Ranny Nguyen

3rd Period AVID

Mr. Geyer

The Hero’s Journey Essay

Comparing and Contrasting

“The Clash of the Titans” and Disney Pixar’s “Finding Nemo”

The storyline of a monomyth clings to three main phases: Departure, Initiation, and
Return. Between these crucial lines, our hero will take on various episodes of which are the
standards of any hero’s journey. In classic reference to any monomyth, “The Clash of the Titans”
is the movie that follows along the line of a Hero’s Journey tightly. As for a more modern and
more relatable movie, I will use Disney Pixar’s “Finding Nemo” as an example to take the Hero’s
Journey into a more understandable setting.

1: Departure and/or Separation

The first stage starts with somewhat departure and complete separation. This is where
they introduce you to the hero, the problem that is throwing him out of balance, how he is called
to move out of his ordinary world and start on the mission.

I. The call to adventure

Perseus’ is our main character in Clash of the Titans. His semi-departure is when he
becomes forced to set to sea in and with nothing but a coffin and his mother, Danaë. Soon
washing ashore the island of Seriphos; later as Perseus grows older, he receives a blaring sign
from the gods when he has shifted to the foreign world of Joppa he never knew existed. Marlin,
our main character in Finding Nemo is separated from his mate who was caught in a shark’s
sight for prey along with their fish eggs but one. After the flash devastation, Marlin has vowed to
keep his only fish-son protected at all times, for he is his only family left. Marlin, the overprotective
father, takes on a mission set by what his son has mistakenly done—leaves the safe coral reefs
to the deep blue to only have been caught by a scuba diver. Marlin’s departure is not a call to
adventure, but a rescue mission, compared to Perseus’ supernaturally made adventure.

II. Refusal of the Call

Perseus cannot believe he has changed worlds, and suspects godly action. He seeks advice
from a mentor, Ammon the playwright, and he tells him it is what perhaps the Gods have stirred.
After a second of Nemo being captured from one of the two scuba divers, Marlin is disabled from
the other diver’s camera flash. As Marlin wakes up, the motorboat which is speeding away
 Ranny Nguyen

3rd Period AVID

Mr. Geyer

reminds Marlin of Nemo’s capture, and attempts to swim desperately and in disbelief to retrieve
his only son safely.

III: Supernatural/Natural Aid

After receiving the acceptance of Godly actions, Perseus gets his share of supernatural
aid consisting of a helmet, sword, and shield along with a message from Zeus that they will
someday save his life. As Marlin loses his acceleration, he falls upon the help of other fishes in a
different part of where he has always been. With no hesitation, Marlin asks desperately for any
sight of the motorboat’s direction, and gets nothing but glances and rude demands. After his
troubling though all seems lost, Marlin’s bad luck is pushed aside to meet a Good Samaritan
named Dory, a Regal Blue Tang fish with the worst short-term memory and biggest heart in the
Australian waters. The two fish will continue on their journey to find Nemo who is now imprisoned
in a dentist’s fish tank with several other tropical fish. Although Perseus receives supernatural aid,
Marlin’s is nothing less, but modern aid.

IV: Crossing of the first Threshold

Perseus learns of Andromeda and her situation: she can’t marry unless her potential
husband successfully answers a riddle, and any man who answers the riddle incorrectly is
burned crucified in public. He believes he can’t turn back, for he has been set on a quest to save
the goddess-like princess by the gods. Marlin enters the dangerous deep blue on the hope of
finding and saving his son. After the two stories have moved settings in their journey, they have
no option or wish to return.

V: Entering the Belly of a Whale

Perseus captures the magical and almighty winged horse Pegasus and follows Princess
Andromeda's spirit on her nightly journey to learn a new riddle from Calibos, a hideous a monster
mortal. Marlin has entered the dangerous deep blue where he has never been. This is where the
characters enter a dangerous environment in addition from the crossing of the first threshold.
 Ranny Nguyen

3rd Period AVID

Mr. Geyer

2: Initiation
In the second stage, the initiation is set. Here is where we meet the Allies, Enemies, and
our potential heroes go through a couple of tests to prove their mission’s grasp. As the hero
arrives the “special world" he will encounter a sequence of challenges and obstacles, he will then
meet a couple of characters, some who will either assist or distract. Having overcome the
preliminary obstacles and challenges, the hero continues on his or her quest going into the most
restricted place. This place is where the hero will find the object he or she is looking for, which
could be something physical or something intangible. While being in the restricted place, the hero
will find himself confronting the greatest obstacle. Using the knowledge the hero has gained from
his or her mentor and other experiences the hero is finally able to obtain the object of his or her
quest.

I: Road of Trials

Armed with the answer to the riddle, Perseus is nearly killed by Calibos but escapes,
losing the helmet in which renders invisible powers within the swamps in the process. Perseus
appears at the next ceremony where Princess Andromeda’s mother asks for anyone to answer
the riddle. With no hesitation, Perseus answers the riddle correctly, presenting Calibos' severed
hand with the answer of a gold ring. Of course he wins Andromeda's hand in marriage. While the
Joppa’s people celebrate the broken curse, at the temple of Thetis, Calibos prays to his mother
Thetis to take vengeance on Perseus. Thetis tells Calibos that she cannot do so because
Perseus is protected by Zeus. As the two fish continue looking for the boat that took Nemo, they
meet Bruce who invites them to join him and his shark friends to a party that takes place in a
sunken submarine. Bruce and his friend’s Anchor and Chum, are a part of a 12-step program for
recovering fish eaters. For this, they each needed to take a fish friend. But once Bruce gets a
whiff of blood, he falls off the program and reverts to his old ways. Meanwhile, Marlin spots the
mask that one of the divers accidentally lost and takes it while trying to escape from Bruce who
then accidentally sets off the bombs that are under water.

II: Meeting of the Goddess

At the wedding, Queen Cassiopeia compares Andromeda's beauty to Thetis herself,

which angers the goddess incredibly and gives her an excuse to fulfill her son's wish. The statue
of Thetis collapses and its head comes to life, demanding Andromeda as a sacrifice to the
Kraken in thirty days, or else Joppa and its people will be destroyed. Dory and Marlin ended up in
the darkest place of the ocean, the abyss layer, where all they could see is a small light they
 Ranny Nguyen

3rd Period AVID

Mr. Geyer

couldn’t stop starring at, a light that turned out to be a female razor-toothed Angler fish. (Fact:
female Angler fish dominate males by being 60x physically bigger than them) While trying to
escape from the eager Angler fish, Marlin discovered Dory knew how to read. Using the fish’s
bioluminescence as his light, Marlin kept the fish chasing after him so that Dory could read the
address on the mask he found. Dory was able to remember the address on the mask and along
with Marlin escaping from the Angler fish.

(III: Woman as Temptress)

(V: Atonement with the Father)

VI: Apotheosis

The intelligent Bubo the owl leads Perseus to the Stygian Witches, three blind women
who share a single eye. With some effort, they finally tell him the only way to defeat the Kraken is
by using the head of another monster, Medusa the Gorgon. She was once a beautiful woman,
but when the Goddess of Love, Aphrodite, punished her, Medusa turned her into a hideous
wretch who turns anything into stone with the smallest of glances into her eyes. Marlin and Dory
take a wrong direction and come across jellyfishes with deadly stings. They have no choice but
to swim across and hopefully avoid being stung. This is one of the couple challenges the heroes
will have had to face. Dory attempts, but does not make it through. Marlin then went back looking
for Dory and gets her out of the danger zone. On his way back out with her, he becomes
unconscious. When he wakes he finds himself in the Eastern Australian current where he meets
Crush and his son Squirt. Here he sees how Crush gives his children the freedom to test
themselves against trouble and learn from their mistakes. Crush is transferred to a mentor of
some sorts. As they continue on their journey they come across a whale, as Marlin is afraid to
ask questions. As Dory asks the whale for directions Marlin’s under the belief that the whale
wants to eat the poor fish, not help them. Dory lets him know that sometimes you just have to
learn to trust, and that he has to let go. He was then able to see that what the whale wanted was
to help and take them to Sydney, Australia.

VII: The Ultimate Boon

 Ranny Nguyen

3rd Period AVID

Mr. Geyer

Zeus tells one of his goddesses, Athena, to aid Perseus with her owl named Bubo as a
replacement for his forgotten helmet. Not wanting to give up her precious owl, she orders
Hephaestus to build a mechanical replica. Once in Medusa’s presence, Perseus and his men
battle Dioskilos, a two-headed dog that is the guardian of Medusa. One of Perseus' men loses
his life to one of Medusa's arrows, while the last becomes caught in the stare of Medusa and is
transformed into a stone statue. Perseus eventually manages to not only conceive Medusa with
the help of his shield, but also decapitate her with his sword and collect her head, but loses his
shield in a pool of Medusa's poison-like blood. Perseus can now move forward to potentially get
rid of the Kraken. Marlin and Dory then come across a resourceful pelican named Nigel who
takes them to the dentists’ office where Nemo is. He then finds Nemo in a bag with water about
to be dumped in the garbage by a man, so he makes the pelican fly into the office so he could
get Nemo but then sees that Nemo is no longer moving. As the guy is able to get the pelican
back outside Marlin is under the belief that he has failed and that his son is dead. But then Nemo,
with the help of the other tropical fishes in the aquarium, is able to escape through the sewer
system. Marlin, thinking he failed says good-bye to Dory and tries to go back home on his own.
Dory then finds Nemo and they both go out looking for Marlin. They have finally found each other
and nothing else is going to separate them.

3: Return
The third and last part in the return, this would be the last thirty minutes to the movie. This
is where on the hero is now going back home with the object and reason of the quest. With no
doubt, there is still danger and the enemy may be in pursuit or the hero may undergo some sort
of “death experience." Then is the process of rebirth, the hero has proven himself worthy. The
hero goes back home and is now a different person in a much more respectful manner,
sometimes wiser, more caring or at peace with themselves.

(I: Refusal of the Return)

II: Magic Flight

Weak from his scorpion battle and shortage of time, Perseus asks Bubo to find Pegasus.
The owl locates Pegasus in the swamp, guarded by Calibos' men and the vulture. Bubo
manages to scare them off, destroy the camp, and free Pegasus. Perseus is now able to fly back
to Joppa as quickly as he can. (Marlin, Dory, and Nemo do not take a “magic flight”)

II: Rescue from Without

 Ranny Nguyen

3rd Period AVID

Mr. Geyer

Just as Andromeda is about to be sacrificed to the Kraken, Bubo appears, trying to stall
the giant monster while Perseus catches up flying on Pegasus. Perseus approaches the Kraken,
but is knocked off, falling into the ocean. Bubo gets the head back and drops it to Perseus, who
frees the head, turning the Kraken into stone which collapses into the bay. Perseus frees
Princess Andromeda. As Marlin, Nemo, and Dory head back home Dory gets trapped in fishing
net along with other fishes. Nemo then decides to help out and goes into the net, telling the rest
of the fishes to swim down, meanwhile Marlin tries to talk Nemo into coming back out. As Nemo
sticks his head out and tells his dad he knows what he is doing, Marlin finds that it is time to let go
and help out. As the fishes swim down the net breaks letting all the fishes go.

(III: Crossing of Return Threshold)

V: Master of Two Worlds

Perseus and Andromeda finally are happy in their homeland of Joppa. Marlin, Nemo, and
Dory get back home from their long journey to their colorful coral reef.

Vl: Freedom to Live

Princess Andromeda will be able to live without a curse of any sort, and Perseus can live
as an immortal hero. Marlin has learned that it is now time to let go the illusion of safety and open
up to the delights of letting Nemo explore all the wild possibilities.

Conclusion
Now with further knowledge and better understanding of the standard story line of a hero,
watching a movie, reading a book, or creating a story may not seem so difficult to manage, as
well as easier to predict. By using a classical and much more mythological journey, the movie
Clash of the Titans can take on a more authentic monomyth. For a more relatable and
modernized hero, Finding Nemo explains a different message, both utilizing the main phases of
Departure, Initiation, and Return.
Ranny Nguyen

3rd Period AVID

Mr. Geyer