I watched I am Legend at the IMAX recently, and found it really compelling. All the way home my friend and I talked about the plot, and various issues that had intrigued us from the movie.

Last year I started to study the precepts of storytelling, mythology and related psychology so I thought that it might be fun to analyse this story from the point of view of one of these perspectives: The Hero’s Journey.

The Hero’s Journey is a mythic storytelling structure which was first identified by Joseph Campbell, then adapted for writers by Christopher Vogler in The Writer’s Journey. This device identifies a basic structure which has been used in stories from ancient times to our modern epics like Star Wars.

While I was watching I am Legend I could pinpoint some of the turning points featured in the Hero’s Journey, so I thought that instead of a normal review I’d give you a mythological review of the movie. Due to the subject matter some of the aspects of the Hero’s Journey will not apply, but I still think it’s an interesting study.

There are going to be spoilers. Lots and lots of infected, carnivorous spoilers, so stop now if you haven’t seen the movie and plan to do so.

THE ORDINARY WORLD

Chillingly, the story starts in our current world. A cure for cancer is discovered in 2008, but it manifests in a virus which kills most of the population and turns a small percentage of them into ferocious killers, called the Dark Seekers. 1% of the population is immune to the virus, but most of them would have been killed by the infected. The Dark Seekers can’t tolerate UV rays, so they only go out at night.

By 2012 only one man remains (in Manhattan at least), Robert Neville, a military virologist. His only companion is Samantha, his Alsatian, who had belonged to his daughter Marley. We do not find out what happened to his wife and daughter until later on.

We meet Neville as he drives around a deserted Manhattan in a sports car, deer-hunting with Sam. He follows one deer only to be beaten to the kill by some lions… Having visited New York myself it was surreal to see the normally frenetic Times Square turned into a wasteland.

We follow Neville and Sam around and discover more about their routines and amity. Neville has a massive stockpile of canned food, but very little meat so as their hunt was thwarted by the lions poor Sam was given vegetables for dinner. (We later discover that he’d been saving some bacon ‘for a special occasion’.) During the day they meticulously hunt for the Dark Seekers on a block by block basis, and sometimes bring one back to try out his potential cures in his laboratory.

At noon he waits in hope for the appearance of other survivors:

My name is Robert Neville. I am a survivor living in New York City. I am broadcasting on all AM frequencies. I will be at the South Street Seaport everyday at mid-day, when the sun is highest in the sky. If you are out there… if anyone is out there… I can provide food, I can provide shelter, I can provide security. If there’s anybody out there… anybody… please. You are not alone.

He also visits a CD shop, which is peopled with mannequins with whom he regularly converses, including one called Fred.

At dusk he shuts himself inside his fortified house and rests until the dawn. In an early scene he sleeps in the bath, while we hear demented screams in the distance.

CALL TO ADVENTURE

In a flashback we are able to see him biding farewell to his wife and daughter. During that scene he confirmed that he felt the need to stay in New York, as it was Ground Zero, where it all started. He felt that he needed to stay there in order to fight the virus. Although it broke his heart to be separated from them, he decided to stay.

REFUSAL OF THE CALL

This doesn’t really happen. Dr Neville feels that it’s up to him to save the world from this virus and doesn’t display any ambivalence about that decision.

MEETING WITH THE MENTOR

This doesn’t happen, obviously there is no one else around to have this influence on him, though it’s clear that Bob Marley was a major influence on Neville. He plays Marley tunes on his stereo and named his daughter ‘Marley’. I shall return to this influence later on, as it appears at a couple of important points in the story.

CROSSING THE FIRST THRESHOLD

This doesn’t really happen either, though the point at which his family depart could be seen as where he has passed the point of no return.

TESTS, ALLIES, ENEMIES

We see some evidence of the effects of the virus during the first scene set in his laboratory, when he tests his formulas on infected rats. The rats’ faces were horribly distorted and they would ram themselves against the Plexiglas (foreshadowing the final scenes).

APPROACH TO THE INNERMOST CAVE

This happens literally when Samantha follows a goat into a dark building, and Neville steels himself to follow her in to save her. This scene was incredibly scary. It’s mainly shot from behind Neville, and we can only see what he sees by the light of his torch. We hear his fear in his shallow breaths as he whispers for Sam. His light catches something on the floor, as he approaches we fear the worst, but it’s the goat. Dead. Then the light shines on a group of Dark Seekers, who have gathered in a ring and don’t seem to have noticed Neville. He spots Sam, under a table. He calls to her, but she retreats in fear from something else she’s spotted… a Seeker has noticed them! Neville and Sam escape by running through a window. A couple of Seekers fall through the window too and are killed by the sunlight.

Later, Robert returns to the location and traps a Seeker. Another Seeker comes to the entrance, screams when he is hit by sunlight and retreats. Neville brings the Seeker, a female, into the lab for testing. He mentions the male Seeker in his research log:

Behavioral note - an infected male exposed himself to sunlight today. Now it’s possible decreased brain function or growing scarcity of food is causing them to… ignore their basic survival instincts. Social de-evolution appears complete. Typical human behavior is now entirely absent.

He completely overlooks the other option, which is that perhaps the male Seeker was attempting to rescue his mate.

THE ORDEAL

Driving around the city, Neville notices that the mannequin, Fred, has been moved. His head appears to move as we watch. Neville stops the car and calls to Fred, asking how he got there. Then he shoots at Fred, who falls down. Neville approaches Fred, and is caught in a trap, hanging upside down by a stake in his leg. Sam can only watch and wait for him to regain consciousness. He unhooks himself and starts to drag himself to the car as dusk approaches.

Suddenly the Seeker appears with several infected dogs, and sets them on Neville and Sam. Sam holds her own against the dogs, but she is badly bitten. Neville takes her home and injects her with his potential cure, but it has no effect and Sam soon shows signs of infection. He holds her in his arms and sings ‘Three Little Birds’ by Bob Marley like a lullaby as he asphyxiates her.

The next night he attacks a group of Seekers with his jeep. However, they soon overturn the jeep, and it looks like he’s done for, until a bright light shines on them all, literally overcoming the Shadow archetype with light.

REWARD

He awakes to find Anna (played by Alice Braga) and her son Ethan in his kitchen, and storms in on them with his gun. Anna talks him down and gives him breakfast. I loved it when she told her son to put down the knife that he’d picked up in defence, and got a sense of how resilient they must have been to have survived so long and to have reached Neville at all.

One of the possible consequences of facing death in the Ordeal is the prospect of psychological damage; for the first time this is made clear in his socially-inept interactions with Anna and Ethan.

There is an aspect of comic relief in the scene where they all watch a scene from Shrek and he follows the dialogue along with the characters, in a monotonous manner:

I like Shrek.

There was a lovely moment when Neville talks to Anna about Bob Marley:

He had this idea. It was kind of a virologist idea. He believed that you could cure racism and hate… literally cure it, by injecting music and love into people’s lives. When he was scheduled to perform at a peace rally, a gunman came to his house and shot him down. Two days later he walked out on that stage and sang. When they asked him why - He said, “The people, who were trying to make this world worse… are not taking a day off. How can I? Light up the darkness.”

I’m glad that they didn’t include the deleted scene of a love scene between Neville and Anna, as I feel that it would have sullied the nobility of their brief friendship, and detracted from his longing for his missing family. I preferred to see Anna as a mother symbolising hope and the continuation of humanity.

THE ROAD BACK

This is more of a psychological process, as Maria tries to convince Neville about the existence of a sanctuary for the immune. He refuses, failing to believe that such a place even exists. She tries to talk to him about hope, and God’s plans, but he retorts that there is no God.

He rededicates himself to his mission, unaware of the malevolent forces rallying against him…

RESURRECTION

At dusk Neville realises that the Seekers followed them back to his home after Anna rescued him, and an army of them are approaching. He turns on floodlights but they climb up and break them. There appears to be a clear leader who directs the others in a co-ordinated attack. Neville tells Anna and Ethan to hide, then blasts the street with a massive explosion. The house is rocked by the blast.

Neville goes upstairs and sees blood. A Seeker has entered through the roof, and more are coming. Anna and Ethan are okay, and he despatches the Seeker with a gun. Neville takes Anna and Ethan down to the lab, and he secures them behind the glass. They notice that the female seeker has made a dramatic improvement with his most recent formula. The Seeker leader rams the glass over and over while the others hang back and wait. Neville appeals to the Seekers, saying that he can save them, but they don’t listen, and the Alpha Male continues to headbutt the glass.

Neville hides Anna and Ethan in a hatch, after giving Anna a vial of his blood, which he says is the cure. He tells her to leave at dawn and take it with her to the sanctuary. She tells him to hide with them, but he refuses, saying that the Seekers won’t give up until…

Then as the Plexiglas cracks Neville rushes into the army of Seekers with a grenade in his hand…

At this stage, the odds are greater than in the Ordeal. The cure, and with it humanity’s last hope, are at stake. Though Neville dies, his memory and legacy live on. When he gives Anna his blood he also allows himself to believe in her, and to believe in hope and the possibility of a sanctuary. Without those beliefs, his struggles would have all been in vain.

RETURN WITH THE ELIXIR

Anna and Ethan find the sanctuary and are welcomed in after being checked at the entrance for infection. Before the end credits appear an aerial view shows the scale of the community.

–

ARCHETYPES

• The Hero is clearly Dr Neville, who is strong, smart, resourceful, and driven, but also psychologically damaged.
• Mentor: the inspirational Bob Marley, mentioned above.
• Shapeshifter: the infected themselves have changed form.
• Trickster: Neville lures the female Seeker with a trap, and similarly the Alpha Seeker traps him.
• Herald: the news broadcasts of the initial cancer cure, then of its aftermath fulfil this function.
• Allies: clearly Sam, Anna and Ethan.
• Shadow: the infected, especially as they appears to become more organised.
• Threshold Guardians: also the infected ones.
• Mother Goddess: Anna embodies this role, which aims to protect all of humanity.

My General Feelings:

Despite the popularity of the movie in America, I was not very intrigued by the movie initially, but when I heard that it was going to be shown at the IMAX (and with a Dark Knight prologue) I decided to go to see it. I don’t regret that decision, as I am Legend was one of the best films I’ve seen in ages. Yes, there were some plot holes, but the story itself was compelling, and Will Smith was amazing.

One of the great things about his role in this blockbuster movie is that it could have been played by an actor of any race, it wasn’t a role that had to be played by a black actor. In fact I could have imagined someone like Tom Cruise playing this kind of role, though Will Smith was definitely the right guy for the job.

I felt that the movie was an interesting take on the vampire legend, and a chilling post-apocalyptic tale. If you were to ask me to sum this movie up in a single word, it would be hope.

Urban Recluse Rating:

And to finish this post, here’s Three Little Birds by Bob Marley. I love this song.

Bob Marley: Three Little Birds

Written by PJ | Posted in movies

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