How Civil War Aligns with Schmidtt’s Journey Outline

 How Civil War Aligns with Schmidtt’s Journey Outline

Spoiler Alert on Civil War (2024), Warning for gruesome details

In a world where a civil war has destroyed the US, the movie Civil War follows a group of war photographers in their journey East to find the president before he is assassinated by western forces. The movie doesn’t focus on the background of the world-building as much as it does on the development of characters throughout their journey. Specifically veteran wartime photographer Lee Smith and aspiring photographer Jessie. As these two characters travel with some other reporters, both of their personalities swap as the gruesome experiences shape their opinions on the war and photography. Although Lee is originally introduced as the main protagonist, the movie takes a surprising plot twist when it’s revealed subjectively that Jessie is the true main character. This blog will follow Jessie as she takes a journey through Victoria Lynn Schmidtt’s Heroine’s Journey outline.

After Lee saves Jessie from a suicide bomber in one of the opening scenes of the film, Jessie asks Lee to join her ambitious journey to DC. Along with Lee’s old mentor Sammy and Lee’s partner Joel, the group departs New York for a dangerous trip. At this moment in the film, Jessie sees an illusion of the ‘perfect world’. She knows there is a war going on in the US, but she still underestimates the journey thinking it will be easy. She doesn’t yet recognize the hardships of being a photographer. Only when the group stops at a gas station guarded by armed employees does realization occur to her. While stopped, Jessie walks around back to an abandoned car wash. Followed by Lee and one of the armed guards, Jessie sees two men nearly dead hanging upside down. Jessie realizes that photography in war is gruesome and she can’t even bring herself to photograph the scene. Later she scolds herself for being unable to take pictures, and begins practicing taking war photos. This is an awakening and a call to prepare herself for her upcoming journey. Mentored by Lee, Jessie and the group follow secessionist soldiers as they invade a loyalist-held building. Jessie learns from Lee during this battle and is able to photograph the execution of the loyalists in the end. 

At this point in the movie, Jessie is descending into a more dangerous area of the nation, and a montage plays of the group traveling through warsites and rough terrain, summarizing the passing through gates of judgment. As times get tougher, suddenly the group arrives in a town whose population is living in blissful ignorance of the war. A break from fighting and dangerous activities is finally given to Jessie. Although there is a time of calm in this storm, Jessie sees that the town is still under watchful guard by soldiers, reminding her and her group that there is still a war going on. As they move on, conflict arises as the group except for Sammy get held at gunpoint along with two other reporters by soldiers who were building a mass grave. The two other reporters were killed for not being ‘American’, but just before more conflict ensues, Sammy drives a truck into the soldiers, killing them and mortally wounding himself. Although it may seem that the death stage is represented by the group almost being killed, the true ‘All is Lost’ stage is represented after Sammy dies and the group is discouraged from continuing on their journey to the president. Western Forces reach out to the group and tell them about their planned storm on the White House. The group goes to the WF base and is given food and shelter: support before the final battle. The moment of truth finally arrives when the photographers follow Western Forces into the fight. Jessie acts more accustomed to being in dangerous situations while Lee is more weary of her surroundings. In a sense, they’ve switched personalities since the beginning of this movie. Jessie shows that she is comfortable in her environment and can take pictures of gruesome events. Limos flee the White House, but Jessie acknowledges that it’s only a distraction and leads her group to the president. The group follow soldiers into the building and fight through the hallways. Jessie steps into the line of fire to take a picture and Lee pushes her out of the way, sacrificing her life to save Jessie’s. As Lee falls dead, Jessie is unmoved and takes a picture of Lee dying. This shows her true rebirth as she changes from a timid emotional character to a real war photographer. The return to the perfect world happens when Jessie takes a picture of soldiers posing with the president’s corpse. She becomes a true war photographer through this journey and shows to have little care for her life in dangerous situations. The war is marked over from the end of this battle and it’s implied that the nation will move into a new era of ruling.

This film directed by Alex Garland follows Schmidtt’s steps very directly, and it is made clear when the main cast moves from one stage to the next (usually by driving from one location to another). The film focuses on the changes that the characters go through rather than the plot of the war. This helps the viewers understand the impact of the journey that they went through, even with the misleading false main character Lee. I encourage everyone to watch this movie because not only is it just good overall, but it makes learning and understanding the principles of the Heroine’s Journey easier.