The Goonies
Treasure islands, pirate ships, exciting adventures, or stories of hero or heroine always appeal to children. ‘The Goonies,’ a movie about hidden treasure and four children who are seeking the treasure, is still one of my favorite adventure movies since I watched it when I was younger. I recorded the movie on video tape and watched more than twenty times, but the movie never gets boring. ‘The Goonies’ was directed by Richard Donner and came out in 1985. Richard Donner also directed several superhero movies or supernatural films such as ‘the Omen,’ ‘Superman’ and ‘Lethal Weapon.’ It is interesting that Steven Spielberg wrote the story of ‘the Goonies,’ and the screenplay was written by Chris Columbus who also worked on ‘Gremlins,’ ‘Home Alone’ and ‘Harry Potter’ series. What else can you expect? It is no wonder that ‘the Goonies’ is such an exciting adventure family movie. This movie shows ‘the hero’s journey,’ ‘monomyth,’ very well and I am glad that I have a chance to interpret ‘the Goonies’ since this is one of my favorite movies.
The setting of the movie is a quiet and small village by the sea in Oregon. It is the last week for Mikey and his elder brother, Brand, to live in the village. Their house is going to be demolished by developers who are planning to transform the neighborhood into a golf course. Mikey, the leader of the Goonies, and his playful friends, Mouth, Chunk, and Data, happen to find a 17th century pirate treasure map of ‘One-Eyed’ Willie. The four children, Brand, Andy, and Stef set out to find the hidden treasure. Meanwhile, a crime family, the Fratellis, just escaped from jail and hide in an isolated restaurant in the same village. The entrance to a secret cavern, coincidently, is under the restaurant where the Fratellis just occupied. The Goonies managed to sneak into the cavern, but Chunk was captured by the Fratellis and let the crime family know the hidden treasure.
As the Goonies seek for the hidden treasure, they go through several traps which were set by One-Eyed Willie. The Fratellis confine Chunk in a basement room and start chasing the Goonies through the hidden cavern. Chunk is placed in the room where the Fratellis placed their brother, Sloth, who has a deformed face because Momma Fratelli dropped him when he was younger. Chunk and Sloth become intimate soon since they have one thing in common, which is eating. The Goonies finally discover the One-Eyed Willi’s ship which is filled with treasure, but the Fratellis also find the Goonies and force them to put out all the treasure and leave the ship. The Fratellis are caught in a trap and triggers the collapse of the cavern. In the end, Chunk and Sloth save their friends and the Fratellis are arrested. Mikey and his family find jewelry in his marble bag and celebrate that they do not need to leave their place any more.
It is very interesting to apply monomyth, the hero’s journey, to ‘The Goonies.’ It seemed, at first, awkward to associate this adventure movie with monomyth since I had not a chance to interpret a movie like this academically until now, but the more I tried to understand each stages of monomyth, the more I was able to appreciate the gist of monomyth. Moreover, even though there are a number of heroes throughout literature, the stories follow a certain pattern and the heroes have much in common. Joseph Campbell suggested the idea in his book, ‘The Hero with a Thousand Faces.’ Although all myth do not contain all 17 stages that Campbell described, ‘The Goonies’ carries most of the stages which are the following.
There are interesting symbols that we can find in this adventure movie, the Goonies. First of all, the number of the Goonies is four which I found meaningful. The four kids encouraged and helped each other so that they finally accomplished their common goal which was to find One-Eyed Willie’s treasure. In the past, alchemists believed that there were four building blocks, which were earth, air, fire, and water, that built up all matters in the world. The four elements “were arranged hierarchically, with varying elements given qualities that made them subordinant or dominant,” as the Goonies worked in coordination (Literary Terms and Definition).
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There are interesting symbols that we can find in this adventure movie, the Goonies. First of all, the number of the Goonies is four which I found meaningful. The four kids encouraged and helped each other so that they finally accomplished their common goal which was to find One-Eyed Willie’s treasure. In the past, alchemists believed that there were four building blocks, which were earth, air, fire, and water, that built up all matters in the world. The four elements “were arranged hierarchically, with varying elements given qualities that made them subordinant or dominant,” as the Goonies worked in coordination (Literary Terms and Definition).
The Goonies would not be able to get to the pirate ship unless there were four kids who played crucial roles individually. For example, Mikey was the one who found the secret map to the hidden treasure. He also was the only one who brought a pocketful of jewelry at the end of the movie. Thanks to Mouth’s Spanish skill, they were able to interpret the Spanish order on the map and could play the grotesque piano successfully in the cavern. Data’s various kinds of equipment helped the Goonies several times. The Fratellis might have harmed or even killed the Goonies unless Chunk became a friend with Sloth.
It is also interesting that the Fratellis is a trio of robbers. As we learned in class, the number of three can mean harmony or completion like the Trinity or a triangle so “the power of three is universal” (Dictionary of Symbolism). The power of number three, however, come into effect only if the three components are in order or balanced, for example, "beginning, middle, end; past, present, future; the three phases of the moon... the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost...father, mother, son” (Dictionary of Symbolism). The three villains seemed somewhat incomplete since they are composed of a mother and two sons. The composition might have been perfect if there was a father. From this point of view, it comes as no surprise that the four Goonies defeated the deficient three of robbers.
It is an important symbol that the Goonies arrived at a well in the middle of their journey. The Goonies thought the old coins around the well might be the treasure at first and they even asked the people around the well outside for help to get the Goonies out of the well. However, the Goonies figured out that the well where they were at the moment was the wishing well in their neighborhood so it was not their destination. In literature, a well can stand for a “female womb, as they are passages into mother earth” (Dictionary of Symbolism). If the Goonies were rescued from the well before they finished their journey completely, it could be regarded as premature birth since the Goonies got out of the womb before they completed their journey which would be a pregnancy. As premature delivery usually causes an unhealthy baby, it would not result in any good result if the Goonies were rescued. In Campbell’s phrase, the wishing well can also act as a temptation that can inhibit the Goonies from finding the treasure. The Goonies might have ended up giving their dream up if they failed to find their way out of the well.
There were a pair of scales filled with jewelry in front of One-Eyed Willie at the pirate ship. When the Goonies started picking up the treasures, and putting them into their pockets, Mikey, the hero, asked Data to leave the jewelry on the scales because Mikey believed One-Eyed Willie deserved his share. It turned out that the pair of scales was one of One-Eyed Willie’s booby traps, which became apparent when Momma Fratelli took the jewelry greedily from the scales. The tilting scales triggered a booby trap that caused the collapse of the secret cavern. As a measuring apparatus, scales indicates “justice… [and] harmony” throughout literature (Dictionary of Symbolism). The difference between the two leaders, Mikey and Momma Fratelli, is that Mikey showed respect for the captain of the ship. His altruism allowed him to set aside some portion for the crew on the ship even though they died long time ago, and the difference was distinguished by the pair of scales.
It was interesting that Momma Fratelli resembled the archtype of a witch that we learned about in Macbeth. The witches in Macbeth chanted an ominous charm at a blasted heath, where they would not bother normal people. Abandoned areas like the blasted heath would be good for witches to perform bad or creepy ritual. Like the witches that hung around the abandoned area in Macbeth, Momma Fratelli occupied an isolated restaurant in order to avoid people’s attention. Her personality was almost the same as a witch’s personality, which is grumpy, shady, or sometimes violent. She dropped Sloth twice when he was a baby, and this was the reason that Sloth had a deformed face. She raised Sloth without affection, and shut him in a filthy room in a basement. She even thrust a dagger in front of Mouth’s face and pretended to cut his tongue. Her bad temper and wicked character showed the exact archetype of a witch.
There was a character in the film, who portrayed the typical preppy jock. The character, Troy, was popular and had nice features, like most jocks. Troy’s father was going to purchase the Goonies’ houses and tear it down, in order to construct a golf course. Troy kept chasing after Andy, who was a pretty cheerleader and wound up following the Goonies into the cavern. Troy bullied Brand who kept failing his driver’s license test. When Troy gave Andy a ride, she caught him stealing a glance at her skirt. He also saw Brand riding a bicycle while he was driving. Troy did not miss the chance to provokingly tease Brand. Brand noticed right away that Troy was going to try to provoke him. Troy irritated Brand and even made Brand fall into the woods. Troy’s character seems irritating, but it played a role in Andy and Brand getting closer to each other, since they both did not like Troy.
Since this movie is about seeking pirate treasure, I would like to talk about the archetype of a pirate. In general, pirates are regarded to be tough, brutal, and nasty. They kill other pirates, or normal people without hesitation and plunder towns. In the movie, One-Eyed Willie was a wicked character, who killed all of his crew after he found a secret cavern, while an English fleet chased his pirate ship. He murdered his crew, so that they, and any other person, would not be able to find his treasure. He also set up some booby traps, to ensure his treasure’s safety. The last booby trap, which Momma Fratelli triggered, even caused the collapse of the cavern. In spite of his careful and wicked plans, he did not seem to be a villain. It was because Mikey, the hero of the movie, felt grateful towards One-Eyed Willie, because his treasure would be the salvation that would resolve the financial problem of his family.
Everyone dreams of setting out on a journey to find a secret treasure, but at some point people realize that something, like a hidden pirate ship, would not exist. The Goonies came out a long time ago, but whenever I recall the movie, I dream about exciting adventures or precious memories, with friends, when I was younger. This final project not only gave me a chance to look over what I have learned about symbols, archetypes, and monomyths, and also brought back a touch of nostalgia with some old friends. It was informative as well as interesting that most heroes or heroines follow a typical pattern, which includes departure, initiation, and return. As I mentioned above, the fact that a number of movies, for example, MATRIX, Back to the Future, Home Alone, and even animations, such as Lion King and Shrek, have something in common in terms of the framework changes the way that I watch movies to a more academic and analytic way.
Works Cited
Carr, Kent and Carr, Maria. “Numbers as Archetypes.” HOME PAGE OF KENT & MARIA CARR, PH.D. 2003 Web. 05 Dec. 2010 <http://www.thearchetypalconnection.com/Numbers%20as%20Archetypes.htm>
Literary Vocabulary. Literary Terms and Definitions. 06 Dec. 2010
Protas, Allison. Dictionary of Symbolism. 06. Dec. 2010
<http://www.umich.edu/~umfandsf/symbolismproject/symbolism.html/>
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