Those who are familiar with the several themes of what Joseph Campbell defines as the Hero’s Journey know that they occur frequently in our culture. These themes are implemented in the story lines of shows, movies, video games, and literature. With Hollywood running out of ideas for movies, many studios have decided to remake classic movies, primarily horror movies, which have implemented a substantial number of elements which are present in Joseph Campbell’s definition of the Hero’s Journey. One remake that is confirmed to be released in 2010 is the remake of 1984’s “Nightmare on Elm Street”. In the original film, the infamous villain named Freddy Krueger is immortalized. However, his one and only threat is a young girl named Nancy, someone who he perceives to be as weak as the countless victims he slaughtered prior to meeting her. This film is a perfect example of a movie in which the plot centers on a main character that undergoes the Hero’s Journey. Throughout the storyline, several of the elements that Joseph Campbell describes as being part of this archetype, occur. Joseph Campbell divides these themes in the categories of Departure, Initiation, and Return.
Those who have watched “A Nightmare on Elm Street” know that it is about Freddy Krueger, the embodiment of a specter which inhabits the nightmares of teenagers. To the great misfortune of these teenagers, being murdered by Freddy Krueger in a nightmare results in their actual physical death. Privy to the deaths of all her friends at the hands of this phantom, the protagonist, Nancy, undergoes a character development which many would consider to be a perfect example of the “Hero’s Journey”.
The first category in which Joseph Campbell includes a list of themes occurring in the Hero’s Journey is titled “Departure”. This category includes several themes, one being the “call to adventure”. This is known as the point where a person realizes that their circumstances are going to change. This theme occurs in the movie after Nancy’s best friend Tina is found mysteriously murdered in a condition which could only indicate that, to much of Nancy’s disbelief, Freddy Krueger was involved. Consequently, this disbelief is what many would consider, “refusal of the call”, another theme present in the “Departure” category, which occurs when someone refuses to heed the call to adventure. Nancy refused to allow herself to believe what was obvious, because it was difficult to believe. The next theme is named “supernatural aid”, which occurs when a magical helper assists the hero see what the hero was failing to fully acknowledge. In the movie, this theme occurs when Nancy’s mother tells her that she knew all along that Freddy Krueger was responsible for the murders and that the reason all of these deaths were occurring was because all of the parents living in Springwood killed Freddy Krueger when he was a living human being. The next theme included in the “Departure” category of themes, is the “crossing of the first threshold”. This is defined as when the hero crosses into the field of adventure and abandons his or her known limits. This occurs in the movie when Nancy deliberately falls asleep expecting to confront Freddy Krueger. Fully expecting to ascertain some sort of injury resulting from the dream, she asks her friend Glen to awaken her if he sees anything suspicious occur to her body. The final theme that is presented in the category of “Departure,” is the “belly of the whale”. In the movie, I would classify Rod’s death as this occurrence. Since Rod and Nancy were close friends, his death symbolized the likelihood of her own mortality. This is because the “belly of the whale” indicates an event, often dark and frightening, that causes the hero to be willing to undergo a metamorphosis. After Rod’s death, Nancy realizes that she could spend the rest of her life without sleep, or take matters into her own hands.
The next category in which Joseph Campbell lists a set of themes occurring in the “Hero’s Journey”, is titled “initiation.” The first theme that occurs in initiation is the “road of trials.” In this step, the hero undergoes a series of tests before he or she undergoes the transformation. At first, it is likely that the hero will fail at first. To me, this step occurs in the movie when Nancy tries desperately to convince those around her that their dreams are a physical threat. To her distress, she fails to convince her friends. The next step in the initiation category is titled the “meeting with the goddess.” According to Campbell, this is the point where the hero, or central character, experiences a love that has the power and a significance of a mother. Although it is tricky to place an event that occurs in such a grim movie in this theme, the closest relationship that Nancy has with anyone in this movie is her male friend Glen. The next theme in this movie that is placed in the category of “initiation” is the theme of the “woman as the temptress.” In this step, the hero feels revulsion towards his or her own attachment to temptation. In “Nightmare on Elm Street,” I believe this occurs when Nancy’s mother finds out that her daughter is trying to warn all her peers about their physical danger. Nancy’s mother places locks on all the windows and doors so that Nancy can’t leave the house. Although is isn’t explicitly stated, it is evident that Nancy is dealing with a lot of frustration because she is only trying to save people’s lives and her own mother, someone who is well aware of Freddy Krueger’s capabilities, isn’t allowing her to do so. It is implied that Nancy is angry with the cowardice that her mother is exhibiting. This inherently makes her feel angry about the fact that she is her mother’s daughter- someone who could just as easily succumb to her mother’s attempts to stop her. The next theme in the “Hero’s Journey” that occurs in the movie is titled “atonement with the Father.” This step occurs when the central character confronts and is initiated by the one thing that holds the ultimate power in his or her life. Often, this thing is embodied by a male entity. In the movie, Nancy’s father is the person who holds the most power and whose actions ultimately initiate her into the next step of her journey. This happens because Nancy attempts to tell her father, a sheriff who knows about Freddy Krueger and who has the authoritative power to save countless lives from his current antics, but ultimately is shunned with disbelief. This initiates her to her most important realization- that she must personally find some way to put a stop to the murders. “Apotheosis” is the next step in the “Hero’s Journey”. This step occurs when the hero, or central figure, dies metaphorically, or undergoes a period of rest. In this movie, I see it as the part where Nancy devises a plan to take Freddy Krueger out of her dream and into the real physical world, where he is just as mortal as everyone else. I see it as a period of rest because she stops trying to convince everyone else that they’re in danger because she realizes that it’s futile, and devises a strategy to either kill Freddy Krueger or to have him arrested in the physical realm, vindicating her attempts to save everyone’s life. She goes about this by setting her alarm clock to an amount of time sufficient enough for her to physically grab him in the dream, which would cause her to pull him into the real world. Once he’s in the real world, she could prove to her father that he’s still existent and could have him killed or arrested. The next step in the “Hero’s Journey” and the final step in the category of “initiation”, is the “ultimate boon”. This happens when the hero finally achieves the goal that he or she was attempting to throughout the entire story. This happens in the movie when Nancy finally falls asleep and pulls Freddy out of her dream. As she runs throughout her house, away from him, she attempts to scream for help so that her father hears her. Fully aware of the threat that Krueger poses, she sets him on fire using gasoline and a match. When her father finally comes to her rescue, it’s discovered that Krueger, being covered in gasoline and burning, decided to take at least one more life before he reaches a physical demise. He ran up to Nancy’s mother’s room, where Nancy’s mother slept and leapt on top of her, causing them to both burn to death.
The next set of themes in the “Hero’s journey” are classified under “Return”. The first step in this is titled “refusal of the return”. It happens when the hero has to realize that it’s time to return to the real world. This happens, I believe, when Nancy watches her mother burn. She realizes that now she’s going to have to watch her father deal with the guilt of his own prior disbelief, which was a factor in his wife’s death. The next step in this final set of steps is titled the “magic flight”. It’s the point where the hero, once he or she has achieved his or her goal, must metaphorically escape. In other words, he or she must liquefy any remaining risks that the journey itself may have caused. In the movie, it’s the point where Freddy Krueger returns one last time to claim Nancy’s life. However, it’s apparent that he’s physically weaker. Nancy then realizes that his strength, as well as his physical capabilities, is relative to how much a person fears him, which would be different for each individual person. She then tells him that she’s no longer afraid of him, and that she knows his secret. He tries to inflict a stab wound on her, but he fails. Nancy is the first person to know how to stop him, and she’s immune to his harm. The next step in the “Hero’s Journey”, is titled “rescue from without”. This happens when the hero requires assistance returning to the real world, especially if he or she experiences a physical injury as a result of the journey. In the movie, Nancy returns to what can be either the dream world or the real world, depending on one’s interpretation of the movie. In this reality, her friends and mother are still alive. It could be possible that they were all dead only because Nancy’s fear fed Freddy Krueger’s power. Therefore, by no longer believing that he could physically kill someone, she somehow undid the murders that had occurred around her. Seeing her friends and family safe again uplifts Nancy and takes her mind off the perilous events she had previously undergone. Next is the “crossing of the return threshold.” This happens when the hero must carry the wisdom attained throughout the journey and share it with everyone else. This happens in the movie before all of the previously mentioned steps in this category, when Nancy finally proved to her father, with physical evidence, that Freddy Krueger posed a physical threat. The next step in the “Hero’s Journey” is titled “master of two worlds.” In this step, the hero has achieved a balance between the two worlds. In the movie, the ending is a solid representation of this, since, to Nancy, the dream world and the real world have become indivisible. She doesn’t seem to care whether or not the circumstances of the movie’s ending, being that her friends and family are safe, are real or not. The final step in the “Hero’s Journey”, is titled “Freedom to live.” In this final step, the hero is finally free to live his or her life, neither regretting the past nor anticipating the future. This feeling is evident when we see Nancy simply enjoy the company of her friends. If she were anxious at all that she was in any danger, she wouldn’t. If she regretted the past, she wouldn’t have the tenacity to smile.
With so many elements of the Hero’s Journey present in classic horror movies, it’s no surprise that movie studios feel compelled to remake these films. These movies are a representation of many feelings and emotions that we all undergo when we go through an event that causes us to change into more fully realized individuals. The “Hero’s Journey” is one that we could all relate to. It’s one that we undergo constantly.
