You Can Never Go Home Again: Leaves the Fold for a Better One
Part 4: Leaves the fold for a Better one
The third way to return home again (or not) is to leave the fold for a better one. This is usually the result of the growth the hero has made through the course of the story. They no longer fit in their old fold and the system that exists there has not grown to accommodate them. Let’s look at some examples:
Sometimes the story has led to the discovery of something better. Juliet in The Guernsey Literary Potato Peel Pie Society (2018 film), is dealing with the aftermath of post-World War II London. She has lost her parents and her bearings. Even literary success and a swanky new fiancé doesn’t satisfy her longing for meaning and connection. While researching a book idea, she discovers a close-knit group of villagers on the previously occupied Guernsey Island in the English Channel. In the end, they welcome her into a new sense of community and home. This happens most often in Dramas and Comedies.
Other examples: Eat, Pray, Love (2010 film), Oliver! (1968 musical film), and The Secret Live of Walter Mitty (2013 film).
Sometimes the hero pays a huge sacrifice to break free from the system. In The Help (2011 film), Skeeter and Aibileen, Minnie, and the other maids risk a lot to tell their truth. In the end, the three main characters leave their systems for the hope of a better. After she exposes her white friend’s treatment of their black maids, Skeeter is ostracized and leaves for a publishing job in New York. Both Minnie and Aibileen leave their employment to either work for a kinder system or to become a writer, respectively. This happens most often in Dramas.
Other examples: Shawshank Redemption (1994 film), The Pursuit of Happyness (2006 film), and The Color Purple (1985).
Sometimes the hero has become so powerful, the system can no longer hold them. The old system has typically been destroyed, weakened, or remains glitched, as the hero moves on to a new system or the hope of a new system. Guy in Free Guy (2021 film) revolutionizes the video game Free City beyond its goals of winning through killing and plunder by using kindness. Despite the game owner’s attempts to destroy Guy, he is able to expose the game for what it is: a stolen bit of code containing AI capabilities. His true creators, Keys and Millie, make a new game: Free Life, in which Guy and all the characters can learn and grow and win through creating. In contrast, the launch of the new iteration of Free City is a dismal failure. This happens most often in Dramas.
Other examples: Neo in The Matrix (1999 film), is still within the Matrix, but it can no longer control him. He operates above and outside the system; Matilda (1996 film), and The Giver (1993 book) although Jonas’ fate is not known in the book, he leaves with the hope of a new, better system.
These are some of the most common patterns we were able to identify for the Leaves for a Better Fold dynamic. It is primarily a Drama pattern. Can you find other examples? When the Hero leaves, what does it do to the system? When is it time to stay and work on our systems and when is it time to leave? Look for these Return to the Fold Dynamics in the stories you are consuming.
Next week: Part 5: The Hero is Killed or Banished by their Fold