In 1957, in a coal mining town in the United States, a 17-year-old high school student Homer was unwilling to become a coal miner like his parents. He made a rocket by himself through hard work, received a full scholarship to college, and finally entered NASA (NASA). ) to become an aerospace engineer.
This is the story told in the film "October Sky", based on real events.
Joseph Campbell said in "The Hero with a Thousand Faces" that the growth of heroes follows the same pattern and needs to go through three stages: departure, enlightenment, and return.
Homer's upbringing was a hero's journey.
Next, I will use Campbell's model to interpret Homer's heroic journey in the film.
The first part of the hero's journey is called the departure.
The hero lives in the ordinary world, and suddenly, a completely accidental event, uncovers an unknown world, and there is a relationship between the hero and a force he doesn't quite understand yet.
Homer, a high school student, tries to get into college on an athletic scholarship, but fails the team selection. Compared with his athletic brother, Homer is an ordinary person with no special skills.
The truth is, in the whole town, except for a few lucky ones who can get football scholarships to go to college, everyone else can only become coal miners like their parents.
People around him told Homer that he was a pure coal forester and was born to dig coal. Homer didn't believe it, and he didn't want to be just a coal miner in this life.
One night, as Homer saw his country's Mate satellite streak across the sky, he felt the vastness of the universe and his own insignificance. He yearned for the mystery and vastness of space, and decided to make his own rocket.
The second part of the hero's journey is called Enlightenment.
At this stage, the hero enters a volatile and elusive world of adventure. Here, he must endure a series of tests.
The 17-year-old Homer started to act with a dream. Just like the girl Kimiko in the movie "Hibiscus Girl" got rid of the fate of mining coal by dancing, Homer tried to escape the coal mine by making a rocket and go to the wider world. .
In the 1950s, there were very few books about rocket making. People in coal mining towns were more concerned about what was underground than what was in the sky. Homer didn't know where to start. He began to ask for help from his classmates called "geeks" Quentin.
Quentin is a scholar who likes to study in the library. He helped find all the materials about rocket making. Homer, Quentin and two other friends started to learn how to make rockets.
The Rocket Boys encountered many difficulties. Homer's father did not support his dream at all, forbid his subordinates to help Homer weld rockets, threw away the crafting materials in the basement at home, and did not allow him to make rockets in the town.
The friends are a little discouraged, saying that the probability of participating in the science and technology exhibition is almost zero.
However, Homer refused to accept his fate.
The three little friends were moved by Homer's unwillingness to admit defeat. They dragged the heavy materials with him to Linzhen, which was far away, to continue their experiments. Forest Rocket Department" flag.
I seem to see the children in Stranger Things when they grow up, silently changing their destiny with limited knowledge and hard work.
Scientific research not only requires an open mind, but also basic theoretical knowledge. Homer, who was not interested in mathematics, began to study mathematics, physics, chemistry and other subjects, learning welding, and learning to identify materials.
Countless productions, countless experiments, countless failures, countless times to find the reason, countless times to improve the material, and finally in the ridicule of everyone, the rocket flew high into the sky.
Campbell said that as a hero grows, there is a mentor.
When the hero faces the unknown ahead and is not ready to embark on the journey, the role of the mentor will appear to help the hero complete the preparations from the inside to the outside, including protection, guidance and training, and even gifting magic Gifts that give heroes the knowledge, confidence, and the necessary weapons to overcome their fears and begin their adventures.
In the movie, Mr. Riley is the mentor to the Rocket Boys.
Mr. Riley was gentle and beautiful, and encouraged the students to try their dreams. After knowing the plans of the Rocket Boys, he specially ordered a book "The Principles of Missile Design" and presented it to Homer.
Because of her encouragement, Homer was able to keep experimenting until he attended the tech fair.
The third part of the hero's journey is called Return.
The end of a hero's journey is not treasure, wealth, and bounties, but to return and bring to the community all that has been gained from the adventure.
The father's disapproval and disdain, the elder brother's ridicule, and the incomprehension of others all undermined the self-confidence of the Rocket Boys, and the police forcibly terminated their research because of the forest fire incident, which became the way to defeat them. The last straw.
Four frustrated boys burned their rocket-making base with their own hands.
At this time, an accident happened in the mine. In order to save his life, his father was seriously injured. The coal mining company was unwilling to bear the medical expenses. His brother Jim got a full scholarship to go to college.
Homer entered a stage of refusing to return.
Because Homer has always longed for his father's approval, but his father believed that Homer and himself were born for the coal mine, and he hoped that Homer would take his class. The father said that Homer, who was mining, made him proud.
Homer entered a period of comfortable stagnation. He needs to rely on inner determination or outer strength.
At this time, Teacher Riley appeared again. The mentor will kick the hero in the ass when he refuses to call, sending him directly on the journey. Campbell calls this stage "supernatural aid."
Teacher Riley has lymphoma, she said:
I've been teaching my whole life and I've always believed that as long as you win scholarships at tech fairs, you can leave this little place and do something extraordinary. In this case, I finally have an account in my life. Homer, sometimes you shouldn't follow anyone's advice blindly, but listen to your own inner voice. You shouldn't be buried in the mines all your life because you have a greater purpose. I hope you know that no matter what you choose, I'm proud of you.
I love Laura Dern's role as Teacher Riley, and the Rocket Boys couldn't have succeeded without her, and in the end, the Rocket Boys made an oversized rocket that said "Mr. Riley."
Homer's inner dream is rekindled by Mr. Riley. He opened "Missile Design Principles", studied until dawn, and found evidence that the forest fires were not caused by them, but by the plane's flares.
The principal acquiesced to Homer to return to the school to represent Daxi Town High School in the science and technology exhibition.
Homer said firmly to his father, the coal mine is your life, not mine, I will not go underground, I will go to space.
The story goes like this: The four won the prize for outstanding amateur rocket design and traveled to Indiana to compete in the finals, taking first place in the Technology Award.
Countless people came to congratulate, and many universities extended olive branches and offered full scholarships.
The Rocket Boys all graduated from college, Quentin became a petroleum chemical engineer, Roy became a car dealer and banker, O'Dell became a rancher and owned an insurance company, and Homer became a NASA engineer.
If this heroic journey is Homer's life journey, then after so many trials and tests, he has become a more complete person with good qualities, and has learned how to control his weaknesses and how to play. own positive energy.
Homer's greatest achievement is to become himself and gain the freedom of life.
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