meridian_rose

Written for a challenge at whedonland

One of the things that makes me love Whedon's work, and which makes it so accessible and relevant, is that he is drawing on well known archetypes. This essay looks at the movie "Serenity" and how it relates to the heroic journey.

The Hero's journey

The  monomyth which describes the hero's journey is a common narrative found around the world. It can be seen as a journey into adulthood, or a person's emotional or spiritual growth. It is the story told in most fairytales, folktales and oral history.

Roles

There are various roles in the myth. A role may be filled by the same character or by more than one character.

Role	Example
Hero	Luke Skywalker
Villain	Lex Luthor
False Hero	Zap Brannigan (Futurama) who takes credit for deeds actually done by other characters
Princess and her father	Maid Marian
Provider	Lady of the Lake (gives Excalibur to Arthur)
Helper	Dr Watson
Dispatcher	Little Red Riding Hood’s mother (sends her to grandmother’s house)

 

In the movie "Serenity" these can be mapped to the following characters:

 

Hero	Mal – Seeker-hero; also River – Victim-hero
Villain	Alliance in general, Operative, Reavers
False hero	Operative; he believes he is doing good
Princess and her father	River, the damsel in distress; Serenity, Mal's beloved ship
Provider	Book (gives advice to Mal); River (leads Mal to the Alliance), Alliance (gave River physic powers)
Helper	Zoe, Wash, Inara, Simon, Jayne, Mr Universe, Book, and others
Dispatcher	River (her actions cause Mal to go to Miranda)

 

Narrative Functions

A series of (usually said to be 31) narrative functions outlines the heroic journey. Not all functions must occur; although they must occur in this order in traditional terms, modern fiction does not necessarily follow this template. Non-linear storytelling is now commonplace and this should be kept in mind when using traditional analyses to look at modern texts.

The main narrative functions and how they can map to "Serenity":

Preparation
1. A member of the family leaves home: Earth is left behind for the promise of a new life among the stars
2. A prohibition or rule is imposed on the hero: River, as a child, is told to "lie down"
3. This prohibition is broken: She refuses. We see she links this incident from childhood with the terrors of the Academy. Simon rescues her.
4. The villain makes an attempt at reconnaissance: The Operative is reviewing the footage of Simon abducting River
5. The villain learns something about his victim: The Operative realises Simon is acting out of love for his sister. Later, he looks at Mal's war record
6. The villain tries to deceive the victim to get possession of him and his belongings: River is activated on the Operatives orders to draw attention to her whereabouts and to show that she is dangerous
7. The victim unknowingly helps the villain by being deceived or influenced by the villain: River takes out a bar room of people and is only stopped by Simon's use of the safeword

Complication
8. The villain harms a member of the family: The Operative seeks out friends of the crew and kills them. Also occurs when the Operative threatens Inara
8a A member of the family lacks or desires something: River wants to go to Miranda to expose the truth
9. This lack or misfortune is made known; the hero is given a request or command and he goes or is sent on a mission/request: River shows Mal the location of Miranda, a planet the Alliance has hidden, and he agrees to go there
10. The seeker (or the hero) plans action against the villain: Having seen the truth, Mal plans to "misbehave" and decides to take the information to Mr Universe

Transference

11. The hero leaves home: Mal finds Book dying, and the crew's safe place destroyed. They must leave this place to continue their mission.
12 The hero is tested, interrogated, attacked and as a result receives either a magical agent or a helper: Serenity is attacked by the Alliance
13. The hero reacts to the actions of the future donor: Mal uses his adversary's powers against them, by tricking the Reavers into attacking the Alliance
14. Hero acquires use of a magical agent (directly transferred, located, purchased, prepared, spontaneously appears, eaten/drunk, help offered by other characters): The whole crew are prepared to hold off the Reavers while Mal transmits the message
15. The hero is transferred to the general location of the object of his mission/quest: Mal makes his way to the transmitter

Struggle
16 The hero and villain join in direct combat : Mal and the Operative fight
17. The hero is branded: Mal is impaled on the Operative's sword
18. The villain is defeated: The Operative mistakenly believes he has paralysed Mal, and Mal attacks him, defeating him
19. The initial misfortune or lack is put right: The message is broadcast; the universe will know the truth about Miranda

Return
20. The hero returns: A bloodied Mal returns to his crew
21. The hero is pursued: The Operative's men arrive and point their weapons at River, Mal and the crew
22. The hero is rescued from pursuit: The Operative gives the order to stand down
23. The hero arrives home or elsewhere and is not recognised:
24. A false hero makes false claims:
25. A difficult task is set for the hero:
26 The task is accomplished:
[no obvious connections for 23-26]

Recognition
27. The hero is recognised:
28. The false hero/villain is exposed:
29. The false hero is transformed: The Operative admitted defeat and decided to leave the Alliance, helping arrange for repairs for the damaged Serenity before departing
30. The villain is punished: We don't see it, but the Alliance has suffered a blow to its reputation
31. Hero marries and ascends the throne (is rewarded/promoted): Mal regains his ship. River becomes his co-pilot. They talk of love being the thing that keeps a ship in the air.

Conclusions

This is not the only way to map "Serenity" against these roles and narrative functions. It could be argued, for example, that River and Simon leaving the ship is where the heroic journey begins.

Mal makes a heroic journey, going from running from the Alliance, to out-right confronting them, determined to bring justice by broadcasting the truth about Miranda.

River's own journey is from madness to sanity, from being cared for by Simon to taking care of him ("Now it's my turn," she says, before heading off to battle a roomful of Reavers).

Both of their journeys are about overcoming the Alliance; Mal's hatred of the oppressive regime can be traced back to his days fighting as an Independent against the Alliance. River was forcibly experimented on by Alliance scientists, and just as the Reavers in narrative point 13 are turned on the Alliance ships, so she turns her powers back against the Alliance. They are both irrevocably changed by their journeys.

References
[all visited 11 May 2010]

http://www.mediaknowall.com/Propp.html
http://firefly.wikia.com/wiki/Operative
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0379786/synopsis