Film review- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

 

‘Harry potter and the philosophers stone’ is a fantasy film produced by Warner bros, based on the novel by J.k. Rowling of the same name. The film serves as a great example of the monomyth, otherwise known as ‘the hero’s journey’.

So, what is the monomyth? “The monomyth is a template that shows the hero’s journey common in many myths, folktales, and religions. The monomyth is an expression from James Joyce but was popularized by Joseph Campbell in The Hero with a Thousand Faces.” “The Hero with a Thousand Faces is an exploration of the power of myth and storytelling, from the ancient world to modern times, and spanning every human culture across the world. All peoples, and indeed, all individuals, make sense of the world they live in and grapple with the experience of living by telling stories. Myths are the foundation of all human physical and intellectual pursuits, be they religious, economic, social, or cultural, because these myths tell us who we are and what destinies we are here to fulfill.” (Penn, 2019) Essentially, the monomyth is built upon thousands of years of myths and stories from all manner of different cultures, and shows a common series of events and tropes in the hero’s journey. The hero’s journey is most often broken up into 17 stages (although they may not all be used) Which we can see here:

We can clearly see how ‘Harry potter and the philosopher’s stone’ fits the hero’s journey if we break it down into each step:

We start the film with Equilibrium, with Harry Potter living a relatively normal life in the context of the world the film is set in. The Call to adventure comes with Harry’s acceptance letter to Hogwarts.  This is clearly the call to adventure as it takes Harry from a normal world without magic to a fantastical world with magic. The refusal of the call does not actually come from Harry, but from Uncle Vernon. He tears up Harry’s letter and ignores all the subsequent letters that arrive, to the point of moving his family and Harry to a remote location. He is refusing the call by preventing Harry going to Hogwarts. Supernatural Aid comes in the form of Hagrid breaking into the Dursley’s remote home and taking Harry away. The next stage of crossing the first Threshold happens when Hagrid takes Harry to Diagon Alley. This is a quite literal crossing of the first threshold, where Harry leaves his normal, magic-less life into the wizarding world. The Belly of the whale comes when Harry goes through the wall at the train station to platform 9 3/4, and eventually going on the train to Hogwarts. Harry has fully left the normal world and entered the wizarding world at this point. Next comes the road of trials. This is a relatively long section, and has multiple events in it, which include Harry’s sorting into Gryffindor, Harry’s victory over Malfoy during the broomstick lesson, Harry and Ron defeating the Troll in the dungeon bathroom, Harry’s first quidditch match, etc. All of these serve as a way of pushing Harry and helping him grow as a character. At the same time, the main plot is taking off, with Harry and his friends discovering the trapdoor guarded by the three headed dog and uncovering that the philosopher’s stone is what’s behind it, and that someone is trying to steal it. The next stage is the meeting with the goddess. This stage represents the acquirement of a magical item, which in the film, was Harry’s gift of the Invisibility cloak. This allows Harry to continue with the plot, and get into the restricted section of the library, along with uncovering Snape threatening Quirrell. This puts suspicion on Snape as the one after the stone. The next step is Woman as temptress, which is a somewhat misleading name for this stage, as it can be anything that serves as a way of tempting the hero away from their goal. In the film, this is the mirror of Erised. This serves as a temptation as it shows a person’s deepest desire, which for Harry, was having his parents alive. Next comes atonement with the father, which is where the Hero encounters a power greater than themselves. This happens when Harry comes across Voldemort drinking the blood of the Unicorn. The next stages happen closer together and they’re less concrete than the previous stages. After Atonement with the father comes Apotheosis, the moment of realization, which happens when Harry finds out that it was Professor Quirrell who was after the stone all along. That leads quickly into The Ultimate Boon, where Harry fights Quirrell after the stone appears in his pocket. Refusal of the return is less of a specific moment, but Harry’s overall feelings of not wanting to leave Hogwarts and by extension the wizarding world, as his normal life isn’t as exciting, and overall, quite miserable. Magic flight is once the Ultimate boon has been achieved, and returning with the item they set out to get. For Harry, this happens when he retrieves the stone. Next is the rescue from without, which is where the hero is brought home, sometimes without them wanting to. For Harry, this is the end of the school year and having to return home for the summer. The Dursleys are still his legal guardians, and Harry has no choice to return to them once the school year ends. Crossing the return threshold happens when Harry boards the train home, leaving the wizarding world behind. The final two stages again, aren’t concrete and don’t necessarily happen fully on screen. The master of Two worlds and freedom to live occurs as the knowledge that Harry isn’t fully leaving the Wizarding world behind, as he’ll be returning to Hogwarts for the following school year.

In conclusion, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s stone is a fantastic example of the hero’s journey, as there are clear examples of each stage in the journey in the film when you know where to look.

Works Cited

Penn, A., 2019. Shortform. [Online]
Available at: https://www.shortform.com/blog/monomyth-stages-heros-journey/