In Case You Missed Class: The Hero’s Journey in Masterpieces of Film

In Case You Missed Class: The Hero’s Journey in Masterpieces of Film


Latest Episodes

012: Gravity (2013)
May 02, 2019

Dr. Mack talks about the Hero’s Journey in the Alfonso Cuarón film Gravity.

011: Spirited Away (2001)
April 23, 2019

Dr. Mack talks about Hiyao Miyazaki’s film Spirited Away.

010: Life is Beautiful (1997)
April 16, 2019

Dr. Mack discusses the hero’s journey in the Italian film Life is Beautiful by Roberto Benigni.

009: Dersu Uzala (1975) and Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
April 09, 2019

Dr. Mack talks about the Akira Kurosawa film Dersu Uzala and the Spielberg/Lucas film Raiders of the Lost Ark.

008: 8 1/2 (1963)
March 27, 2019

Dr. Mack discusses the hero’s journey in Federico Fellini’s 1963 film 8 1/2. There is a lot going on in this film, and it turns out it has a message worth exploring.

007: The Philadelphia Story (1940) and The Searchers (1956)
March 19, 2019

Dr. Mack talks about the Hero’s Journey in George Cukor’s 1940 romantic comedy The Philadelphia Story and John Ford’s 1956 western The Searchers.

006: La Grande Illusion (1937)
March 05, 2019

Dr. Mack discusses Jean Renoir’s 1937 masterpiece about French POWs in WWI, La Grande Illusion.

005: Metropolis (1927)
February 26, 2019

Dr. Mack discusses the hero’s journey in Fritz Lang’s sci-fi masterpiece from 1927, Metropolis. Which parts of the story work? Which parts fall flat?

004: The Kid (1921)
February 19, 2019

Dr. Mack discusses the steps of the hero’s journey in Charlie Chaplin’s 1921 masterpiece The Kid — and perhaps even helps that crazy dreamland sequence make a bit of sense.

003: The Hero’s Journey Part III: The Cosmogonic Cycle
February 12, 2019

Dr. Mack discusses the final part of Campbells Hero with a Thousand Faces. This is the cosmogonic cycle, in which the universe comes into being, heros go on quests, and the universe dissolves back into nothingness.