This will date me kind of heavily, but when I was a kid my two favorite movies were The Princess Bride and The Labyrinth. In fact, I figured out how to use the VCR before I could read so that I could rewind and rewatch them again and again. When watching as an adult, and parent, both films have things in them that I would talk to my kids about after; or even during a viewing. But as a writer I think the plots are both sound, and simple and deserve looking at.
The Heroes Journey is a basic narrative structure that a lot of stories follow. If you don’t know about the Heroes Journey, feel free to google, a million results will come up. Think of Star Wars or Lord of the Rings, both of these follow the Heroes Journey structure. Also, both of my favorite childhood films follow this structure as well.
The Labyrinth is more clear cut about it, where it has a girl who goes on a journey in a “new world.” The Princess Bride is more complicated because it has several heroes, all of whom have their own plotlines. I will argue though, that the main protagonist, Westley, he has a fully realized heroes journey. He goes to a new place, learns from a master figure, and then he has his trial sequences, and a false death even before finally defeating his rival and winning the prize.
About The Labyrinth, as a girl I loved that the hero of the story was a girl and that her hair was the same color as mine. It speaks to how important diverse representation in media is. Maybe I would have fallen in love with a whole different genre if my first favorites had been something more, well, everyday.
Stacy's Stash of Strange Stuff 