The Hero's Journey is a theory discussed in Joseph Campbell's non-fiction book, The Hero with a Thousand Faces. At its most basic level, this theory states that most stories and myths are divided into three parts: the hero's departure, initiation, and return. In this essay, I'll break down Robert Zemeckis' classic Back to the Future into three acts and outline the stages in each. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay The first act of the hero's spiritual journey is called the Departure. Usually, at the beginning of the story, “the protagonist is removed from the known and journeys into the unknown” (as shown in the class slides). In Back to the Future, we see a clearly established family culture: the protagonist, Marty McFly, lives with his family, attends high school, and leads a relatively normal life. However, a call to adventure soon breaks his usual routine: Marty's friend, Dr. Emmet Brown, invents a time machine and shatters the conventional image of this world. Things quickly go wrong and Marty is forced to cross the first threshold by traveling back 30 years, all alone. This is where the second act, Initiation, begins. As discussed in class, this is the part where the protagonist's world is changed forever and he must undertake a physical and spiritual journey. In the first minutes of his stay in the past, Marty begins his Road of Trials. He must find a way to return home and make his parents fall in love with each other. Since this is not a task he can accomplish alone, Marty enlists the help of Dr. Brown, 30 years younger. Doc explains the need to reunite the teen's parents and pushes Marty to succeed. In doing so, he establishes himself as the soul mate that the protagonist meets. However, Marty is faced with an important task. He must overcome temptation and accept his supporting role in this particular story. Marty guides his father and helps him attract his mother (god, this is so confusing, even), thereby saving his own existence and achieving an ultimate goal. In the end, Doc and Marty find a way to bring the teenager home and thus begins the third and final act: the Return. As usual, things don't go as planned and Dr. Brown must come to Marty's rescue by fixing things before it's too late. In the end, he succeeds and the protagonist returns safely to his time. In this way, Marty becomes the master of two worlds: he managed to travel through time, save the future and see an era before he was even born. Marty understands that his past actions saved Doc's life and must adapt to other changes he unknowingly made. The teenager finds freedom in these facts and is confident enough to travel back in time and change the future once again, this time with his girlfriend Jennifer and Dr. Brown. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a personalized paper now from our expert writers. Get a Custom Essay To summarize, Back to the Future is a great example of Joseph Campbell's hero's journey. It includes a clearly defined departure, initiation and return, as well as the determining stages of each of these acts...