Post by demoweasel on Dec 9, 2009 16:02:09 GMT -5
I had to write a portfolio paper for my college English class discussing the use of metaphor and Joseph Campbell's monomyth in my favorite film. I ended up writing about WFRR because it's one of the few movies I know very well, and I thought the rest of the board may be interested in reading it (please excuse the formatting).
Metaphor and The Hero's Journey: Who Framed Roger Rabbit
The use of metaphor is common in almost all forms of media. Metaphors allow a writer or director to more easily convey a complex idea to an audience by comparing it to something an average person would be more familiar with. A single metaphor can have many different interpretations, and this versatility is one of the many reasons it can be found in almost all creative endeavors. Film, however, has the added benefit of being able to combine both metaphor and Joseph Campbell's monomyth (also known as “the hero's journey” or “the hero's myth”) into a unified whole. Who Framed Roger Rabbit, a film that focuses on the social interactions of the inhabitants of a world populated with both human beings and cartoon characters, is one of the many films that exhibit these two qualities. The film manages to emphasize the metaphor that life is a cartoon all while fulfilling nearly every criteria required to be considered a monomyth.
Who Framed Roger Rabbit revolves around the idea that cartoon characters are living entities, so it comes as no surprise that its underlying metaphor suggests that life is a cartoon (Zemeckis). Interpreted broadly, this metaphor can be referring to the seemingly insane events that can occur during the course of one's life. Each individual cartoon short is representative of a certain time period in a person's life. No two cartoon shorts or events in a person's life ever play out exactly the same. Seemingly similar events in the real world are all unique as a result of almost insignificant yet ever-changing factors such as time and weather.
Every character in a cartoon plays a certain role; for example, the short cartoon at the start of Who Framed Roger Rabbit places the titular character in the role of a guardian for a
helpless baby (Zemeckis). Human beings are exactly like cartoon characters in the sense that every single one has some sort of role in his or her life that either helps or hinders others. Cartoon characters may often play several different roles depending on what sort of situation the cartoon they are starring in places them in, while humans have this same ability to change roles at will. The same person can have many different jobs, and the skills he or she has acquired in a previous job has the possibility of proving useful in fulfilling a future societal role.
In a film that features both live actors and cartoon characters, it is peculiar that the characters featured within the cartoon segments are meant to be representative of human beings. Much like the cartoon characters in the film, humans have almost limitless potential to overcome the even the most ludicrous of events and are only limited by the boundaries of their world (Zemeckis). While human beings cannot disobey the laws of physics like a cartoon character can, they can perform similarly incredible accomplishments such as being able to live in and adapt to almost any biome on Earth. Humans have the potency to accomplish many amazing feats, and their ability to do so may in fact be the sole reason why monomyths exist. If all humans were severely limited in terms of what they could accomplish, would anybody bother to read tales based on their exploits?
Who Framed Roger Rabbit handles the first step in Campbell's monomyth, the hero's call to adventure, in a very straightforward manner. The protagonist of the film, private detective Eddie Valiant, is offered large sums of cash to venture into a world full of danger and uncertainty. This world, known in the film as the world populated by “toons,” is not necessarily unfamiliar territory to Valiant but is dangerous in the sense that many years have passed since his last venture into their world (Zemeckis). Time changes everything, and even a once-familiar environment can seem like a foreign land after a long absence. Almost immediately after receiving this call to adventure, Valiant fulfills the second step of the monomyth by refusing to
trek into the chaotic half of his world populated by cartoon characters (Campbell) (Zemeckis).
The hero's crossing of the first threshold occurs when Valiant ventures into a speakeasy specializing in performances by cartoon characters where he consumes several glasses of scotch (Zemeckis). Valiant's drinking of alcohol to calm his nerves is a clear sign that he realizes he is now in unfamiliar and possibly hostile territory. At this point in the film, Valiant has founded several relationships with cartoon characters who take him farther away from his comfort zone and effectively place him dead center into the cartoon world (Zemeckis).
Roger Rabbit is one of the characters who drags Valiant with him into the animated world. Luckily for Valiant, Roger also serves as his supernatural aid throughout most of the film (Zemeckis). His being a cartoon character allows him to perform feats and sustain injury that a human being cannot. Who Framed Roger Rabbit handles this step of the monomyth in such a way that deviates from Campbell's monomyth guidelines (Campbell). Usually, the hero receives his supernatural aid after refusing the call to adventure, but in this film, Roger Rabbit does not begin acting as Valiant's otherworldly helper until after he has already crossed the first threshold into adventure (Zemeckis).
The fifth step of the hero's journey, “the belly of the whale,” places Valiant in the thick of a murder investigation in which Roger is the prime suspect (Zemeckis). This scene follows this step of the monomyth rather closely by featuring Valiant hitting his absolute lowest point as a result of his heavy drinking and getting involved the aforementioned investigation (Campbell). From this point on in the film, Valiant is on the run from the police and in constant danger of getting arrested or killed (Zemeckis).
Valiant's road of trials begins with his having to keep the wanted Roger hidden from the law enforcement patrolling the city. He successfully manages to ensconce Roger for two of the three times he is nearly discovered by the hired henchman of the film's antagonist, Judge Doom
(Zemeckis). Just as Campbell states in his description of the monomyth, Valiant fails his last trial by accidentally letting Roger get caught by Doom (Campbell).
Much in the same way it handled the hero's introduction to his supernatural aid, Who Framed Roger Rabbit introduced the hero's goddess before her expected appearance in the typical monomyth (Campbell). Valiant's goddess happens to be his steady girlfriend Dolores, whom the audience is introduced to right before the crossing of the first threshold. Dolores is everything Valiant could ever want in a woman; she is beautiful, strongly willed, and self-reliant. Because Valiant is already in a relationship with his goddess, the film does not dedicate too much of its plot to building on the lovers' relationship aside from a few select scenes (Zemeckis).
Who Framed Roger Rabbit's interpretation of the eighth step in the hero's journey, “Woman as the Temptress,” adheres only somewhat closely to Campbell's monomyth guidelines (Campbell). Roger Rabbit's wife Jessica serves as the temptress. In the eyes of Valiant, she is seductive, mysterious, and unable to be trusted, yet he somehow finds himself attracted to her in such a way that it places his relationship with his goddess in jeopardy. Normally, the temptress in the monomyth serves to impede the hero's progress toward his goal, but the way Who Framed Roger Rabbit interprets this step of the monomyth differs greatly from the norm. Rather than impede the hero's progress, Jessica actually pushes Valiant further along toward achieving his ultimate goal of finding the crook who framed Roger for murder (Zemeckis).
The hero's “Atonement with the Father” takes place when Valiant confronts his fear and loathing of cartoon characters and comes to the realization that he had let the actions of a single cartoon character who murdered his brother sour his opinion of cartoon characters as an entire species. Valiant reaches this conclusion only after going through his road of trials with Roger at his side. Incidentally, Roger also helps Valiant achieve apotheosis by taking him to a movie theater. This scene adheres to the monomyth's definition of “apotheosis” by being the hero's first
period of rest since his journey began. This pause allows the hero to collect his thoughts and brace himself for the final steps of his journey.
Almost immediately after undergoing apotheosis, Valiant finally obtains his ultimate boon by discovering that Judge Doom was the culprit who framed Roger for murder. Rather than simply being content with his discovery and heading back to his comfort zone, Valiant refuses to return in order to apprehend Doom and punish him for his crimes. Valiant also accomplishes this step in a metaphorical sense by refusing to fall back on alcohol, a symbol in the film representing Valiant's old life and habits, to progress any further in his journey (Zemeckis).
As Valiant pursues Doom in an effort to stop his crime spree, he follows him into a city that is dominated by cartoon characters and lacks any sort of connection with the world he is accustomed to. Coincidentally, the antics that occur while Valiant is on this “magic flight” are eerily reminiscent of Roger Rabbit's silly behavior and mannerisms that the audience is introduced to at the very start of the film. This step of the monomyth places Valiant deep within the world of the cartoons, essentially to the point of no escape. Fortunately, Jessica finds Valiant, who has failed to catch Doom, and pulls him out of the pits of the city and back into the real world (Zemeickis).
Who Framed Roger Rabbit fulfills the following step in the monomyth, “The Crossing of the Return Threshold,” by containing a scene in which Valiant and Jessica literally cross the threshold from animated city into the real world. Now having spent a majority of his journey surrounded by cartoon characters, Valiant becomes a master of the two worlds present in the film. Utilizing the knowledge gained from his time in the cartoon world, Valiant manages to finally apprehend and defeat Judge Doom by using both real and cartoon weaponry and tactics in a real world environment.
The final step of the monomyth involves the hero finally obtaining the freedom to live
and be happy. Valiant has achieved his ultimate goal, cleared Roger's name, and kept his relationship with Dolores in nigh-pristine condition, thus leaving him free to pursue his own
happiness. Who Framed Roger Rabbit is rather brazen in its execution of completing this step; now that Valiant has the freedom to live, the film begins to play an overly-happy tune encouraging Valiant to forget all of his past troubles and “smile” (Zemeckis).
Who Framed Roger Rabbit's use of metaphor and adherence to Joseph Campbell's monomyth are indicative of the fact that something as seemingly meaningless as a film focusing on the buddy-movie antics of a drunken private eye and a cartoon rabbit can hold a deeper meaning that reflects certain aspects of one's humanity, and its visibility throughout the film all depends on whether or not the viewer chooses to see it.
Metaphor and The Hero's Journey: Who Framed Roger Rabbit
The use of metaphor is common in almost all forms of media. Metaphors allow a writer or director to more easily convey a complex idea to an audience by comparing it to something an average person would be more familiar with. A single metaphor can have many different interpretations, and this versatility is one of the many reasons it can be found in almost all creative endeavors. Film, however, has the added benefit of being able to combine both metaphor and Joseph Campbell's monomyth (also known as “the hero's journey” or “the hero's myth”) into a unified whole. Who Framed Roger Rabbit, a film that focuses on the social interactions of the inhabitants of a world populated with both human beings and cartoon characters, is one of the many films that exhibit these two qualities. The film manages to emphasize the metaphor that life is a cartoon all while fulfilling nearly every criteria required to be considered a monomyth.
Who Framed Roger Rabbit revolves around the idea that cartoon characters are living entities, so it comes as no surprise that its underlying metaphor suggests that life is a cartoon (Zemeckis). Interpreted broadly, this metaphor can be referring to the seemingly insane events that can occur during the course of one's life. Each individual cartoon short is representative of a certain time period in a person's life. No two cartoon shorts or events in a person's life ever play out exactly the same. Seemingly similar events in the real world are all unique as a result of almost insignificant yet ever-changing factors such as time and weather.
Every character in a cartoon plays a certain role; for example, the short cartoon at the start of Who Framed Roger Rabbit places the titular character in the role of a guardian for a
helpless baby (Zemeckis). Human beings are exactly like cartoon characters in the sense that every single one has some sort of role in his or her life that either helps or hinders others. Cartoon characters may often play several different roles depending on what sort of situation the cartoon they are starring in places them in, while humans have this same ability to change roles at will. The same person can have many different jobs, and the skills he or she has acquired in a previous job has the possibility of proving useful in fulfilling a future societal role.
In a film that features both live actors and cartoon characters, it is peculiar that the characters featured within the cartoon segments are meant to be representative of human beings. Much like the cartoon characters in the film, humans have almost limitless potential to overcome the even the most ludicrous of events and are only limited by the boundaries of their world (Zemeckis). While human beings cannot disobey the laws of physics like a cartoon character can, they can perform similarly incredible accomplishments such as being able to live in and adapt to almost any biome on Earth. Humans have the potency to accomplish many amazing feats, and their ability to do so may in fact be the sole reason why monomyths exist. If all humans were severely limited in terms of what they could accomplish, would anybody bother to read tales based on their exploits?
Who Framed Roger Rabbit handles the first step in Campbell's monomyth, the hero's call to adventure, in a very straightforward manner. The protagonist of the film, private detective Eddie Valiant, is offered large sums of cash to venture into a world full of danger and uncertainty. This world, known in the film as the world populated by “toons,” is not necessarily unfamiliar territory to Valiant but is dangerous in the sense that many years have passed since his last venture into their world (Zemeckis). Time changes everything, and even a once-familiar environment can seem like a foreign land after a long absence. Almost immediately after receiving this call to adventure, Valiant fulfills the second step of the monomyth by refusing to
trek into the chaotic half of his world populated by cartoon characters (Campbell) (Zemeckis).
The hero's crossing of the first threshold occurs when Valiant ventures into a speakeasy specializing in performances by cartoon characters where he consumes several glasses of scotch (Zemeckis). Valiant's drinking of alcohol to calm his nerves is a clear sign that he realizes he is now in unfamiliar and possibly hostile territory. At this point in the film, Valiant has founded several relationships with cartoon characters who take him farther away from his comfort zone and effectively place him dead center into the cartoon world (Zemeckis).
Roger Rabbit is one of the characters who drags Valiant with him into the animated world. Luckily for Valiant, Roger also serves as his supernatural aid throughout most of the film (Zemeckis). His being a cartoon character allows him to perform feats and sustain injury that a human being cannot. Who Framed Roger Rabbit handles this step of the monomyth in such a way that deviates from Campbell's monomyth guidelines (Campbell). Usually, the hero receives his supernatural aid after refusing the call to adventure, but in this film, Roger Rabbit does not begin acting as Valiant's otherworldly helper until after he has already crossed the first threshold into adventure (Zemeckis).
The fifth step of the hero's journey, “the belly of the whale,” places Valiant in the thick of a murder investigation in which Roger is the prime suspect (Zemeckis). This scene follows this step of the monomyth rather closely by featuring Valiant hitting his absolute lowest point as a result of his heavy drinking and getting involved the aforementioned investigation (Campbell). From this point on in the film, Valiant is on the run from the police and in constant danger of getting arrested or killed (Zemeckis).
Valiant's road of trials begins with his having to keep the wanted Roger hidden from the law enforcement patrolling the city. He successfully manages to ensconce Roger for two of the three times he is nearly discovered by the hired henchman of the film's antagonist, Judge Doom
(Zemeckis). Just as Campbell states in his description of the monomyth, Valiant fails his last trial by accidentally letting Roger get caught by Doom (Campbell).
Much in the same way it handled the hero's introduction to his supernatural aid, Who Framed Roger Rabbit introduced the hero's goddess before her expected appearance in the typical monomyth (Campbell). Valiant's goddess happens to be his steady girlfriend Dolores, whom the audience is introduced to right before the crossing of the first threshold. Dolores is everything Valiant could ever want in a woman; she is beautiful, strongly willed, and self-reliant. Because Valiant is already in a relationship with his goddess, the film does not dedicate too much of its plot to building on the lovers' relationship aside from a few select scenes (Zemeckis).
Who Framed Roger Rabbit's interpretation of the eighth step in the hero's journey, “Woman as the Temptress,” adheres only somewhat closely to Campbell's monomyth guidelines (Campbell). Roger Rabbit's wife Jessica serves as the temptress. In the eyes of Valiant, she is seductive, mysterious, and unable to be trusted, yet he somehow finds himself attracted to her in such a way that it places his relationship with his goddess in jeopardy. Normally, the temptress in the monomyth serves to impede the hero's progress toward his goal, but the way Who Framed Roger Rabbit interprets this step of the monomyth differs greatly from the norm. Rather than impede the hero's progress, Jessica actually pushes Valiant further along toward achieving his ultimate goal of finding the crook who framed Roger for murder (Zemeckis).
The hero's “Atonement with the Father” takes place when Valiant confronts his fear and loathing of cartoon characters and comes to the realization that he had let the actions of a single cartoon character who murdered his brother sour his opinion of cartoon characters as an entire species. Valiant reaches this conclusion only after going through his road of trials with Roger at his side. Incidentally, Roger also helps Valiant achieve apotheosis by taking him to a movie theater. This scene adheres to the monomyth's definition of “apotheosis” by being the hero's first
period of rest since his journey began. This pause allows the hero to collect his thoughts and brace himself for the final steps of his journey.
Almost immediately after undergoing apotheosis, Valiant finally obtains his ultimate boon by discovering that Judge Doom was the culprit who framed Roger for murder. Rather than simply being content with his discovery and heading back to his comfort zone, Valiant refuses to return in order to apprehend Doom and punish him for his crimes. Valiant also accomplishes this step in a metaphorical sense by refusing to fall back on alcohol, a symbol in the film representing Valiant's old life and habits, to progress any further in his journey (Zemeckis).
As Valiant pursues Doom in an effort to stop his crime spree, he follows him into a city that is dominated by cartoon characters and lacks any sort of connection with the world he is accustomed to. Coincidentally, the antics that occur while Valiant is on this “magic flight” are eerily reminiscent of Roger Rabbit's silly behavior and mannerisms that the audience is introduced to at the very start of the film. This step of the monomyth places Valiant deep within the world of the cartoons, essentially to the point of no escape. Fortunately, Jessica finds Valiant, who has failed to catch Doom, and pulls him out of the pits of the city and back into the real world (Zemeickis).
Who Framed Roger Rabbit fulfills the following step in the monomyth, “The Crossing of the Return Threshold,” by containing a scene in which Valiant and Jessica literally cross the threshold from animated city into the real world. Now having spent a majority of his journey surrounded by cartoon characters, Valiant becomes a master of the two worlds present in the film. Utilizing the knowledge gained from his time in the cartoon world, Valiant manages to finally apprehend and defeat Judge Doom by using both real and cartoon weaponry and tactics in a real world environment.
The final step of the monomyth involves the hero finally obtaining the freedom to live
and be happy. Valiant has achieved his ultimate goal, cleared Roger's name, and kept his relationship with Dolores in nigh-pristine condition, thus leaving him free to pursue his own
happiness. Who Framed Roger Rabbit is rather brazen in its execution of completing this step; now that Valiant has the freedom to live, the film begins to play an overly-happy tune encouraging Valiant to forget all of his past troubles and “smile” (Zemeckis).
Who Framed Roger Rabbit's use of metaphor and adherence to Joseph Campbell's monomyth are indicative of the fact that something as seemingly meaningless as a film focusing on the buddy-movie antics of a drunken private eye and a cartoon rabbit can hold a deeper meaning that reflects certain aspects of one's humanity, and its visibility throughout the film all depends on whether or not the viewer chooses to see it.
