The film The Cure, directed by Peter Horton is an excellent example of an archetypal quest story. Throughout the story the film gives great examples of the calling, departure, experience, initiation, and return. Every quest starts out with a calling. In the film The Cure, Erik was looking for a friend or just someone to care about him. His mom didn’t pay much attention to him and he could never get a hold of his dad, who lives out of state. The departure part of the quest is shown when Erik jumps over the fence to meet someone new. This is when he meets Dexter. He takes a huge leap of faith risking that he might be bullied for it, mom not agreeing, or gets made fun of. The next part of the quest is the experience. This is the lengthiest …show more content…
This is when Eric decides to call Linda and take Dexter home. He sacrifices not being able to go to New Orleans and see his father, but instead going back home for Dexter where he has to handle the heat of his mother for running away with Dexter. The last part of the journey is the return, this is when Erik cannot truly go home or back to how things were because he is permanently changed. At the end of the film Erik has changed drastically from the beginning of the film. Erik has experienced compassion and a good friend and is better because of it. At the beginning of the movie he didn’t have anyone to care for or really anyone who cared for him. Although he lost Dexter at the end of the movie he still has his mother Linda and she will have him. Throughout The Cure the director Peter Horton does a great job of showing all five stages (the calling, departure, experience, initiation, and return) of the quest. The calling is what Erik searching for. The departure is when Erik leaves something secure behind and takes a risk or leap of faith. The experience is the lengthiest part of the quest when Erik slowly starts to grow and evolve. The initiation is when Erik makes a sacrifice and a mature decision. The return is how Erik has changed from the beginning of the