Sofia Irwin - The Boy, The Heron, and the Unknown

 THE BOY AND THE HERON


    One of the defining features of the Hero’s Journey that Campbell lays out is the idea of setting out from the known into the unknown. Studio Ghibli’s “The Boy and the Heron” is a great example of this. Mahito is a young boy whose whole world was turned upside down when his mother died. His father quickly remarries with his late mother’s identical-looking sister and the whole family moves to a new house far away. Mahito is still grieving during all of this, but is expected to be ok with all of the changes going on around him. His dad is at work all day and hardly interacts with him anymore… until Mahito starts a fight at school and injures himself to get that attention. 

    The boy is looking for some sort of escape from his grief and autonomy in his choices, so he decides to go out on his own and explore the ruins of an old building he was warned away from. He believes this is where his missing stepmother-aunt has disappeared to. This is what Campbell would call the Threshold—the beginning of transformation. 

    In his travels through this strange, mystical world, he is faced with many trials and challenges that try to derail him and get him off track (i.e. the pelicans, parakeets, and the Parakeet King). He is only able to get past these hardships with Helpers like the Blue Heron (who started off as being a challenge, but was persuaded to aid him), Himi (a younger version of his mother in disguise), and Kiriko (a sailor who turns out to be the old woman from his world).

    There are multiple points in the movie that could be considered the climax, like when they rescued the stepmother from the room she was trapped in or when they defeated the Parakeet King and destroyed that world. 

    Either way, the stages of Atonement and Return are at the end of the movie, when the fantasy world is destroyed and all the characters are released back into reality. I believe that Mahito comes back changed now that he has come to terms with his mother’s death and recognizes that while his stepmother could never replace his mother, they could still be a family. 

    This was a very powerful movie about grief, family relationships, and moving on in one’s life instead of wallowing in the past. Although some of the more fantastical elements seemed weird to me while I was watching (e.g. the Blue Heron’s huge nose slowly coming out of his beak), I think everything led up to a really thought-provoking climax and ending. 


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