There is something the same about every story that draws millions of viewers to it. Not many people are aware of what it is though. It is what Joseph Campbell describes as the Monomyth. Which is basically a continues cycle of 17 stages that occur in nearly every movie. Now not all 17 stages have to occur in every movie, but most cover enough of them so that you can see the cycle. I will be touching on around 7 steps from the Pixar movie Finding Nemo. This is a brief description on Finding Nemo “ A clown fish named Marlin living in the Great Barrier Reef loses his son, Nemo, after he ventures into the open sea, despite his father's constant warnings about many of the ocean's dangers. Nemo is abducted by a boat and netted up and sent to a dentist's office in Sydney. So, while Marlin ventures off to try to retrieve Nemo, Marlin meets a fish named Dory, a blue tang suffering from short-term memory loss. The companions travel a great distance, encountering various dangerous sea creatures such as sharks, anglerfish and jellyfish, in order to rescue Nemo from the dentist's office, which is situated by Sydney Harbor. While the two are doing this, Nemo and the other sea animals in the dentist's fish tank plot a way to return to Sydney Harbor to live their lives free again” (Internet Movie Database, Plot Summary for Finding Nemo).
The first stage in Campbell’s theory is the hero’s call to adventure. This is usually an irresistible action that the hero always ends up taking. In the movie Finding Nemo Marlin needs to find his son Nemo after he has been abducted by scuba divers. Marlin can’t live with out his son after all he has no other family members other than Nemo. This would 
be his call to adventure (stage 1). Marlin cannot complete this task by him self he needs a supernatural aid (Stage 3) or some sort of guidance along the way. Which will be Dory a blue surgeon fish that suffers from sort term memory loss. Despite that she is certain that she saw which way the boat that had abducted Nemo. With that Marlin knew that he needed to stick with Dory if has a chance of finding his son. There is a transition into a new world or a Crossing the Threshold (stage 4) in this movie as well, which is when Marlin leaves the Great Barrier Reef where he has stayed his entire life. He crosses over into the dark deep ocean that he is terribly afraid of.
be his call to adventure (stage 1). Marlin cannot complete this task by him self he needs a supernatural aid (Stage 3) or some sort of guidance along the way. Which will be Dory a blue surgeon fish that suffers from sort term memory loss. Despite that she is certain that she saw which way the boat that had abducted Nemo. With that Marlin knew that he needed to stick with Dory if has a chance of finding his son. There is a transition into a new world or a Crossing the Threshold (stage 4) in this movie as well, which is when Marlin leaves the Great Barrier Reef where he has stayed his entire life. He crosses over into the dark deep ocean that he is terribly afraid of.
During Marlins heroic journey Dory and him are put through what is known in Campbell’s theory as road of trials(stage6). This part of the theory is where the hero finds out if he is worthy enough or strong enough to continue on his quest. There are many of these trials in Finding Nemo such as when Marlin and Dory encountering 3 “vegetarian” sharks. But when Dory and Marlin are fighting over a Scuba mask that has fallen from the boat that Nemo was in, Dory got knocked by Marlin and she got scratched. The scratch caused Dory to bleed, and one of the Skarks smells her blood he wants to eat her. The two other skarks restrain him down enough for Dory and Marlin to get away. This now leads them to the second road of trials. They run into a field of jellyfish which have long stingers attached to them. All these jellyfish are surrounding them by now and in panic they rush through the bunch though Marlin made it out of the Jellyfish okay, Dory was not beside him. Marlin saw Dory on top of a jellyfish. Marlin rushed to get her and after helping her regain consciousness they continue on there path through the ocean. Where they yet encounter another trial, which is the East Australian Current, where there are debating on taking this risky chance going into the speedy current. They do end they end up riding on a turtles back which knows the East Australian Current like the back of their fin. Knowing that the turtle drops them off in a harbor in Sydney, Australia. Once they make it in a bay in Sydney Australia they now realize that they are limited, because they are fish. They cannot walk around looking for Nemo. They do attempt though and are almost attacked by seagulls. But one bird in particular saw this, a pelican. This pelican heard about this magnificent journey Marlin and Dory have made, it spreaded all across the ocean. Knowing about all the things Marlin and Dory went through he offers to take them to the dentist office that Nemo was taken to. How did they do this? They flew in the pelican’s mouth that was full of water.
Now this is my personal favorite part of the movie, The Ultimate Boon (stage 11). This is where Marlin is finally reunited with his son Nemo. This is the happy part of this movie! In other movies this could be a gift that someone was looking for the entire time, or even the truth that is wanting to be found. Now Marlin has concurred what is Campell’s 17th stage which is the final stage. The Freedom to Live, now that Marlin has found his son he has the freedom to live the life he wants to. This is kinda like the life at the beging before Nemo was lost. Finding Nemo is a very popular movie upon most kids and even adults enjoy this family film. This follows campbell’s theory and that is why this movie did so good on the market.
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