The Hero’s journey – Pee Wee’s Big Adventure (1985)

Pee Wee’s Big Adventure is an adventure comedy starring Pee Wee Herman and was the
directorial debut of Tim Burton. The film sees the happy go lucky, childlike Pee Wee, on a
wacky adventure to find his stolen bike. Like a lot of films of the time the narrative of the
film can be lined up with the popular form of structure, The Hero’s Journey. The structure
has 12 steps that can be found in films of this nature.

The first step in the structure is, ordinary world, usually the beginning of the story where the
character is in their own world, oblivious of the adventure that is before them. Pee Wees Big
Adventure, begins with Pee Wee in his house with his dog Speck, following his usual
everyday routine of eating cereal, playing with toys and riding his bike, in his small picket
fence suburban town. This scene sets up the character of Pee Wee as well as introducing his
prized possession, and McGuffin of the story, his bike.

The call to adventure arises when Pee Wee’s bike is stolen, this is the step in which the hero
receives some sort of call to action. Pee Wee starts his quest to find his bike in his small town
before really setting out on an adventure. Pee Wee doesn’t really follow the next step,
‘Refusal of the call’, the step which usually sees the hero step down and refuse to carry on.
However, this could also be represented in the way Pee Wee’s friends give up helping him
search which then leads him to push on with his adventure
Meeting the mentor is the turning point in the hero’s journey, meeting a mentor that gives
them something they need. In Pee Wee’s case it is the made-up location of his missing bike
by the fortune teller, Madame Ruby, telling him it is in the basement of the Alamo in Texas.
The next step, ‘Crossing the Threshold’ happens soon after, the point in which the hero
begins his quest. This for Pee Wee is when we see him begin to try and hitchhike to Texas.

The main adventure part of the film contains the next of the steps, ‘Tests, Allies, Enemies’.
This is usually the set of obstacles that the hero has to face that in turn test them in varies
ways. In Pee Wee’s case this is the weird cast of characters that he meets along the way from
convict Mickey, the infamous Large Marge, diner waitress Simone and her jealous boyfriend,
and the hitchhiker all of which that help him on his adventure to Texas.

‘Approach the Inmost Cave’ is the part of the structure that can represent several thing, be it
an actual physical location or inner conflict prior to the final conflict, this for Pee Wee could
be represented as the scene in which he enters the bar, preforms the ‘tequila’ dance and is
then rushed to hospital that leads him to finding out the location of his bike in the Warner
Bros Studio. This leads in the next step, being the ‘ordeal’. The most dangerous test the hero
has to face. This takes place in the bike chase in the studio, when Pee Wee finally gets his
bike back. Although Pee Wee doesn’t quite experience a ‘death’ the wisdom that would be
given with such an experience and granting of a greater power is the return of his bike which
allows him to escape the lot. This could also relate to the step of the ‘reward’ which is often
some sort prize or the hero emerging with greater knowledge or incite. Other than the
physical reward of his bike the reward is granted to Pee Wee through the film that is made
about his adventure, the friends he met along the way and the confidence he gained from the
adventure to reclaim his bike this could also be representative of the structures final step,
‘return with the elixir’ due the fact Pee Wee has returned back to the world he came from his
adventure a changed man.

All in all even though the film doesn’t stick to the structure of the hero’s journey completely
it does contain several of the key points of the structure and does see Pee Wee embarking on
an adventure bigger than himself and coming out better for it.