Topic: Is there a comedic example of the hero's journey?

Is there a movie that falls in the genre of comedy that is also a clear example of the Hero's journey.  The only one I could think of that might work is Mystery Men (1999).

"Back to the Future is great, and if you disagree then you're Hitler." -Dorkman
"You sucking is canon!" -Brian

Thumbs up Thumbs down

Re: Is there a comedic example of the hero's journey?

Spaceballs.

Teague Chrystie

I have a tendency to fix your typos.

Thumbs up Thumbs down

Re: Is there a comedic example of the hero's journey?

Galaxy Quest.

Re: Is there a comedic example of the hero's journey?

Orgazmo.

Posted from my iPad
http://trek.fm

Thumbs up Thumbs down

Re: Is there a comedic example of the hero's journey?

Gregory Harbin wrote:

Orgazmo.

Damn, you're right, and I watched the the Orgazmo commentary, too.

"Back to the Future is great, and if you disagree then you're Hitler." -Dorkman
"You sucking is canon!" -Brian

Thumbs up Thumbs down

Re: Is there a comedic example of the hero's journey?

Frankly, it's like we discussed in the Ghostbusters commentary: a good comedy is a drama with jokes. Which means that you're looking at following classic structure in many cases -- just, with jokes.

Name any comedy that isn't a spoof and I'd say there's a 90% chance you can make a case for the hero's journey. Hell, if we're allowing spoofs -- Spaceballs was mentioned above -- most of those too, since they're probably based on a movie that you can apply the hero's journey to. This is not counting the worthless "spoof" movies of the last five years, which were just a series of other movies' trailer shots with poop added.

Ghostbusters; The Princess Bride; Stripes; Animal House; Honey, I Shrunk the Kids; Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery; Shaun of the Dead; School of Rock; Planes, Trains, and Automobiles; Bruce Almighty; Shrek; Men in Black; Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure; Team America: World Police; There's Something About Mary; Liar, Liar; Home Alone; Wayne's World; Zombieland...

Et cetera.

Thumbs up Thumbs down

Re: Is there a comedic example of the hero's journey?

FireFighter214 wrote:

Is there a movie that falls in the genre of comedy that is also a clear example of the Hero's journey.  The only one I could think of that might work is Mystery Men (1999).

They all follow more or less the same structure. And as indicated by others, it's the same structure but with jokes. There is a whole lot of info about structure and 40 Year Old Virgin, Groundhog Day, Liar Liar and other comedies over at http://www.clickok.co.uk/index4.html

Good Luck.

Thumbs up Thumbs down

Re: Is there a comedic example of the hero's journey?

Hi Dawy, welcome to the forum!

Teague Chrystie

I have a tendency to fix your typos.

Thumbs up Thumbs down

Re: Is there a comedic example of the hero's journey?

Call to action, training, loss of the mentor, confrontation with the dark lord, setback, and triumph. It's all there in any comedy adventure like The Goonies as it is in high adventure.

As my 7-y-o nephew pointed out, there's not much difference between Star Wars and Scooby Doo.

Warning: I'm probably rewriting this post as you read it.

Zarban's House of Commentaries