How Star Wars, Star Trek, The Matrix, and Harry Potter are Actually the Same Movie
Brandon Root | Jun 20, 2009 | 313,479 views | Comments 164
Do your favorite movies sometimes seem a bit…familiar? When discussing Harry Potter, do you sometimes mistake Voldemort for Darth Vader? Do Neo’s abilities in the Matrix remind you of the Force, only just a little bit different? Well, you would be right, as the most wildly successful franchises of the last 40 years are basically the same recycled story you have heard over and over again. To highlight the (few) differences between some of the most famous franchises ever produced, I have color coded them as follows:
Star Wars is blue
Star Trek is brown
The Matrix is green
Harry Potter is grey
The Plot:
Once upon a time,
Luke | Kirk | Neo | Harry
was living a miserable life. Feeling disconnected from his friends and family, he dreams about how his life could be different. One day, he is greeted by
Obi Wan | Captain Pike | Trinity | Hagrid
and told that his life is not what it seems, and that due to some circumstances surrounding his
birth | birth | birth | infancy
he was meant for something greater. Deciding to leave with
him | him | her | him,
Luke | Kirk | Neo | Harry
is taken to
Mos Eisley | Starfleet Academy | the real world | Hogwarts
where he meets lots of new, fascinating people. For the first time in a very long time, life is exciting, and
Luke | Kirk | Neo | Harry
explores the new life that has opened up for him. With his new friends, he starts to work hard to become the sort of man that
Obi Wan | Captain Pike | Trinity | Hagrid
said he could be. Although
Han | Spock | the Oracle | Draco
challenges his abilities, things go relatively well until suddenly,
Alderaan is destroyed | Vulcan is attacked | Morpheus is captured | Voldemort returns.
Leaping into action,
Luke | Kirk | Neo | Harry
prepares to fight against the insistence of his teacher. Despite not having finished his training, the lessons have made him cocky and through a combination of skill and luck
Luke | Kirk | Neo | Harry
is able to beat
Vader | Nero | Agent Smith | Quirrell
and destroy
the Death Star | Nero’s ship | the Sentinels | Voldemort’s body.
Greeted as heroes,
Luke | Kirk | Neo | Harry
realizes that he has become
powerful with the force | a great leader | the One | a great wizard
just as
Obi Wan | Captain Pike | Trinity | Hagrid
said he would be. Right before the story ends, there is a sense that this is just the beginning of an extremely lucrative franchise. Er, I mean adventure.
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it’s called an arketype
[...] http://www.spitefulcritic.com/2009/06/hold-on-ive-seen-this-before-how-star-wars-star-trek-the-matr... [...]
[...] to wrap up on a more light-hearted note, Brandon Root of the Spiteful Critic proposes that Star Wars, Star Trek, The Matrix, and Harry Potter are all really the same [...]
stumble! comments > article
But having the plot isn’t quite the same as having the same story (i.e. meaning). One could argue that the same plot is used in Star Wars to show the limits of materialism, in Star Trek to show the value of “humanity,” in the Matrix to question our complicity with our own social failings, and in
Harry Potter to teach children to worship Satan. One could argue other things as well…but my point is that the story doesn’t come from a series of plot points but from how those plot points are meaningfully presented.
its called the Hero’s journey. it can be applied to most narratives really. its no revelation. scholars have been discussing it for decades.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monomyth
Wow, congratulations. You’ve stumbled upon the Hero’s Journey. Maybe you should include the story of Jesus in there too. Seeing as it follows the very same structure.
Erm….that would be archetype, dear. Good point, though. As entertaining as the article is, it sheds no new light on the subject.
[...] This post was Twitted by eniac [...]
‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe…
I did a similar piece on Star Wars vs. Eragon last year
http://tinyurl.com/o6ayky
or
http://wizardprang.wordpress.com/2008/06/19/the-force-is-strong-with-this-one/
[...] πολύ ενδιαφέρουσα θεωρία: Once upon a [...]
buuuut it says that harry becomes a powerful wizard like hagrid. last time i checked hagrid didn’t even finish school. inset dumbledore into all of hagrid’s places and then maybe so. duhhhh :P
This is the purpose of my existence…I am the living who feeds upon my own dead…I am the harbinger and executor of the Wrath — my victims’ last seconds… I am the Final Solution. I am the Necromancer.
[...] seen this before! How Harry Potter, The Matrix, Star Wars, and Star Trek are all the same movie. [...]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hero_with_a_Thousand_Faces
[...] Hold On, I’ve Seen This Before: How Star Wars, Star Trek, The Matrix, and Harry Potter are Act…. [...]
Everyone learned this in high school English class. It’s called the Hero’s Journey. It is the foundation of every story.
Every story is the same story. There are only a few story lines in the world and they are all just repeated. So this article does not mean much.
[...] some acting lessons. He’s still quite terrible, but less so compared to earlier editions. Harry becomes Neo in this movie as he is the ‘Chosen One’. Rupert Grint doesn’t get much to play in this movie – whatever time he does get is [...]
“buuuut it says that harry becomes a powerful wizard like hagrid. last time i checked hagrid didn’t even finish school. inset dumbledore into all of hagrid’s places and then maybe so. duhhhh :P”
it actually says harry becomes a powerful wizard like hagrid SAID HE WOULD. this could be obvious to you if you werent a 10 year old who thinks harry potter is the only movie to ever exist, for then you would have seen the matrix and know that trinity was not ‘the one’ (as your misunderstanding of the sentence structure would lead you to believe).
Finally, someone has said it. How have mainstream critics not picked up on this overly familiar action/adventure/sci-fi/fantasy plot? Luckily, I enjoy none of these franchises. But rest assured, you are going to piss off a lot of ignorant ‘fan boys’ who make it their business to worship these films, and bash anyone who doesn’t do the same.
[...] “Hold On, I’ve Seen This Before: How Star Wars, Star Trek, The Matrix, and Harry Potter are Actuall….” [...]
hej neo
[...] this page was mentioned by Sérgio Rodrigues (@shiverspt), Paulo Branco (@addcritics), Ãbhèét Bharti (@_abheet), Suhel Banerjee (@suhel), rahul adusumilli (@redstupid) and others. [...]
You can go back through the majority of great dramas and find the same pattern. The same characters, or archetypes, are apparent in a lot of movies (lion king anyone?) and the path of the main character is pretty close too. It doesn’t mean they aren’t creative, they’re just following, intentionally or not, a standard path that has been used since Socrates.
[...] 19. Hold On, I’ve Seen This Before: How Star Wars, Star Trek, The Matrix, and Harry Potter are Actuall… [...]
“it’s called an arketype”
No. It’s called an archetype.
it’s actually called an archetype. and yes, stories fit into them. because they are one specific type of archetype, out of many different types of archetypes.
you forgot about frodo and the ring. its really bothering me
Actually, it’s called a motif, ya.
I mean, the recurring structure of the stories is called a motif.
The ‘Spiteful Critic’ should do his research on criticism first before he goes critiquing. LOL.
@Tresob
Really well put
I like the post though
meh this is kinda wrong, lukes life on tatooine was not at all miserable, he was happy
“and in
Harry Potter to teach children to worship Satan.”
Seriously, WTF?
And it is spelled ‘archetype’, btw. Otherwise, your post is fairly accurate. These aren’t the ’same’ story, but they do fall into the same archetype.
So the previous comments already bashed\chimed in the idea that there’s no novelty in this article (yes yes, archetype, don’t be nags).
I think the upside of this article is how well and parsimoniously it describes all 4 stories within the Hero’s Journey.
Wanted could also be included
Actually it’s called an “archetype”, but I agree with the sentiment, randompost.
i have to say even though this might be true aren’t most movies like this anyway? person thinks they aren’t important some challenge comes along and then the person learns that they are capable of greatness. i think instead of knocking on these great movies you should open your eyes. ALL MOVIES ARE LIKE THIS!!!! It is encouragement for people..duh!!
It’s called the “Hero’s Journey.” It’s a popular literary theme that puts a hero through a set sequence of events that ultimately turn him from a normal, average guy into a hero.
Actually, it’s called “the Hero’s Journey” or “monomyth” by Joseph Campbell.
We’ve been using it since we could tell stories. You’ll find it in Homer’s Oddesy and in Osiris legends, to Moses, to Buddha and Jesus, to more secular works such as Dante’s Comedy, Shakespeare, and even fairy tales. (a little known one called “east of the Sun, West of the moon” comes to mind, as well as Cajun tales of Blanchette and Ruby Rouge) Star Wars is commonly cited as a very good modern example of this, although I personally enjoy Akira Kirosawa’s Hidden Fortress (a major influence on Star Wars)
If you’re interested in more info, check out Campbell’s works.
Does everyone really say the same thing… ” o actually its the hero’s journey” o “actually its the motif” o “actually its the monomyth”
props for reading all the posts above yours to copy exactly what the person above you is saying.
It’s like they’re all heroes… on some kind of journey…
Like these heroes are of ten… no! A THOUSAND faces!
To say it’s the same story for the last 40 years is a tad naive. Humanity has been telling the same story over and over since the time of the Greeks at least. In fact, the same ten or so stories that were originally composed by the Greeks, both in the areas of comedy and tragedy.
I completely agree with the comments about these stories being told using the paradigm laid out by Joseph Campbell in his book The Hero With a Thousand Faces. One addition: the Hero must go on a journey or quest to discover something about himself (it’s always a man, it seems) and return with power: Luke goes to Yoda and learns about the Force and his parents, Harry goes to Hogwarts in general and searches for the Horcrux and is rewarded with magic and artifacts and knowledge of his parents, Neo goes to his death and returns with power over the virtual world, Kirk gets booted from the Enterprise and learns of the alternate reality from Spock and of his parents. I guess Neo didn’t have parents. All typical stuff and the journey usually involves travel over or through water, but not always. Greek Heroes going to the land of the dead over the River Styx and all that.
BUT, what is more interesting is how the main characters are often alike and usually a trio. As an example, the three main characters of Harry Potter are just like the three mains of Star Trek. There is the Third Level Thinker, who uses their emotions and ‘thinks’ with their gut, is reactive and not contemplative. This is Ron Weasley and ‘Bones’ McCoy. There is the Second Level Thinker who is very cerebral, doesn’t react and is very much the intellectual or the ‘know-it-all’. Obviously, this is Hermione Granger and Spock. Finally, there is the First Level Thinker who is born to be a True Leader and has some ‘je ne sais quoi’ (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/je_ne_sais_quoi) and has an almost spiritual quality about them. Harry and Kirk.
When you think about stories that are popular they often break down like this. Star Wars obviously has Han, Leia, and Luke, but I don’t think Leia works that well as a Second Level Thinker. Trinity, Morpheus, and Neo, too, although Trinity doesn’t map that well to a Third Level Thinker. I’ve no idea who the Third Level Thinker would be in Lord of the Rings, but Gandalf and Frodo are certainly Second and First, respectively.
I wonder if the story featured a woman as the lead if it would be much different….
It’s called a monomyth:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monomyth
Yay structuralism and archetypes!
If you’re interested in how they are so similar, look up Vladimir Propp, or the Proppian Fairy Tale Generator. It’s wonderful stuff!
Also, Claude Levi-Strauss is another great source for structuralist thought.
[...] How Star Wars, Star Trek, The Matrix and Harry Potter are all the same movie So funny, and so [...]