Heroine's Journey of Megamind
Megamind, one of the most underrated and unappreciated animated movies in the 2000s. With How to Train Your Dragon coming before, and The Croods after, one could argue this period was the peak of DreamWorks Animation, but that is beside the point. In today's blog I would like to connect the plot of Megamind and specifically the character Megamind's journey to the Maureen Murdock's Heroine's Journey. While it is quite a strange comparison, I really do think Megamind's story correlates to the Heroine's Journey incredibly well.
We begin at the separation from the feminine, and to be honest, this will probably be the weakest comparison of blog. If we change feminine into Megamind's sense of good, to please and protect others, and masculine as his evil and rebel side, this step begins to make sense. When Megamind was young and in elementary school (called "Lil' Gifted School For lil' gifted kids, which was built right next to a prison where the young Megamind lived), he tried his best to please his classmates by inventing different gadgets but all of them failed and he was practically outcasted. This leads to him identifying with the masculine evil and giving up becoming good, this is step of the Heroine's Journey along with the gathering of allies which Megamind does by meeting Minion (yes, that's his name, and he's a fish in a glass ball).
On Megamind's road of trials, he constantly fights Metroman (basically the superman of this universe, and the exact opposite of Megamind) but never wins, partly because he did want to and just did it to get back at the people who looked down on him, usually he just captures the romantic interest of Metroman which is a new reporter named Roxanne and her camera man named Hal. The day he finally killed Metroman is finding the boon of success. He takes over the city and starts ruining it but he soon realizes it's not as enjoyable when there's no one to stop him. Thus, his descent begins as his masculine evil traits fails when he falls in love with Roxanne, who I believe is the goddess, while in a disguise. The meeting with the goddess step is actually pretty debatable, to give context, after he meets and gets close with Roxanne, he still wanted to go back to his old evil ways so he creates a new superhero named Titan, who we knew as the cameraman, Hal. Hal turns out to be a horrible person a becomes the villain instead. Megamind goes to Metroman's hideout and finds him still alive. Metroman tells Megamind that it is his time to be the hero. Thus, one could argue Metroman could actually be the goddess.
Megamind eventual fights Titan by himself (with Minion) faking as Metroman. However, this fails as he is trying to be someone else that is completely different to him. So, the stage of reconciliation with the maculine appears when he begins using the tricks he learned as a villain to fight and eventually defeat Titan. Finally, the story ends at the union stage with Roxanne and everyone else in the city accepting and loving who Megamind is and he himself now can find the balance of feminine good and masculine evil.
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I was initially confused how Megamind could fit with the Heroine's Journey, but I think I'm a little convinced after reading your post. It's interesting how you characterize good vs evil as representations of femininity (through a protective side) vs masculinity (through a more rebellious side). These aspects do often symbolize femininity and masculinity, which I think is why feminine figures tend to be regarded as caretakers and protectors in a motherly sense, while masculine figures are regarded as more headstrong and physical protectors in a father-like sense. In this way, I can see why good vs evil can be interpreted as femininity vs masculinity. While I'm not sure how much I agree with how Megamind correlates with the Heroine's Journey, I find your analysis and interpretation of Megamind's journey in relation to the Heroine's Journey really interesting! Great post!
ReplyDeleteI like how you use the masculine and feminine as metaphors for other traits. One might say that these are typically masculine/feminine traits, but I don't think Megamind is struggling with his gender identity/role, so it seems more like a metaphor in my mind. I think this makes the heroine's journey a lot more widely applicable, which I think is a really cool feature that you've found. It's cool that it's applicable to a male figure, as well, because it was crafted around heroines.
ReplyDeleteI really liked how you pointed out Metro Man as a possible goddess—I actually think he fits the role more even if on a surface level Roxanne seems to, especially given that he goes to Metro Man in a time of need and he helps him discover the good in him (I think one of his lines is even “find the good in you”). I didn’t think the Heroine’s journey could be applied to Megamind, but by starting it earlier Han I would have thought, you made most of the plot elements work. The one thing I will say is Megamind’s road of trials being his various fights with Metro Man feels a little off, since the trials are not teaching him or helping him develop, instead they just further entrench his identification with the masculine/evil.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! This is a very weird, but very interesting comparison. I really like your comparison of Megamind's "good side" to the feminine and his evil side to the masculine. It reminds me of what we learned in history last unit, about the societal belief that women are by nature kind and nurturing, values which men lack. This argument is very compelling!
ReplyDeleteI actually think that the journey that Megamind goes through is more of a hybrid between the heroine's and hero's journeys. I think the ending where Megamind learns to use both his villainous and heroic skills to defeat Titan is a more hero's journey-esque development, where Megamind becomes the master of two worlds. However, earlier in the movie where Megamind experiences the illusory boon of success, I think fits the heroine's journey more. The thing is, Megamind is in itself a subversion of traditional heroic narratives, and so its harder to put it into any one box.
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