Heroes are Completely Incomplete

There is a common personality trait we see over and over in film: the hero feels “completely incomplete” and must fill a void. Whether or not this feeling of incompleteness is unconscious or conscious is not as relevant as the end result – that many heroes begin with something of significance missing in their lives and end with a feeling of completeness.

For instance, consider Jodi Foster’s portrayal of Clarice Starling in The Silence of the Lambs (1991). She lives in the shadow of her deceased father, a police officer, who never got the chance to share her accomplishments. And, it is apparent that she was traumatized by his death. Throughout the film, Clarice is depicted as a little girl – literally, in flashbacks of her childhood and figuratively, as the unfortunate recipient of Hannibal Lecter’s interrogations. It is clear that in all of these depictions that her void is the absence of her father – a void Hannibal eerily fulfills as her paternal proxy.

In Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Indiana Jones takes a sabbatical from his professorial duties to seek the lost Ark of the Covenant. What is his motivation to leave the relative safety of academia in Chicago for a precarious trek around the world? As a professor, Indiana lectures college students about great adventures of long ago, but longs for the same excitement in his life. Without the adventure, he will forever be incomplete. It is this journey that fills the void in his life and allows him to be a part of the history he teaches, instead of another archeology professor researching the accomplishments of others.

Sigourney Weaver’s performance in Aliens (1986) as the tough-as-nails Ellen Ripley is yet another example of a hero yearning to be complete. In this case, her incompleteness takes a bifurcated form: part desire to finally bring her experience with The Alien to closure (her experience depicted in the first film continues to monopolize her dreams), and part desire to act on her maternal instincts. The fact that The Alien is female and laying eggs – effectively creating an entire population of like creatures – brings out Ellen’s maternal instincts in protecting Rebecca 'Newt' Jorden, a young girl stranded on the precarious planet. It is this life and death encounter that elucidates these instincts and thus helps complete a persona that was theretofore without purpose.

So, when you are creating your heroes, consider asking the question, "Why do they do what they do?" You just may find that they're looking to fill a void...