confusion, indulgence and selfishness. When William first joined the band, the band looked as glamorous as they are on the stage, with everything being harmonious, and Russel even had a philosophical opinion on rock. As the band became more and more famous, the conflicts of team roles and personal lusts gradually appeared on the surface. Rather than saying that the band is constantly exposing its weaknesses, it is better depicted that in the eyes of William, the band is getting more and more real.
The third act
Although in the eyes of William, the band is becoming increasingly real, he is gradually falling into another dilemma: as a band reporter, he has received enough material from the band as a journalist. If using these real materials may make the band lose face, in another word, run counter to the "cool" side of the band members. In addition, other big or small contradictions are gradually intensifying, and gradually push the plot to a climax, which is the so-called "dark moment" in the journey. The band was involved in a thunderstorm on the plane, with the possibility of a crash at any time. This is a plot that is widely used in multiple movies: people often confide in the world of desperation, and when people regain security,they face each other frankly and honestly, also find a more authentic oneself at the same time. At such a moment, everyone tears off the mask and tells their own last words, including William's yelling his confession about Penny at Russel. The silence of all the people after the plane also indicates: throwing away the madness of fame, fortune and countless temptations, every young man on the plane has his own difficulties and challenges, also can be seen as his own hero’s journey. After leaving the plane, WIlliam re-examined Penny's pursuit of nothingness, Russel's confusion and the band's craziness and drawbacks, decided to leave the journey to be true to himself.
The fourth act
After once again encountering the "ambassador", his sister at the airport and took her home, William finally entered the state of "homecoming." After the manuscript was sent back, William seemed to have experienced a failed trip: say goodbye to the band, leaving his loved Penny, missing the graduation ceremony, and even losing the Rolling Stones journalist position. But the fascinating aspect of the "Hero Journey" structure is that the protagonist can always return with the so-called "panacea" to eliminate the chaos and suspense in the journey and push the story to a thought-provoking end. And the antidote that William found was Russel, who is jerked into his home by Penny. With the advent of Russel, who not only continued to play the role of an ally, but also acquired a "mentor" status, William finally get out of the shadows of being denied by magazines and orchestras, and regain courage to return to his ordinary life. But this time, everything has get back on track. William took his sister home, got forgiveness of their mom, and the family reunited. The orchestra finally confirmed William's manuscript, and they also appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine, WIlliam gave up the dream of being a band reporter. After witnessing the struggle and loss of the whole rock and roll age, he finally found himself.
Therefore, “Almost Famous” is actually using a very classic heroic narrative structure. William chose to leave the comfort zone, step on a journey destined of returning home, experience hardships, overcome obstacles and return to the original world, and everything is completely new. A heroic journey does not necessarily have a figurative enemy or challenge. It can be more like the representation of the protagonist who encounter difficulties and challenges.