Film Review: The Hero's Journey in Spider-Man (2002)

The famous pattern of Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey makes its presence throughout Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man. Peter Parker (Toby Maguire) is the hero throughout this movie, who has to balance life affecting complications when he decides to keep his true identity separate from his actual superhero life. 

The Hero’s Journey of course starts with the Ordinary World, which is what we are introduced to as Spider-Man kicks off. Peter Parker at this point in the story, is one of the most unexpected individuals to be considered a hero. He’s just a student trying to live his life in New York, while often missing his school bus or being pushed around by domineering bullies around him. This is Peter Parker’s ordinary world, he has a crush on the girl he knows he will probably never get, he is a young and sophisticated photographer just trying to survive each day as it comes. Luckily for him, the next step to the journey (The Call to Adventure) is given to him early on in the movie. 

The Call to Adventure happens after Peter is bitten by a radioactive spider while on a field trip with his class, although at the time it’s not really the call, it’s more of the preparation for it. Once Peter goes home to his only alive guardians he has, (Aunt May and Uncle Ben) he goes straight to his room. The bite from earlier seems to start taking effect on him, causing him to fit and pass out. After waking up, he notices a lot of changes within himself. He is much more athletic, he doesn’t need his glasses and overall he feels better than ever before. He then begins to notice he can shoot webs and climb walls, as he has received spider powers through getting bitten. Although these powers at first seem to be a handful to become familiar with, Peter soon gets a firmer grasp of his new capabilities, making this moment in the film the Call to Adventure.

Figure. 1. Spider-Man film still.

In this case, refusal of the call is definitely what forces the following steps of the journey to take place. Peter must face the worst form of karma after allowing a thief to run past him with a bag of cash, when he knew he could prevent this. With Peter refusing the call which was to use his powers for good, it makes the refusal of the call very literal in this short moment of the film. After letting the thief past him, he then faces the consequences of finding his Uncle Ben on the street, dying after being shot by the same guy who he earlier let escape. In the film, this refusal of the call has an emotional aftermath on the story but at the same time is extremely crucial, as it is the thing that makes Peter realise that with his powers he can prevent things like this happening to others. 

With the next step which is Meeting the Mentor, although this introduced before the refusal of the call, it doesn’t become as prominent until after refusing the call. Uncle Ben looks out for Peter as an obvious father figure, while trying to keep him on the right track throughout his life. He tells Peter that with great power comes great responsibility, which in a way is the Call to adventure being offered to Peter yet again, which he doesn’t take enough notice of. At one point in the story this mentor moment is quite insignificant to Peter, but after the consequences of the refusal of the call, this mentor moment becomes everything to him, and pushes him directly to where he needs to go. 

During the time where Peter is still mourning over the loss of his Uncle, he reaches his turning point where he chooses to cross the threshold. This is a huge part of the journey, as it’s the transition from the ordinary world to the special world. Peter makes his costume in the way that he originally designed it, then begins to fight crime throughout the city. As he starts to make a difference and begins to build a name for himself, it is clear that he cannot turn back now. He has now crossed the threshold and whatever is yet to come, he cannot walk away from. 

Test, Allies and Enemies is the next step in the Hero’s Journey, which is an interesting one in Spider-Man. The reason so is because Peter keeps his true identity hidden, while both him and spider-man encounter the same characters, including Mary Jane, Harry and his father Norman. While Peter is considered friends with Norman, while he is Spider-Man he is an enemy, as Norman is the Green Goblin that terrorises the city. Along with this, Peter’s best friend Harry is dating Mary Jane, who is Peter’s lifelong crush. He must also continue to risk his life to save others, while simultaneously having to deal with the struggles that pervade his supposedly ordinary life. The difficult part is that Peter and Spider-Man have to essentially contradict each other, which is a choice Peter makes to protect his loved ones from danger. This balance itself is a test, while the allies and enemies here can be perceived as tangled up when viewed through different perspectives. 

Figure. 2. Spider-Man film still.

The approach takes place when Spider-Man is forced between saving the woman he loves and a bus full of children, who are both moments away from falling to their deaths. This is his hardest decision yet, with a major consequence with whatever decision he makes. Becoming greater than anticipated by the green goblin, he gives everything he has in order to save both and prevent any casualties. This approach in Spider-Man involves a moment that could become extremely fatal very quickly, and another struggle it throws at him is that he must decide between Peter Parker and Spider-Man. Of course he cannot let a group of innocent children die over a biased and selfish decision to save Mary Jane, but he can’t live the rest of his life as Peter knowing he made the decision to watch the woman he loved die. It is in this moment of film where he risks everything to try and be both Spider-Man and Peter together just this once, despite his earlier struggles to balance both. He gloriously succeeds as the hero he is, overcoming this life and death choice.

Moving onto the ordeal, Spider-Man confronts the green goblin in an attempt to stop his crimes. With the green goblin reluctant to surrender, he attacks Spider-Man with every ounce of fight he has left in him. While Spider-Man avoids killing him, Norman does not give up trying to do the opposite back to him. Norman controls his hover board and launches it at Peter from behind, which Peter jumps out of the way from. This results in Norman killing himself, after accidentally lodging the blades of his board into his body. This is the death of the goblin and rebirth of Spider-Man, after coming close to death in a feeble state against his most life threatening rival. 

Figure. 3. Spider-Man film still.

Peter’s reward is not only getting Mary Jane to fall in love with him, but more importantly it is the state of mind that for now the city is much safer. He has seized this incredible sense of responsibility, that will ultimately be the thing that pushes him in future to continue trying to do good. In a way, Peter has accomplished something so heroic that it is enough to allow him to forgive himself for Uncle Ben’s tragic death. Even though he knows his journey isn’t over, it must be a start for him to move forward with a positive mindset. 

The road back for Peter is where he must return Norman’s body back to his son, Harry. Although Harry is Peter’s best friend, Spider-Man is about to become a major enemy of Harry’s after he finds out that he fought Norman before his death. This only complicates things for Peter even more now, making this road back, a road that returns to the ordinary world, although an aftermath from the special world has left a permanent impact on it when he finally does return. The results of this road back leads to the next step, resurrection.

The resurrection is not just Spider-Man prevailing by defeating the villain, and becoming much more respected and valued by the public as if he’s a brand new person. It’s more about the resurrection of evil, which is transferred to Harry through his dead father. Harry is prepared to continue his father’s legacy until it is fully finished, by killing Spider-Man himself. The resurrection doesn’t have an impact throughout the rest of the film, but is a very important page to close on before the next film. Although the resurrection of evil with the intent of vengeance is now present, Peter is unaware and for now this danger only just begins to lurk for now.

The Return with Elixir in this film, is Peter returning to his normal life, but with his mind made up about things finally. He decides he cannot merge the life of Peter and Spider-Man together, so he must tell Mary Jane that he does not love her. Although this is a lie, it tells the audience that Peter has put the lives of others before his selfish needs in the means to protect them from danger. His return with elixir is him becoming a much stronger individual, who can withstand this sacrifice and choosing to prioritise his life as Spider-Man as he knows deep down that it is the life that will save many others if he follows it. With this settled, he can move on with his life and be the superhero he needs to be without distractions or setbacks that a human would face. Peter finally takes on this huge responsibility by essentially sacrificing everything that makes him human, to become everything greater than that. 

Illustrations List
Figure. 1. Taste of cinema, Spider-Man film still. http://www.tasteofcinema.com/2017/all-6-spider-man-movies-ranked-from-worst-to-best/ (Accessed 03/10/18)
Figure. 2. IMDb, Spider-Man film still. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0145487/mediaviewer/rm1067861248 (Accessed 03/10/18)
Figure. 3. Leaver T, Spider-Man film still. http://www.tamaleaver.net/artificial-culture/images/ (Accessed 03/10/18)