Ordinary People and Story Structure – Through the Lens of the Hero’s Journey
For where I’m at in my creative journey, I feel like trying to analyze stories using the structure of the Hero’s Journey will be useful. If I can recognize some of the points along the way in a story I’m reading or watching, maybe I’ll be able to recognize them in my own stories (or even set them up intentionally). Here I’ll try to look at the story structure of the film Ordinary People, based on the novel by Judith Guest.
The Writer’s Journey and Myth and The Movies
The books I’m using to help me with this are The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers, by Christopher Vogler, and Myth and the Movies: Discovering the Mythic Structure of 50 Unforgettable Films, by Stuart Voytilla.
Vogler’s Twelve Steps
If you’re a writer, you’ve probably heard of the Hero’s Journey and might already know the steps. There are variations, but Vogler’s Twelve Steps are:
- The Ordinary World (protagonist’s status quo; mundane, familiar world before they’re thrust into the story)
- The Call to Adventure (protagonist given a problem, challenge, adventure to tackle or undertake)
- The Refusal of the Call (protagonist doesn’t want to take on whatever has been flung their way, fear is a factor)
- Meeting with the Mentor (the Mentor helps our protagonist by giving advice, guidance, an object, etc.)
- Crossing the First Threshold (the protagonist commits to the adventure, enters the Special World)
- Tests, Allies, Enemies (the different things that happen to the protagonist, or the people they meet; some help, some hinder)
- Approach to the Inmost Cave (the edge of the scariest place in the story for the protagonist; protagonist falls back to plan and prepare to enter this space, which could be a physical entrance, mental entrance, or both)
- Ordeal (the protagonist’s direct confrontation with their greatest fear; where things look the worst for the protagonist and the reader doesn’t know how the situation will play out)
- Reward (Seizing the Sword)(the protagonist gets the reward, which can be an object or knowledge; conflicts are settled)
- The Road Back (protagonist has to deal with the consequences of facing the fear or dark forces that were in the Ordeal; they may get pursued, either literally or figuratively, as they make their way back to the Ordinary World)
- Resurrection (the protagonist experiences a final transformation through either one or more physical and/or emotional trials); and
- Return with the Elixir (the elixir is a special object, knowledge or experience which benefits the protagonist and the community at large in some way)
Obviously, you can find these steps in both Vogler’s and Voytilla’s books (Vogler wrote the foreword to Voytilla’s book), along with a myriad of other sources online.
Ordinary People – The Movie
I flipped through Stuart Voytilla’s book and decided to go with a movie I’ve already seen and which I thought, the first time I watched it, was one of the best movies I had ever seen, Ordinary People. Winner of the Best Picture Oscar in 1981, the movie features a stellar cast, with Mary Tyler Moore, Donald Sutherland, Timothy Hutton (who won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor), and Judd Hirsch (who was also nominated for Best Supporting Actor). I followed Voytilla’s instructions and did NOT read his analysis of the movie prior to watching it. With my Hero’s Journey printout in hand, I sat with a pencil and tried to identify the points along the way. This mostly gave way to writing notes in my notebook.
If you haven’t seen the movie and don’t want spoilers, stop here. Watch the movie — you won’t regret it! — try your hand at identifying the points, then come back and compare notes.
I wasn’t sure if I was going to see the structure of the movie the same way as Voytilla because of the way the movie itself is set up. To me it starts with Conrad already in the Special World, and he needs to get back to the Ordinary World, so I wasn’t really sure how to proceed with that. He’s tormented after the death of his older brother, and the whole movie is about him trying to make his way back to a peaceful status quo (and about the family trying to do that, too). I had that right, but had some “mismatches” towards the end of the analysis. Here is how it turned out, with Voytilla’s analysis paraphrased in the right-hand column:
| Ordinary World | Conrad and his family are devastated after his older brother’s death; he’s suffering after his own suicide attempt and hospitalization | Conrad can’t deal with his “normal” life (the Ordinary World) now that he’s back from the hospital. He can’t eat or sleep and also can’t deal with his feelings, which he keeps locked inside |
| Call to Adventure | His dad asks him if he’s thought about calling a psychiatrist, as they had discussed | Pact with his father to contact a psychiatrist if, after a month of being at home, he is still having problems |
| Refusal of the Call | Calls Dr. Berger from a pay phone but doesn’t give the doctor his phone number when he asks Conrad for it | Conrad choosing to lock up his feelings is a refusal of his inner problems and therefore of the Call; avoiding friends and teammates on the swim team is also a refusal of the Ordinary World (world with no pain) |
| Meeting with the Mentor | He meets with Dr. Berger for the first time (throughout the story his dad is also a mentor) | Meeting with Dr. Berger, who says they will need to meet twice a week if Conrad wants to change (another refusal of the call by Conrad, who claims he doesn’t want to miss swim practice) |
| Crossing the First Threshold | His first visit with the psychiatrist, Dr. Berger | Commitment to two visits a week with Dr. Berger (which at first is difficult due to presence of Threshold Guardians like his mother and the swim coach); he goes into the Special World (the world of healing) |
| Tests, Allies, Enemies | Interactions with his parents (Dad = ally; Mom = enemy); Dr. Berger (mentor); his coach (seems to be a mentor but is actually an enemy); Jeannine (ally); friends at school (allies?) | The therapy sessions are all tests; interaction with swim coach is a test; tries to talk to his mother about his brother but she refuses, this is also a test |
| Approach to the Inmost Cave | tells Dr. Berger to f*#& off — he is close to the truth but can’t face it or Dr. Berger | Dr. Berger tries to push Conrad to the Inmost Cave, which is Conrad’s need for control and inability to express his feelings. He gets angry first with Dr. Berger, then with his family at Thanksgiving, which shocks his Ordinary World |
| Ordeal | The suicide of Karen, his friend from the hospital | A blow-up between Conrad and his mother while decorating the Christmas tree |
| Reward (Seizing the Sword) | Breakthrough visit with Dr. Berger; Conrad realizes that “the one wrong thing” he did was survive the accident | Conrad must accept his need to forgive himself (the Reward is there, within reach, but has not yet been seized) |
| The Road Back | Conrad tries, again, with his mother, by hugging her upon his parents’ return from Dallas, she doesn’t respond | Three events: tries to talk to Jeannine about his suicide attempt but is interrupted by group of boys; beats up another boy after a swim meet; finds out about his friend Karen’s suicide (her suicide prompts his journey on the Road Back) |
| Resurrection | Conrad goes to see Jeannine, all is well in his world | Dr. Berger pushes Conrad to accept his Resurrection, and Conrad forgives himself for surviving the accident |
| Return with the Elixir | He has made peace with himself and has his dad to count on (Mentor); they have their love for each other (Elixir) | He shares the Elixir (his transformation) with Jeannine. He tries to share it with his mother, by hugging her, but she rejects it (she is unable to return his love) |
Did You Give it a Try?
Whew! I felt pretty emotional just rereading about this story, which is a definite heavy-hitter in the feelings department. My points along the way didn’t match Voytilla’s analysis, not exactly, but I was happy that I agreed all the way through to the Approach to the Inmost Cave. How about you? Did you give it a try, either with Ordinary People or another movie/book? If so, how did it go? Let me know in the comments below. Using films to study story structure is so useful because, just like with reading short stories, the time investment is much less than with a novel. I would like to read Judith Guest’s novel at some point, though.
The Heroine’s Journey, by Gail Carriger
For another interesting and helpful take on looking at stories, and one which you might decide applies better to whatever you’re working on, I suggest reading The Heroine’s Journey: For Writers, Readers, and Fans of Pop Culture, by Gail Carriger. It’s an entertaining look at stories using a similar, but different, lens. If your story doesn’t seem to fit into a typical hero’s journey outline, it could be that it’s actually a heroine’s journey (they tend to be less about loners and more about friends traveling together on a quest). Carriger’s book provides an extremely beneficial way to look at our stories.
Whether your story turns out to be a hero’s journey, a heroine’s journey, or it takes some other form altogether, analyzing your writing using these models won’t be harmful. On the contrary, doing such a structural analysis could turn out to be just what you need to get to a more satisfying draft or finished story.
Books Cited
Carriger, Gail. The Heroine’s Journey: For Writers, Readers, and Fans of Pop Culture. Gail Carriger LLC, 2020.
Vogler, Christopher. The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers, 25th Anniversary Edition. Studio City, CA: Michael Wiese Productions, 2020.
Voytilla, Stuart. Myth and the Movies: Discovering the Mythic Structure of 50 Unforgettable Films. Studio City, CA: Michael Wiese Productions, 1999.
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