The hero’s journey has played an integral part in society for thousands of years through the use of stories, books, films and other forms of media that bring with them certain values and traits that are a fundamental part of cultures across the world. A hero represents what a society or culture sees as having positive qualities such as courage or honour, a hero can be someone from an assortment of different backgrounds and beliefs systems with a range of qualities that provide a message to audiences of these stories. The film ‘The Departed’ is an example of a hero’s stories that centres on a central ideology of greed and deception with a central character that can widely be seen as a hero who risks his life and livelihood to confront a dangerous and calculating enemy.
‘The Departed’ takes place in Boston, where the state police are waging a bloody war with the Irish American mob, the story centres around the protagonist Billy Costigan who is assigned to infiltrate the mob and bring down the violent gripe it has on the city. There are two key antagonists, Frank Costello the spearhead of the Irish mobs operations and Colin Sullivan who has infiltrated the …show more content…
The film explores the ideas of greed and corruption and what moneys role is in the real world. This is evident through the central characters such as Colin who sees money as a way of gaining power and Frank uses this to manipulate him and endorses Colin’s corrupt and deceitful ways, on the other hand Billy’s actions aren’t dictated by money but his wanting for a honest life and therefore isn’t influenced by the power money plays throughout the story. Through the use of the central motif of money the film provides the audience with a real world problem which can be related to many people as money dictates much in many people’s lives and can affect the decisions they