Puss in Boots - The Heroes Journey

Fig. 1

Puss in Boots (2011), the animated film, directed by Chris Miller, follows the origin story of the fabled Puss in Boots, an outlaw cat looking to redeem himself of his past misunderstanding. This review will look over how the narrative follows The Heroes Journey plot points.

With the rate of how fast the film moves along, a lot of the Heroes Journey points can be found repeating several times, merging, or mixing around. It starts off in the ordinary world, which is the overall world of Puss being an outlaw, looking for yet another heist.

This leads into the first call to adventure, where he is given several heist options, all which he refuses, up until being offered the heist of the magic beans, which could be a supernatural aid in accepting the adventure that would help him redeem himself. Though, there is another moment that effectively portrays the call to adventure,  it is where Humpty Dumpty asks for Puss’ help. The call is quickly refused because of their past, but he gives in and accepts because of the supernatural aid of how the magic beans could help him get the golden goose eggs to redeem himself to his mother and childhood home.

Crossing the first threshold fits to the moment of entering Jack and Jill’s room through the window. This is the first action of the heist and first proper encounter with the antagonists and the magic beans. This leads into the belly of the beast, in a chase that leads throughout the city and into the den of cats, where Puss has a showdown with Kitty, which in itself could be seen as a start to the road of the trials. The road of the trials continue in the heist for the beans.

It was introduced earlier, but at this point made clearer, that Kitty is the woman as tempress, aswell as the meeting with the Goddess. Together, Puss, Kitty and Humpty reach the Apotheosis, where they plant the magic beans that propell them up to the giant’s castle, in which they find their Ultimate boon, the golden goose. This is also where the epitome of the magic flight is emphasised with the wonderous world of clouds and enormous castle.

The atonement with the father, or rather in this case, the mother, is after being left behind from the ambush and finding his way to his hometown. He is betrayed by Humpty who claims this as revenge and Puss is confronted by the guards. His mother intervenes and pleads Puss to stand down, and in atonement he does so, allowing himself to be arrested.

While in prison, Puss learns the consequences that because of acquiring the golden goose, its mother will come after it and destroy the town in the process. This triggers the refusal of the return, where Puss refuses to stand down and is motivated to save the town. He attempts to escape and receives the help of Kitty, the rescue from without.

The crossing of the return threshold is perhaps very literal, with the moment of Kitty cutting the rope of the lift, sending Puss flying into the light of day, into the town.

After successfully saving the town he becomes master of two worlds. He is still a master outlaw, but now having redeemed himself to the people he cares about, he is also seen as a hero. This gives him the freedom to live, with the past no longer haunting him, and still able to live his exciting outlaw life.

In conclusion, the movie Puss in Boots follows The Heroes Journey, although in a very mixed and matched fashion.

Illustrations:

Figure 1: Puss in Boots poster (2011). Available at: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0448694/mediaviewer/rm407879168 (Accessed on 15 October 2019)