The Heros Journey in Cameron Crowes Film Almost Famous Essay

The Heros Journey in Cameron Crowes Film Al well-nigh famedAlmost Famous (2000) is a dramatization of writer/director Cameron Crowes real-life experiences as a teenage joggle reporter for Rolling Stone. found on thinly-veiled autobiographical material from the precocious beginnings of Crowes early c areer, the screenplay shapes mushy memories into movie magic. But how did Crowe give his own coming-of-age tale such universal joint appeal? A closer look reveals that Almost Famous, like most films worth their salt, is yet another incarnation of the greatest and only mythologic adventure, The Heros Journey. This relationship can be explained using the enjoyment model of Joseph Campbells phenomenal book, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, along with plastered terms and interpretations from The sources Journey by Christopher Vogler.William Miller, our unlikely hero, lives at home with his protective mother Elaine and rebellious older sister, Anita. His ORDINARY human being is the she ltered existence of a San Diego junior high school student. When Anita has a fight with her mother and decides to leave home to become a stewardess, her percentage words to William make her the HERALD of his adventures to come. With the car packed and running, Anita takes hold of William on the front lawn, looks him dead in the eye and says One day, youll be cool. downstairs his bed, the stack of albums she has left for him includes the Whos Tommy, with a note taped to it. take heed to Tommy with a candle burning and you will see your entire future, it reads prophetically. And so it was written. Rock music is about to change William forever.In the next scene, we are introduced to an older Williamnow fifteen and in high schoolobsessively scratching band names into his notebook during class. It is time for the appearance of his uncanny AID to supply the amulets and advice that the hero will require. (Campbell 72) William goes to meet the famous joust critic, Lester Bangs, who is being interviewed at a local radio station. Over lunch, Lester initiates his role as MENTOR to the aspiring young journalist, warning him against making friends with the rock stars lest he lose his objectivity to write about them. You have to march on your reputation on being honest and unmerciful, he says repeatedly. Seeing that William is unplayful about his quest, Lester offers him a bona fide writing ass... ...to try to get back together with her, she tricks him into showing up on Williams doorstep instead. The two eventually sit down to an interview together and we discover that Russell has called and come great to the editors of Rolling Stone about the truth of Williams story. The films climax is thus resolved as its closing shot depicts a bundle of bound Rolling Stone magazines landing on the pavement with a thud.Almost Famous tells the story of an un coarse adolescence, too extraordinary(predicate) for audiences to relate to on a personal level, yet with a common reso nance that speaks to millions. This effect cant have been achieved on accident. faraway from just a haphazard reminiscence, the screenplay succeeds by arranging its elements along the symbolic representation of our collective consciousness. Therefore, using the outline of The Heros Journey as the basis for analysis, we see how Almost Famous has also been wrought from the causality of this infinite myth.Works CitedCampbell, Joseph. The Hero with a Thousand Faces. 2nd ed. Princeton Princeton University Press, 1968.Vogler, Christopher. The Writers Journey Mythic Structure for Writers. 2nd ed. Studio metropolis Michael Weise Productions, 1998.