ET.22 - The Hero's Journey

Here, I'm about to make a comparison between Spirited Away and a film which not a lot of people might have seen.

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Yes its The Emperor's New Groove, one of the most legendary films I ever seen as a kid. I'll elaborate a little about the plot in case anybody hasn't seen this movie. If you have seen this movie, you can skip the following 4 paragraphs.


The film starts off as a narrative, of the person who voiced the main actor himself - David Spade. It's about a young emperor named Kuzco of the Inca Empire who is pampered as any spoilt brat and is everything that you would wish not to have in a child; arrogant, stubborn, proud, witty, you name it. He then summons Pacha, a peasant in a village, to inform him that he is going to build a summer home on the site of Pacha's home, thus rendering Pacha and his family homeless. Pacha attempts to protest, but is dismissed immediately. Meanwhile Yzma(pronounced yiz-ma), Kuzco's advisor, and her dim-witted right-hand man Kronk, attempts to poison Kuzco in order to gain control of the empire. But the poison turns out to be a llama potion, turning him into a llama instead.

After knocking Kuzco unconscious, Yzma instructs Kronk to dispose of Kuzco by bagging him and dumping him into the river, instead two small inner-Kronks conscience, an angel and devil Kronk, argues with each other that throws Kronk into confusion, in the end he throws the bag onto Pacha's cart as Pacha was leaving the palace. Kuzco wakes up in Pacha's village and accuses Pacha of kidnapping him, forcing Pacha to lead him back to the palace. But Pacha disagrees, only agreeing if Kuzco builts his summer home someplace else.

Kuzco feigns agreement with Pacha's demand, and Pacha leads him back toward the palace. They stop at a roadside diner, and Yzma and Kronk arrive shortly after. Pacha overhears Yzma discussing their plans to kill Kuzco, and attempts to warn him. Kuzco, doesn't believe him and returns to Yzma, only to overhear Yzma and Kronk discussing that they are seeking to kill him, and that the kingdom does not miss him. Kuzco realizes Pacha was right, but Pacha has left. After a repentant Kuzco spends the night alone in the jungle, the two reunite with Pacha having forgiven Kuzco. They race back to the palace, with Yzma and Kronk chasing them, although temporarily impeded to their frustration by Pacha's family, until the pursuers get hit by lightning and fall into a chasm.

Kuzco and Pacha arrive at Yzma's laboratory only to find that their pursuers somehow got there first. Kronk changes sides after a vicious tongue-lashing from Yzma who insults his cooking, and gets dropped down a trapdoor. Yzma summons the palace guards, forcing Kuzco and Pacha to grab all of the transformation potions they can and flee. After trying several formulas that convert Kuzco to other animals, and then back to a llama, they escape the guards (but not Yzma) and find they are down to only two vials. Yzma accidentally steps on one of the two, turning herself into a tiny kitten. She still almost manages to obtain the antidote, but is thwarted by the sudden reappearance of Kronk. Kuzco becomes human again and sets out to redeem himself, building a small summer cabin on the hill next to Pacha's home at the peasant's invitation. Meanwhile, outdoorsman Kronk becomes a scout leader, with kitten-Yzma forced to be a member of the troop.

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A hero with a thousand faces - Joseph Campbell. Non-other than the figure behind most themes of today's movies. So what similarities can be seen in these two movies that can be made with Campbell's recurring pattern of the monomyth?

The Initiation - Call to adventure.

This is the moment where a very-much-parent-dependent-Chihiro crosses the tunnel. Her adventure begins the moment sunlight dawned upon her face at the opposite end of the tunnel. Her parents snooped around, eating food that mysteriously appeared. Then the adventure begins, where her parents are turned into pigs, and she is stranded on the spirit world with no idea how to return home. For Kuzco, its the moment where he gets turned into a llama. He then finds himself in Pacha's village and demands to be taken back to the palace. That is the turning point for him, because being an emperor, it's the first time he doesn't get what he asked for and then walks off on his own into the wrong and dangerous direction. Pacha then follows behind secretly and save him from many a danger.

The Path of Trial

Once the hero cross the threshold into the special world, they must brave through the life-changing obstacles and overcome challenges be it physical or mental challenges, and ultimately crossing the finish line with the prize back to the real world. Chihiro begins her quest to get her parents back and in order to return to the human world. She is stuck in the spirit world and must beg for a job in order to survive there. After finally given a job by Yubaba, the dictator of the spirit world, then steals Chihiro's name and changes it to Sen. Haku warns her that she forgets her real name, she will forever be trapped in the spirit world. In Kuzco's case, its during the journey that Kuzco and Pacha pave towards getting back to Kuzco's castle. The whole process of Kuzco travelling with Pacha indicates his gradual change in his attitude as he slowly befriends Pacha, which includes Pacha saving him from jaguars, falling down waterfalls with them, sleeping in the jungle, meeting with Pacha's family. All of these were happening while simultaneously avoiding Yzma and Kronk that were in hot pursuit of them.

In conclusion, the signs of Chihiro losing her name and becoming Sen, and Kuzco being turned into a llama, both indicate a change about the coming-of-age. Chihiro seems more grown up now, and Kuzco being more sensitive and well-mannered with a sense of humility.

The Return - Return with the Elixer

In Spirited Away towards the end, Chihiro rode Haku in Dragon form while flying away from Zeniba's house back to Yubaba. Chihiro passes the final test that Yubaba gave to her, she and Haku ran hand in hand towards the bridge, only to part with Haku. In The Emperor's New Groove, it was literally 'the elixer'. The race to the potion that changes Kuzco back to human was at it's peak, where Yzma and Kuzco were both fighting each other for the potion as there was only one vial of it. Finally Kuzco got it, drank it, and became human again.

We can say that Chihiro returned to the living world with a transition of her being a crybaby to , becoming a person who could now handle her own world in the spirit world with a little newfound love, and Kuzco with general lessons from being an arrogant, snobbish, selfish jerk into becoming a responsible, caring and humble person. Henceforth these two heroes have returned with their own elixers, and therefore able to return to their original worlds respectively.


To sum it up, the hero's journey, is never AND never will be an easy one. A hero's journey is one that requires a deep change in the heart and mostly forgoing things that matter to you most. Sometimes, you will always think that you are going through it alone, but they are not aware of the allies that they may encounter during the ordeal. The hero will always need backup, in order to come out of the battlefield alive. Not every outcome of the hero's journey may be victorious, but sometimes what's more important is the process in which the hero had gone through in the effort of change.

Allies may assist in your plight towards change, but the journey is ultimately your own - Josh