In Case You Missed Class: The Hero’s Journey in Masterpieces of Film

Dr. Mack talks about the Hero’s Journey in the Alfonso Cuarón film Gravity.

Dr. Mack talks about Hiyao Miyazaki’s film Spirited Away.

Dr. Mack discusses the hero’s journey in the Italian film Life is Beautiful by Roberto Benigni.

Dr. Mack talks about the Akira Kurosawa film Dersu Uzala and the Spielberg/Lucas film Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Dr. Mack discusses the hero’s journey in Federico Fellini’s 1963 film 8 1/2. There is a lot going on in this film, and it turns out it has a message worth exploring.

Dr. Mack talks about the Hero’s Journey in George Cukor’s 1940 romantic comedy The Philadelphia Story and John Ford’s 1956 western The Searchers.

Dr. Mack discusses Jean Renoir’s 1937 masterpiece about French POWs in WWI, La Grande Illusion.

Dr. Mack discusses the hero’s journey in Fritz Lang’s sci-fi masterpiece from 1927, Metropolis. Which parts of the story work? Which parts fall flat?

Dr. Mack discusses the steps of the hero’s journey in Charlie Chaplin’s 1921 masterpiece The Kid — and perhaps even helps that crazy dreamland sequence make a bit of sense.

Dr. Mack discusses the final part of Campbell’s Hero with a Thousand Faces. This is the cosmogonic cycle, in which the universe comes into being, hero’s go on quests, and the universe dissolves back into nothingness.