The Inward Path of the Protagonist’s Journey

Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell remind us that the outer journey of the hero is about the inner journey into the Self.

Reflecting back on the twenty-one months I spent writing The Protagonist’s Journey: An Introduction to Character Driven Screenwriting and Storytelling, it was a fascinating odyssey affording me the opportunity to craft a comprehensive take on what I have been researching and teaching for nearly two decades.

My mantra: Begin with character. End with character. Find the story in between.

Along the way, I analyzed quite literally hundreds of movies and television series, and realized the fundamental premises of my book exist in an even wider vista than I had imagined.

Years ago, I read this observation by Carl Jung, father of analytical psychology:

The psychological rule says that when an inner situation is not made conscious, it happens outside, as fate. That is to say, when the individual remains undivided and does not become conscious of his inner contradictions, the world must perforce act out the conflict.

Upon reading those words, I made a major connection: This is a clear articulation of the Protagonist’s journey, specifically the Unity Arc. They begin in a state of Disunity and through the course of their adventure, they go through a psychological metamorphosis moving toward Unity.

Moreover, as Jung asserts, there is a synergy between the inner life of the individual and the incidents which transpire in their outer world of experience. This, too, speaks to the nature of the Protagonist’s journey, how the events of the plot, even the characters with whom the Protagonist intersects are intimately tied to emotional conflicts and psychological tensions which exist within this central character.

Joseph Campbell, who was hugely influenced by Jung, states very much the same thing:

The passage of the mythological hero may be over ground, incidentally; 
fundamentally it is inward — into depths where obscure resistances are overcome,and long lost, forgotten powers are revivified… The perilous journey [is] a labor not of attainment but reattainment, not discovery but rediscovery.

The outer journey is “fundamentally” an inner journey, the occurrences of the plot — all those challenges and tests — serve and support the Protagonist’s metamorphosis arc.

Indeed, while the Protagonist’s conscious goal (want) may exist in the External World, their unconscious goal (need) lies within their psyche. Hence, the journey is not one of “attainment but reattainment, not discovery but rediscovery.” At an existential level, what the Protagonist seeks has been there all along … avoided, ignored, suppressed, anonymous. It is that authentic aspect of their nature which emerges into the light of consciousness and serves as the dynamic which empowers their character’s arc.

Rick Blaine in Casablanca embraces his inner idealist…

C.C. Baxter in The Apartment discovers his inner mensch…

Michael Corleone in The Godfather seizes his inner Mafia don…

Frank Galvin in The Verdict regains his inner advocate…

Ellen Ripley in Aliens rekindles her inner mother…

Red in The Shawshank Redemption chooses his inner hope…

Thelma and Louise in Thelma & Louise adopt their inner rebels…

Juno in Juno returns to her inner adolescence…

Walter White in Breaking Bad gives into his inner Heisenberg…

Joy in Inside Out gets in touch with her inner sadness…

Carl Jung says:

The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you are.

That “are” state? It’s already there inside each individual. Thus, one lesson writers would do well to heed: The passage of the Protagonist in their outer journey is fundamentally an inner journey.

The Protagonist’s Journey: An Introduction to Character-Driven Screenwriting and Storytelling is available for purchase here.