Essay Analysis: Almost Famous And Hero's Journey

雄的旅行任務(wù)

作業(yè)截止日期：11月5日上午9:30（STAPLED硬拷貝遞交至

開始上課，并通過電子郵件發(fā)送給我gcklug@andrew.cmu.edu）。你的名字

必須在第一頁頂部注明電子郵件地址。

作業(yè)：這是一篇正式的論文分析，至少有1000個(gè)單詞;馬克西 -媽媽的2000字。

硬拷貝格式：1“邊框頂部和底部; 1.25“左右。字體：12

點(diǎn)，雙倍間距。作業(yè)必須是docx格式。指向Google文檔的鏈接

不被接受。此分配不是可選的。

細(xì)節(jié)

1.觀看故事片“Almost Famous”（2000）。這部電影可以在iTunes上找到，

亞馬遜Prime，也是ETC庫。注意：不要查看導(dǎo)演

剪切，稱為“無標(biāo)題”。請(qǐng)僅查看原始劇場(chǎng)版。

這兩個(gè)版本有很大不同。

2.首先，研究Joseph Camp所定義和討論的英雄之旅 -

鐘。他最初的作品名為“千面萬俠的英雄”

這項(xiàng)工作的分析后來由克里斯托弗沃格勒撰寫，名為“The

作家的旅程。“對(duì)坎貝爾作品的許多不同分析都非常容易

在互聯(lián)網(wǎng)上找到（網(wǎng)頁，YouTube視頻）。取決于哪種分析

你會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)，一些細(xì)節(jié)會(huì)有所不同。但他們都普遍同意。

3.觀看Almost Famous并通過Campbell的鏡頭解構(gòu)電影

英雄的旅程。這部電影被廣泛認(rèn)為是英雄之旅。我

這樣說是因?yàn)槲易寣W(xué)生和我爭(zhēng)論是否存在。那是

不討論。然而，這部電影可能令人困惑，因?yàn)楹芏嘤⑿?/p>

旅程是奇幻故事。這不是一部奇幻電影。這就是我選擇它的原因。

你的目標(biāo)是討論電影中旅程的故事“步驟”，以及

人物原型。這些是您對(duì)坎貝爾工作的研究

會(huì)向你解釋。將你在電影中找到的人物映射到坎貝爾的arche-1類型。證明你已經(jīng)仔細(xì)觀看了這部電影（不止一次是一部

好主意）以及研究和了解坎貝爾的工作

你的寫作和你引用的例子。具體說明你認(rèn)為的場(chǎng)景

重要的是與旅程相關(guān)并告訴我原因。你的深度和細(xì)節(jié)

分析將決定你的成績(jī)。簡(jiǎn)單地說“這是最內(nèi)在的時(shí)候

洞穴開始“（例如）是你必須做的最小。最好告訴我為什么

你這么認(rèn)為。與往常一樣，'B'對(duì)于ETC學(xué)生來說是可接受的工作。

5.不要將電影與你喜歡的電子游戲進(jìn)行比較。不要添加到你的

相反，通過分析您玩過的視頻游戲來分析電影

將字?jǐn)?shù)統(tǒng)計(jì)到最小值。專注于電影。不要破壞

詛咒電影的制作歷史，預(yù)算或發(fā)行時(shí)間表，

或評(píng)論，或任何其他旨在填補(bǔ)字?jǐn)?shù)的信息。我只是

我想聽聽你對(duì)電影故事和英雄之旅的看法。

6.不要使用您可能在網(wǎng)上找到的其他人的分析作為您的分析

擁有。這是抄襲，你不僅會(huì)失敗這個(gè)任務(wù)而且會(huì)失敗

可能會(huì)產(chǎn)生反響。

這部電影將于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 gcklug@andrew.cmu.edu). 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.

在觀看了電影《幾近成名》之后，我產(chǎn)生了一種奇怪的既視感：除去表面上以搖滾元素，動(dòng)蕩而迷惑的七十年代為背景，并將故事的主要矛盾塑造的像在青春電影中才會(huì)出現(xiàn)的，一個(gè)青春期躁動(dòng)的青少年反抗家人管教的故事，但似乎本質(zhì)上這部電影仍然擁有一個(gè)熟悉的劇情架構(gòu)和故事線。這個(gè)疑惑直到我看了坎貝爾的”英雄之旅“之后才被突然解釋。我突然理解了這故事與之前我看過無數(shù)電影與小說之間的聯(lián)系。中國有一句成語，起承轉(zhuǎn)合，形容萬事萬物都由一個(gè)沖突點(diǎn)開始，并通過一段爬升的曲線推進(jìn)故事內(nèi)容，在達(dá)到故事的高潮后緩慢回落，并留下一個(gè)完美的結(jié)局令人深思。而“英雄之旅”的概念也傳達(dá)了類似的敘事結(jié)構(gòu)：一個(gè)完整的故事由連續(xù)的四幕組成：分離，淪落，轉(zhuǎn)機(jī)與返回。而每一幕又可以分為三小部分，利用不同的小事件和人物關(guān)系填充故事背景，并圍繞英雄自身，目標(biāo)，導(dǎo)師，障礙和勝利五部分進(jìn)行展開。自這本書之后的大量藝術(shù)作品，包括電影和小說都受此影響，例如《星球大戰(zhàn)》， 《功夫熊貓》甚至是《CoCo》，其跌宕起伏的劇情得益于”英雄之旅“所提出的方法論，而《幾近成名》也是如此。

電影的主角，或者說英雄是一名被姐姐影響而愛上搖滾的少年。少年熱愛搖滾，他的目標(biāo)是渴望成為一名優(yōu)秀的音樂記者，并加入了一支非常典型的搖滾樂隊(duì)的巡回演出。他的障礙則復(fù)雜多樣，例如青少年的迷茫，搖滾樂隊(duì)的放縱與狂熱背后的迷失，甚至是對(duì)報(bào)道公正性與完備性的探討。幸運(yùn)的是他擁有一名優(yōu)秀的導(dǎo)師，一位出眾的樂評(píng)人，而少年經(jīng)過屬于他自己的”英雄之旅“后則獲得了成長(zhǎng)，并回到了家中繼續(xù)平凡的生活。

在觀看了電影《幾近成名》之后，我產(chǎn)生了一種奇怪的既視感：除去表面上以搖滾元素，動(dòng)蕩而迷惑的七十年代為背景，并將故事的主要矛盾塑造的像在青春電影中才會(huì)出現(xiàn)的，一個(gè)青春期躁動(dòng)的青少年反抗家人管教的故事，但似乎本質(zhì)上這部電影仍然擁有一個(gè)熟悉的劇情架構(gòu)和故事線。這個(gè)疑惑直到我看了坎貝爾的”英雄之旅“之后才被突然解釋。我突然理解了這故事與之前我看過無數(shù)電影與小說之間的聯(lián)系。中國有一句成語，起承轉(zhuǎn)合，形容萬事萬物都由一個(gè)沖突點(diǎn)開始，并通過一段爬升的曲線推進(jìn)故事內(nèi)容，在達(dá)到故事的高潮后緩慢回落，并留下一個(gè)完美的結(jié)局令人深思。而“英雄之旅”的概念也傳達(dá)了類似的敘事結(jié)構(gòu)：一個(gè)完整的故事由連續(xù)的四幕組成：分離，淪落，轉(zhuǎn)機(jī)與返回。而每一幕又可以分為三小部分，利用不同的小事件和人物關(guān)系填充故事背景，并圍繞英雄自身，目標(biāo)，導(dǎo)師，障礙和勝利五部分進(jìn)行展開。自這本書之后的大量藝術(shù)作品，包括電影和小說都受此影響，例如《星球大戰(zhàn)》， 《功夫熊貓》甚至是《CoCo》，其跌宕起伏的劇情得益于”英雄之旅“所提出的方法論，而《幾近成名》也是如此。

神話學(xué)家坎貝爾的著作《英雄之旅》對(duì)后世的大量藝術(shù)作品產(chǎn)生了巨大的影響。在該書中，坎貝爾對(duì)世界各地的神話故事進(jìn)行了研究，總結(jié)和提煉，并得出了單主角養(yǎng)成類的故事養(yǎng)成大綱。通過將整個(gè)故事情節(jié)分為四幕以及十二個(gè)階段，故事的主角從平凡的生活中踏上冒險(xiǎn)，歷經(jīng)挑戰(zhàn)并脫胎換骨，最終回歸平凡世界。盡管該類故事通常出現(xiàn)于超級(jí)英雄電影，動(dòng)作電影（特別是功夫片），但《幾近成名》作為一部以70年代和搖滾樂為背景的青春電影，仍然采用了“英雄之旅”的敘事方式，我們可以很輕易地在該片中找到大量典型的敘事性套路。

整體故事可以被分為四幕： 分離，淪落， 抗?fàn)幣c還鄉(xiāng)，其中第一幕就是william與家人的分離。英雄之旅的第一個(gè)階段通常描述主角的平凡生活。在這部電影中，William在一個(gè)家教甚嚴(yán)，擁有良好教育氛圍的家庭環(huán)境中成長(zhǎng)，并在為成為一名律師，一個(gè)被社會(huì)所廣泛認(rèn)可的職業(yè)所努力著。而刺激性因素則是William熱愛搖滾的姐姐，在叛逆期選擇離家獨(dú)自闖蕩并給william留下了一打搖滾樂唱片，也在william心中埋下了想成為樂隊(duì)記者的夢(mèng)想。而william在影片開始前沒有離家的原因則是他擁有一個(gè)嚴(yán)格要求的母親。此時(shí)，主角的心靈導(dǎo)師出現(xiàn)了，也就是樂評(píng)人Lester。從他給William的35美元到每一次William執(zhí)筆時(shí)對(duì)辭藻的潤(rùn)色，這個(gè)角色不僅幫助William越過了平凡生活的邊界，在他冒險(xiǎn)的途中也在不斷的給予他幫助和啟迪。因此在William不顧反對(duì)成為記者后，劇情也進(jìn)入了第二幕。他結(jié)識(shí)了Penny，并通過純粹的熱愛感染了Silkwater樂隊(duì)并成為滾石雜志的記者。在隨隊(duì)報(bào)道的過程中，William不斷在遭受越來越艱苦的考驗(yàn)，這也正是”英雄之旅“第二幕的主要內(nèi)容。William在不斷受到來自母親的催促，樂隊(duì)不和導(dǎo)致的摩擦，以及Penny被看作”Groupie“與Russel產(chǎn)生的感情糾葛。在這個(gè)過程中，William不斷面臨困境，依靠自己，導(dǎo)師，朋友們的幫助和開導(dǎo)不斷的走出困境。而劇情的高潮，也就是英雄之旅中所謂的”至暗時(shí)刻”，則是樂隊(duì)在飛機(jī)上被卷入雷暴，隨時(shí)有墜機(jī)的可能。每個(gè)人都撕下面具說出了自己的心里話，也包括William對(duì)Russel喊出的關(guān)于Penny的坦白之詞。此時(shí)第三幕抗?fàn)幍慕Y(jié)局正是William將稿件發(fā)給滾石并被駁回的時(shí)刻。而William在這段英雄之旅所獲得的寶藏則是他的導(dǎo)師和朋友們。除去導(dǎo)師一路上每一通電話講述的哲理，以及整段旅程中Russel對(duì)William的關(guān)心，正是Penny騙Russel，將William的住址告訴他，兩人才能見面并冰釋前嫌，William才能走出被雜志和樂團(tuán)否定的陰影，也才能重獲勇氣回到平凡的生活。在最后一幕中，英雄通常回到現(xiàn)實(shí)生活，并將混亂和懸疑解釋清楚，影片得到升華。William在機(jī)場(chǎng)將姐姐帶回家，一家三口重新團(tuán)聚。樂團(tuán)最終肯定了William的稿件，他們也如愿登上了滾石雜志的封面。WIlliam放棄了遙不可及的記者夢(mèng)，在目睹了整個(gè)年代的掙扎與迷失后看清了世界，也找到了自己。

因此Almost Famous實(shí)際是非常經(jīng)典的英雄之旅型敘事結(jié)構(gòu)， William選擇離開舒適區(qū)，踏上旅程后不斷遭受歷練，歷經(jīng)磨難并重新回到原來的世界，而一切也煥然一新。英雄之旅并不一定有具象化的敵人或挑戰(zhàn)，他更多代表的是主角會(huì)遇到困難和挑戰(zhàn)，并通過歷經(jīng)磨難而獲得接受挑戰(zhàn)和征服恐懼的勇氣和信念。

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 heroes with a thousand faces>. Having impacted uncountable artistic works in later generations,? The book researches, summarizes and refines myths around the world, and draws up the outline of hero adventure mythology.? By dividing a whole story into four scenes and twelve stages, the narrative structure can easily bring the audience into the first person storytelling atmosphere. In the structure of hero’s journey, the hero usually starts the adventure from his ordinary life, accepts challenges and reborn, and finally returns to his original living world. Although this type of story usually appears in superhero movies, action movies (especially KungFu movies), "Almost Famous" being a youth movie with the background of 70s and rock music, still adopts the narrative way of "hero's journey" and there's lots of typical narrative routines.

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.

在觀看了電影《幾近成名》之后，我產(chǎn)生了一種奇怪的既視感：盡管表面上以搖滾樂，“垮掉的一代”以及動(dòng)蕩而引起爭(zhēng)論的七十年代為背景，并將故事的主要矛盾塑造的像大多數(shù)青春電影一般，一位處于青春期躁動(dòng)的青少年反抗家人管教，踏上一條注定令他后悔但卻令他成長(zhǎng)的道路；但本質(zhì)上，這部電影仍然采用了一個(gè)熟悉的劇情架構(gòu)和故事線。這個(gè)疑惑直到我看了知名神話學(xué)家坎貝爾的《英雄之旅》之后才被突然解釋。該書所提出的關(guān)于Storytelling的方法論對(duì)后世的大量藝術(shù)作品產(chǎn)生了巨大的影響。在該書中，坎貝爾對(duì)世界各地的神話故事進(jìn)行了研究，總結(jié)和提煉，并得出了單主角養(yǎng)成類的故事養(yǎng)成大綱。一個(gè)完整的故事通常擁有八種角色的原型，而情節(jié)則由連續(xù)的四幕組成：離鄉(xiāng)，淪落，轉(zhuǎn)機(jī)與歸鄉(xiāng)。而每一幕又可以分為三小部分，利用不同的小事件和人物關(guān)系填充故事背景，并圍繞英雄自身，目標(biāo)，導(dǎo)師，障礙和勝利五部分進(jìn)行展開。自這本書之后的大量藝術(shù)作品，包括電影和小說都受此影響，例如《星球大戰(zhàn)》， 《功夫熊貓》甚至是《CoCo》，其跌宕起伏的劇情得益于”英雄之旅“所提出的方法論，而《幾近成名》也是如此。中國有一句成語，起承轉(zhuǎn)合，形容萬事萬物都由一個(gè)沖突點(diǎn)開始，并通過一段爬升的曲線將故事內(nèi)容不斷推進(jìn)，在達(dá)到故事的高潮后緩慢回落，并留下一個(gè)完美的結(jié)局令人深思。盡管該類故事通常出現(xiàn)于超級(jí)英雄電影，動(dòng)作電影（特別是功夫片），但《幾近成名》作為一部以70年代和搖滾樂為背景的青春電影，仍然采用了“英雄之旅”的敘事方式，我們可以很輕易地在該片中找到大量典型的敘事性套路。

我們可以通過《幾近成名》的主角：William是否在旅行而將故事分為兩大場(chǎng)景，在家的場(chǎng)景包括第一幕的“離鄉(xiāng)”和第四幕的“歸鄉(xiāng)”，而旅行中的場(chǎng)景則包含了第二幕的淪落與第三幕的反抗。盡管我們沒必要像布萊克施耐德的劇情節(jié)拍表一樣將故事嚴(yán)格的拆分為十多個(gè)關(guān)鍵節(jié)拍，但按照《英雄之旅》中的方法論，我們更容易站到原作者的角度，通過遍歷《幾近成名》的每一個(gè)關(guān)鍵節(jié)點(diǎn)，來搞清楚什么是一個(gè)令人著迷的故事，以及如何創(chuàng)造他。

第一幕 離鄉(xiāng)

在”英雄之旅“的過程中，主角通常不是最強(qiáng)大，完成了最艱難挑戰(zhàn)，或是戲份最多的人。主角最重要的特點(diǎn)是，他通過一段漫長(zhǎng)的英雄之旅，達(dá)成了某種目標(biāo)，也成為了成長(zhǎng)最多，領(lǐng)悟最多而突破最多阻礙的角色。毫無疑問，William在該整部電影中突破了一個(gè)又一個(gè)的阻礙，而其中第一個(gè)也是貫穿全片的阻礙則是嚴(yán)格的家教，壓迫性的家庭氛圍，其具象化的體現(xiàn)就是William在大學(xué)任教的母親，在劇中扮演了”守門者“的角色。但除去簡(jiǎn)單的為William的搖滾記者之旅設(shè)下重重阻礙，她也有一層作用是讓主角為追尋目標(biāo)的旅途做好心理準(zhǔn)備。在第一幕中對(duì)William平凡生活的描寫過程中，William應(yīng)有的生活軌跡是在嚴(yán)格的教育下不斷成長(zhǎng)，并為成為一位優(yōu)秀的律師，一個(gè)被社會(huì)所廣泛認(rèn)可的職業(yè)所努力著。而迫使主角走出舒適區(qū)，踏上旅程的不確定因素則不止一個(gè)。表面上看，William桀驁不馴而熱愛搖滾的姐姐是讓他成為搖滾記者的首要原因，而實(shí)際上，William被母親逼迫著不斷跳級(jí)，并禁止大量娛樂活動(dòng)后，在周圍人眼中被看作怪胎一事也暗自推動(dòng)著William想要逃離現(xiàn)在的生活，而姐姐在準(zhǔn)備前往舊金山之前為他留下的那句話，“某一天你會(huì)變得很酷”和那疊禁止在家里出現(xiàn)的唱片則成為了William逃離糟糕生活的最好出口。因此在第一幕中，William的姐姐和“搖滾樂”扮演了“使者”的角色，為William提供了通往五彩世界的一扇窗口，也是踏上搖滾之旅的動(dòng)機(jī)。在接觸到搖滾樂后，讓故事主角踏上旅程，并不斷為他灌輸觀念并造成影響的導(dǎo)師，也就是樂評(píng)人Lester出現(xiàn)了?！皩?dǎo)師”這一角色不光負(fù)責(zé)幫助主角踏上旅程，也負(fù)責(zé)為主角提供中列入客觀的評(píng)價(jià)。從William在唱片店窗外被樂評(píng)人的行為所吸引，到Lester與他暢談并抨擊當(dāng)代搖滾樂的弊端，到旅程中的每一通電話，Lester從未因?yàn)槭菗u滾樂從業(yè)者而為William描繪出一個(gè)美好，虛幻的搖滾世界。相反，Lester對(duì)搖滾樂壇的看法透徹而冷酷，他將搖滾樂稱為一項(xiàng)“只為了酷”的事業(yè)，而他先知般的理念也不斷修正著William旅程中對(duì)搖滾樂的看法，并對(duì)William最終回歸普通生活起到了不可或缺的作用。

第二幕 沉淪

在諸多因素的促使之下，William開始了他的旅程，并開始結(jié)識(shí)越來越多的盟友，并不斷遇到困難。他結(jié)識(shí)了Penny，并通過純粹的熱愛感染了Silkwater樂隊(duì)并成功融入他們。通過Lester的幫助，他寫出了精彩的文章，并如愿成為了滾石雜志的記者。在隨隊(duì)報(bào)道的過程中，William不斷在遭受越來越艱苦的考驗(yàn)，這也正是”英雄之旅“第二幕的主要內(nèi)容。William在不斷受到來自母親的催促，樂隊(duì)不和導(dǎo)致的摩擦，以及Penny被看作”Groupie“與Russel產(chǎn)生的感情糾葛。在這個(gè)過程中，William表面上看起來是在解決一個(gè)又一個(gè)的問題，而實(shí)際上William的成長(zhǎng)卻主要體現(xiàn)在他對(duì)搖滾，以及記者這一職業(yè)的看法上。在進(jìn)入樂隊(duì)前，William與搖滾的距離是遙遠(yuǎn)的?？梢岳斫?，如果一個(gè)十六歲的少年與搖滾的接觸只有寥寥幾張唱片，和周圍人或雜志上的道聽途說，他心中的搖滾一定是神圣，高雅而難以接近的，這也可以從進(jìn)入演唱會(huì)現(xiàn)場(chǎng)前William臉上期待的神情和他拘謹(jǐn)?shù)膬x態(tài)上看出來。但實(shí)際上，William在加入樂隊(duì)后，他與樂隊(duì)的距離越近，他就能體驗(yàn)到搖滾越真實(shí)的一面：混亂，迷茫，縱欲與自私。剛加入樂隊(duì)時(shí)，樂隊(duì)看起來和舞臺(tái)上一樣光鮮亮麗，一切都無比和睦，Russel采訪時(shí)甚至?xí)?duì)搖滾發(fā)表具有哲理的看法。而隨著樂隊(duì)變得越來越出名，團(tuán)隊(duì)角色的沖突，個(gè)人的私欲等問題也逐漸附上了水面。例如樂隊(duì)大吵一架后因?yàn)榇蟀蜕系囊皇赘枨匦潞秃?，例如Russel賭氣的突然消失等，與其說這支樂隊(duì)在不斷暴露他的弱點(diǎn)，不如說在William的眼里，這支樂隊(duì)在變得越來越真實(shí)。

第三幕 轉(zhuǎn)機(jī)

盡管在William眼中，這支樂隊(duì)在不斷變得越來越真實(shí)，他也同時(shí)在逐漸陷入另一層困境：作為一名樂隊(duì)記者，他已經(jīng)獲得了足夠多樂隊(duì)的報(bào)道素材，作為一名記者，他報(bào)道這些真實(shí)的素材可能會(huì)讓這支樂隊(duì)顏面盡失，或者說與樂隊(duì)成員內(nèi)心中自己“酷炫”的一面背道而馳。而除此之外，其他或大或小的矛盾也在逐漸激化，并逐漸將劇情推向高潮，也就是英雄之旅中所謂的”至暗時(shí)刻”。樂隊(duì)在飛機(jī)上被卷入雷暴，隨時(shí)有墜機(jī)的可能。這是一個(gè)在電影中廣泛使用的劇情：人們?cè)诮^境中通常會(huì)吐露心聲，而重獲安全后人們面對(duì)更加真實(shí)的彼此，他們可能也會(huì)同時(shí)發(fā)現(xiàn)一個(gè)更真實(shí)的自己。在這樣一個(gè)時(shí)刻，每個(gè)人都撕下面具說出了自己的心里話，也包括William對(duì)Russel喊出的關(guān)于Penny的坦白之詞。下飛機(jī)后所有的人的沉默也恰好印證了：拋去表面的瘋狂，名利與數(shù)不清的誘惑，這架飛機(jī)上的每一個(gè)年輕人都有著自己的困境與挑戰(zhàn)，也都有著自己的英雄之旅。在離開飛機(jī)后，WIlliam重新審視了Penny追求的虛無，Russel的迷茫和樂隊(duì)的弊端，并決定離開這段旅程，去做回真實(shí)的自己。

第四幕 歸鄉(xiāng)

在機(jī)場(chǎng)又一次遇到“使者”也就是他的姐姐并將她帶回家后，William終于進(jìn)入了“歸鄉(xiāng)”的狀態(tài)。在稿件被退回后，Wiliam看似經(jīng)歷了一場(chǎng)失敗的旅行：和樂隊(duì)分道揚(yáng)鑣，離開了愛著的Penny，錯(cuò)過了畢業(yè)典禮，甚至失去了滾石的記者職位。但”英雄之旅“結(jié)構(gòu)的迷人之處就在于，主角最后總能帶著所謂的“萬能藥”回歸，將旅程中的混亂和懸疑一一解除，并將故事推向一個(gè)令人深思的結(jié)尾，而William所找到的解藥就是誤打誤撞來到他家的Russel。伴隨著Russel的出現(xiàn)，他不僅繼續(xù)扮演盟友的身份，也同時(shí)獲得了一層”導(dǎo)師“的身份，并對(duì)William進(jìn)行開導(dǎo)。因此，William才能走出被雜志和樂團(tuán)否定的陰影，也重獲勇氣回到平凡的生活。不過這一次，一切都變得圓滿了起來。William將姐姐帶回家并和媽媽久違的冰釋前嫌，一家三口重新團(tuán)聚。樂團(tuán)最終肯定了William的稿件，他們也如愿登上了滾石雜志的封面。WIlliam放棄了遙不可及的記者夢(mèng)，在目睹了整個(gè)年代的掙扎與迷失后看清了世界，也找到了自己。

因此Almost Famous實(shí)際是非常經(jīng)典的英雄之旅型敘事結(jié)構(gòu)， William選擇離開舒適區(qū)，踏上旅程后不斷遭受歷練，歷經(jīng)磨難并重新回到原來的世界，而一切也煥然一新。英雄之旅并不一定有具象化的敵人或挑戰(zhàn)，他更多代表的是主角會(huì)遇到困難和挑戰(zhàn)，并通過歷經(jīng)磨難而獲得接受挑戰(zhàn)和征服恐懼的勇氣和信念。

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.