The Hero's Journey in the Lego Movie
- An Example to Help with Your Video Project -
Status Quo
Emmet lives in an ordinary city where he follows the rules and goes to work everyday. Everyone seems to agree that life is awesome.
Call to Adventure
At the end of the day at his construction site, Emmet follows a mysterious woman and discovers a magical lego piece. When he touches it, he receives a vision that implies he is "the Special," and the piece sticks permanently to his back.
Refusal of the Call
Emmet is captured by the police, who believe he is "the Special." However, Emmet does not feel special, and has no idea why they think he is the person they are looking for.
The Helper/Mentor & Crossing the Threshold
Emmet is rescued by Wildstyle, who confirms that he is, indeed, "the Special." They fight off the police, who are after them, and escape into a world that is totally different from the one Emmet used to live in.
Trials
Emmet and Wildstyle find themselves in a "western" themed lego world. They make new friends and run away from the police, who are still chasing them. Emmet learns that the evil President Business is planning to freeze Lego Land with a weapon called the Kragle (which is super glue), and that only the Special can stop him.
Emmet sees that his new friends are all talented and creative lego builders with their own styles of building. He needs to discover what makes him special in order to become a great builder, like them.
Emmet starts to become more of a leader...
The Crisis
Emmet faces his darkest hour when one of his mentors dies and he and his friends are all captured. He discovers that the prophecy is "made up," and his belief that he was chosen by prophecy as "the Special" is destroyed.
In the crisis, Emmet faces death in order to protect his friends and his home. (Death in this story involves falling off the lego table into the world of humans).
Emmet overcomes the crisis by returning to the lego world stronger and more confident than before. He now has the strength to confront his enemy, Lord Business.
The Ordeal
Emmet confronts his enemy and overcomes him. In the Lego Movie, we find out that the entire story has been created by a young boy playing in the basement of his house where his father keeps his lego model cities. This time, the ordeal is truly a confrontation with a father-figure.
The Boon & The Return
There are multiple rewards in this story: the boy and his father learn to understand each other, and their relationship is improved. Emmet, his friends, and their world are safe from being frozen by the Kragle. Emmet returns home, but things are no longer the same: now he is a master builder.