The Hero's Journey

Every hero has a journey that they follow to become a hero and the person they were meant to be. This is a common concept called The Hero's Journey used in many books and movies. The Hero's Journey is a popular movie and book structure used to show how the hero becomes a hero from getting their call to set off on this new journey and to the trials they face to become the hero. It also covers their return home after becoming a hero and having to master two different worlds. One particular movie that follows this common plot is Wonder Woman. Wonder Woman is about a warrior named Diana from a small island Themyscira and finds out about a war happening that could destroy the Earth. She sets off to end all wars and along the way faces challenges and struggles. She doesn't give up and eventually learns her powers and true calling. Other important characters in this movie are Steve Trevor, Diana's champion and friend whom she later falls in love with and Ares the God of War who is causing all this evil. The Hero's Journey is significant in this movie because it is the literal plot of the movie.

This movie starts off with the call of adventure which is when Steve Trevor crashes his plane on the island and Diana sees this and comes to help him. He tells the women of Themyscira about the war happening outside of Themyscira that could destroy the Earth. Diana does not refuse this call and wants to help and although her mom isn't supportive she still wants to go. Her mom plays the threshold guardian as she doesn't want Diana to go because they think Ares will find her and injure or kill her. Diana, but, gets even more motivated and determined to answer the call when she hears innocent people are getting killed. Diana does not need to train for war because she has already been trained since she was young by Antiope; Diana's aunt. Antiope is Diana's supernatural aid or mentor, she has helped her train since she was young and made her prepared. She isn't Diana's companion on the journey, but instead, Steve Trevor is. He is there for her throughout the entire movie, and supports, protects, and helps her. Diana also brings along the “God Sword” which is the talisman of the movie. The “God Sword” is the only weapon which can kill Ares. Steve and Diana leave in a boat and once they leave the dome of Themyscira this marks the crossing of threshold and starts the belly of the whale. Once they cross the dome, everything went from being beautiful and bright to dull and ugly. After crossing and coming into London, Diana is in a whole new place and doesn't know how to act or dress. She is trying to understand and interpret everything around her as she has never seen people suffer like this before.

After the departure comes the initiation which includes the road of trials, battles, atonement, ultimate boon, etc. Diana faces a road of trials such as she tries to defeat Ares with the “God Sword” but ends up losing the battle and the sword, realizing how difficult it is going to be. She also has to face, seeing soldiers getting injured and dying as well as innocent people, which she is something she is not used to. In this movie, Diana does not battle any family member or relative, but a monster instead making it a Dragon Battle. She fights with Ares, Ludendorff, and German soldiers and defeats all of them. Diana also does not have an atonement with her father at all in the movie, but does later find out she is a demigod and the daughter of Zeus. Diana saving a small village and all the people from the German soldiers was one apotheosis of her career as Wonder Woman. People run out of hiding and thank her and praise her for everything she has done. The ultimate boon of this movie would be when Diana learns how powerful she really is and learns how to control and use these powers to kill Ares and end all evil.

Once the hero is done with their battle, they have to return home which leads to the departure. Some heroes will refuse the return but not Diana because she can't go home even if she wanted to. The rule is once you leave Themyscira you can never come back so this immediately takes out the refusal of the return. This also eliminates crossing the return threshold and the magic fight and rescue from without were not used in the movie. Mastering two worlds are something Diana doesn't really have to worry about either since one world is gone. She definitely did Themyscira good by training and preparing well before she left and made history in the new world by killing Ares and saving many people's lives. She not only gave the freedom to live for herself but everyone in the world because all wars has ended.

This basic outline is extremely important not only in this movie but to others. It helps the movie go into depth about the character's life and everything they face from struggles to success. This plot structure also goes into detail about mistakes made, lessons learned, betrayals, and even relationships related to the hero. The Hero's Journey is a great concept because not only does it make the reader more intrigued, but it makes it easier to understand, which is why it is so commonly used.