The Heros Journey in Cameron Crowes Film Almost Famous Essay

The Heros Journey in Cameron Crowes photograph more or less FamousAlmost Famous (2000) is a dramatization of writer/director Cameron Crowes real-life experiences as a teenage rock newsperson for Rolling Stone. Based on thinly-veiled autobiographical material from the precocious beginnings of Crowes early career, the screenplay shapes sen beatntal memories into movie magic. But how did Crowe give his own coming-of-age statement such universal appeal? A closer look reveals that Almost Famous, like most films worth their salt, is to that extent another incarnation of the superlative and only mythological adventure, The Heros Journey. This relationship can be explained using the framework of Joseph Campbells phenomenal book, The Hero with a deoxyguanosine monophosphate Faces, along with certain terms and interpretations from The Writers Journey by Christopher Vogler.William Miller, our unlikely hero, lives at home with his protective mother Elaine and rebellious sure-enough(a) si ster, Anita. His ORDINARY WORLD is the sheltered existence of a San Diego junior amply school student. When Anita has a fight with her mother and decides to leave home to blend a stewardess, her parting 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 whizz day, youll be cool. Under his bed, the stack of albums she has left for him includes the Whos Tommy, with a stemma taped to it. Listen to Tommy with a candle burning and you will pick up your entire future, it reads prophetically. And so it was written. Rock music is approximately to change William forever.In the next scene, we are introduced to an older Williamnow fifteen and in soaring schoolobsessively scratching band names into his notebook during class. It is time for the appearance of his SUPERNATURAL AID to supply the amulets and advice that the hero will require. (Campbell 72) William g oes to adopt the famous rock critic, Lester Bangs, who is being interviewed at a local radiocommunication station. Over lunch, Lester initiates his role as MENTOR to the aspiring young journalist, admonishment him against making friends with the rock stars lest he lose his objectivity to write about them. You ready to build your reputation on being honest and unmerciful, he says repeatedly. Seeing that William is serious about his quest, Lester offers him a bona fide writing ass... ...to try to arise back together with her, she tricks him into showing up on Williams limen instead. The two finally sit down to an interview together and we catch that Russell has called and come clean to the editors of Rolling Stone about the truth of Williams story. The films climax is thus resolved as its stoppage shot depicts a bundle of bound Rolling Stone magazines get on the pavement with a thud.Almost Famous tells the story of an crotchety adolescence, too unusual for audiences to rela te to on a personal level, yet with a common resonance that speaks to millions. This effect cant have been achieved on accident. Far from just a haphazard reminiscence, the screenplay succeeds by arrangement its elements along the symbolism of our collective consciousness. Therefore, using the outline of The Heros Journey as the basis for analysis, we see how Almost Famous has excessively been wrought from the power of this infinite myth.Works CitedCampbell, Joseph. The Hero with a universal gravitational constant Faces. second ed. Princeton Princeton University Press, 1968.Vogler, Christopher. The Writers Journey Mythic Structure for Writers. 2nd ed. Studio City Michael Weise Productions, 1998.