In this blog post, I’ll examine director Hal Hartley’s ‘The Book of Life’ through the lens of the fantasy genre’s hero’s journey and the theme of “destruction and salvation.” I’ll explore the film’s unique perspective—which both follows and subverts genre conventions—and its questions about good and evil.
‘The Book of Life’ Through the Lens of Fantasy Conventions
I can usually answer questions about my favorite directors right away, but when asked about my favorite genre, I always end up giving a vague answer. This is because, when I list my favorite movies, they share almost no commonalities in terms of genre, and most of them are difficult to categorize neatly into a single genre. Given my rather limited taste in movies—I can’t watch horror films because of the trauma I experienced with ‘The Hong Kong Granny’, and noir films are too dark for my eyes—the first genre film that comes to mind is ‘The Book of Life’. Directed by Hal Hartley—one of the big names in the New York independent film scene—this 1998 film is a fantasy that depicts the struggles of Jesus, who lands in New York on December 31, 1999, just one day before the new millennium, bearing the mission to judge humanity.
In fact, as a fantasy film, this movie lacks the archetypal qualities found in ‘The Lord of the Rings’ or ‘Harry Potter’. Above all, ‘The Book of Life’ lacks the dazzling spectacle typical of most fantasy films. From the outset, the film shows no interest in the expensive special effects used to depict virtual reality—something typically expected in the genre. Whether due to a lack of funds or a dislike of money, the director chooses to unfold Jesus’s day—as he carries out God’s command by sequentially breaking the seven seals hidden throughout the city for the Final Judgment, all while wrestling with his love for humanity—not through visual fantasy, but through the conversations Jesus has with Mary Magdalene as they journey together and encounter Satan.
In this assignment analyzing film genres, I chose this film rather than one that adheres more closely to genre conventions because I wanted to select a movie I truly love, examine it from the perspective of a genre I had previously considered unimportant, and discover what I had been missing all along. I also wanted to gain a new perspective on watching films by understanding and interpreting genres. Therefore, I will now examine genre conventions through the lens of the hero’s myth in the fantasy genre and the theme of “destruction and salvation,” and use this framework to interpret ‘The Book of Life’. However, my goal is not to force this film into a genre formula, but rather to see in what ways it fits that formula and in what ways it does not, and to identify where and how the director’s unique style—revealed by deviating from genre conventions—manifests itself.
No genre relies on imagination quite as much as fantasy films. This genre begins with the word “what if.” This “what if” allows us to unfold an endless world of imagination. What if we met an alien lost on Earth? ‘E.T.’; what if we could bring dinosaurs back to life? ‘Jurassic Park’; what if a magical world existed? ‘Harry Potter’.
In this way, fantasy is unrealistic, yet it stems from topics that are the subject of real-world discussion. Its source lies not in something entirely new, but in the things we always talk about, the things we wonder about, and the things we believe in deep down even though we haven’t seen them with our own eyes. Because these cannot be verified in reality, they draw even more attention and stimulate the imagination.
“The Book of Life” begins with the question: “What if humanity were destined to be destroyed before the year 2000? What if Jesus returned on the last day of 1999 to carry out the Final Judgment?”
This unfolding of imagination requires a hero who serves as the protagonist of the fantasy world’s adventure. Regarding the hero’s existence and the conventions that drive the fantasy genre, Stuart Boytilla explains as follows:
First, there is the “journey between the ordinary world and the extraordinary world.” This could involve a hero living in the ordinary world entering a world of extraordinary adventure, or a hero—a being from the extraordinary world—coming into the ordinary world, which is usually identical to the reality we live in outside the film. This transition to a new world marks the beginning of the adventure. In ‘The Book of Life’, Jesus descends from the divine realm into the human world. All adventures begin when Jesus descends into the city of New York. This journey encompasses not only the start of the adventure but also the process of “return”—coming back to one’s original place after the adventure ends.
Second, it is the presence of a “mentor” whom the hero needs to complete the adventure. This figure may be an ally who accompanies the hero throughout the adventure, or a mentor who provides motivation or guidance before the adventure begins. In ‘The Book of Life’, Mary Magdalene, who journeys with Jesus and helps him break the seal, plays the role of a faithful ally; however, she does not provide decisive assistance when the hero loses courage nor does she play a major role in influencing the hero’s decision-making. In contrast, Satan acts as a catalyst, deepening Jesus’s inner turmoil as he stands at a crossroads: whether to judge humanity in accordance with his Father’s command or to defy his Father because he cannot bring himself to harm innocent souls. Satan, portrayed as pitiful and wretched as he attempts to justify “evil,” causes Jesus to hesitate in judging “evil humanity” and intensifies his inner conflict. Although not a literal advisor, Satan is a character who influences the hero’s journey.
Finally, while it may be a stretch to view God as an advisor—since God’s role is to assign Jesus a mission and set him on an adventure—when the execution of humanity’s judgment is Jesus’s inescapable destiny, God serves as the reason Jesus reaffirms his duty even amid his doubts and struggles, acting as a spiritual pillar throughout the mission. Therefore, it can be said that God possesses many other roles in this film—namely, the role of instigating the adventure, the role of an adversary against whom Jesus rebels and confronts, and characteristics similar to those of an advisor.
Third, the hero’s special ability. This ability is sometimes cultivated by the “advisor” described earlier and sometimes arises from the differences between the ordinary world and the extraordinary world. When a protagonist from the ordinary world enters the extraordinary world—or when a protagonist from the extraordinary world enters the ordinary world—what was considered routine in their original world can become a very special ability in the other world.
In ‘The Book of Life’, rather than the protagonist’s special ability itself being prominently highlighted, it is the divinity he possesses as the son of God that serves as that ability.
Furthermore, although Boitila did not mention it, another fantasy element I would like to add is the “mission.” This serves as the catalyst that propels the hero from the ordinary world to the extraordinary world—and vice versa—and acts as both the starting point and the destination of the story; it also captures the audience’s attention, drawing them into the film as active participants who engage emotionally with the narrative. Such missions take various forms, ranging from the protagonist simply escaping a strange world into which he or she has been accidentally trapped (e.g., ‘The Wizard of Oz’) to acquiring the object of one’s desire on a personal level (e.g., ‘Dragon Ball’) or averting and saving the world from a global crisis (e.g., ‘The Lord of the Rings’, ‘Armageddon’).
In ‘The Book of Life’, the mission is to destroy all of humanity except for 144,000 people in order to judge a humanity that has turned evil; the protagonist, Jesus, descends to Earth with the task of carrying out this judgment by sequentially breaking the seven seals and, upon breaking the final seal—which contains the list of the 144,000 who will survive—carrying out the judgment.
Interestingly, this represents a subversion of the “destruction and salvation” trope commonly found in fantasy films. Rather than presenting the hero’s fated task as saving a world on the brink of destruction, it portrays a hero who saves humanity by fleeing from the fated task of destroying it. Since this is a crucial element that gives ‘The Book of Life’ an atmosphere entirely distinct from other fantasy films, I would like to examine it in greater detail.
The Subversion of the “Destruction and Salvation” Narrative
As mentioned earlier, “saving a world on the brink of destruction” is a quintessential form of the “mission” assigned to the protagonist in the fantasy genre. In this scenario, the protagonist hones themselves through various internal conflicts and external trials, strengthening their resolve to fulfill the “mission” and gradually drawing closer to its completion. Here, the “mission” is akin to a destiny bestowed upon the protagonist. Although the protagonist initially finds the mission burdensome and tries to reject it, they soon come to feel a sense of responsibility as the chosen one and submit to it. This marks the stage where they realize their heroism—recognizing their special abilities and acknowledging their responsibility toward the world in crisis. The protagonist sacrifices himself and fights the forces of crisis with all his might, which brings the film to its climax. Here, the salvation of humanity is the mission carried out by the hero. Salvation is the result achieved when the hero submits to his destiny.
However, in ‘The Book of Life’, the mission is none other than “the destruction of humanity.” Therefore, in contrast to universal heroic fantasy—where the protagonist agonizes between personal safety and their calling (saving the world) before fulfilling that calling out of love and compassion—the crossroads that torments the protagonist, Jesus, in ‘The Book of Life’ places his calling and the duty to obey his Father’s command on one side, and his love and compassion for humanity—which cause him to hesitate—on the other.
Consequently, in the former case, the protagonist’s inner conflict is resolved the moment he begins to submit to his fate, and the story progresses into a simple structure of confrontation between a good hero and evil; the world is saved through the hero’s victory. However, in the story of Jesus—who must reject the fate that relentlessly pursues him in order to save the world—the narrative of destruction and salvation takes on an entirely different causal structure.
Because the protagonist does not answer his calling but flees from it, the judgment remains unresolved, and there are those who can raise a toast without a care as the dawn of the new millennium breaks. Here, one cannot find a structure of conflict between good and evil; the boundary between good and evil is merely ambiguous. Does Jesus, who was entrusted with judgment by God’s command after God could no longer bear humanity’s wickedness, become good when carrying out that command? Faced with the fate of judging humans—who appear nothing but pitiful in his eyes—to death, it seems that both humanity’s good and evil and God’s good and evil are left as question marks. Even Satan’s character is ambiguous in terms of good and evil, portrayed merely as a pathetic loser in life. In this way, we hear the director’s ultimate question regarding good and evil.
Conclusion: Understanding the Genre
About two years ago, after watching ‘The Book of Life’ for the first time, I walked out of the theater and slapped my knee in delight. It felt as though the director’s audacious questions about God and humanity—and the concepts of good and evil in the Bible—had perfectly scratched an itch I hadn’t even realized I had. Not only that, but it was also refreshing to see that the director attempted to unravel these philosophical questions through clever plot devices within the fantasy genre. It was a refreshing shock to me to see how entertainingly these mind-bending questions transformed when clothed in the genre of fantasy. That’s probably why ‘The Book of Life’ was the first movie that came to mind as I prepared for this assignment.
Speaking of common preconceptions about genre—or, to be more honest, the preconceptions I myself held—it is the belief that inserting the term “genre” into the creative act of filmmaking limits that creativity. Once you begin to think that categorizing films by genre and having the imagination that should be boundless instead follow genre conventions, thereby confining films within the framework of predictable conventions, genre becomes the enemy of cinema.
However, when we reconsider what cinema means to us, we can gain a deeper understanding of genre. The relationship between cinema and reality is so solid that it cannot be denied. Cinema is both a reconstruction of reality and a subversion of its principles—exemplified by cinematic situations that overturn reality and the unrealistic settings of fantasy films. Furthermore, it manifests as desires and curiosity derived from reality—not from some entirely different world—or as a form of satire directed at reality. As we, living in the same real world, reflect on a particular subject, we discover clear commonalities alongside many differences. In this way, we identified recurring characteristics in how a series of films imagine and express the same subject, and thus we arrived at the concept of “genre.”
However, the formulas seen in films grouped under a single genre are not always the same. They undergo changes with the flow of time and are sometimes subverted by the director’s intent. Therefore, a director who studies genres and makes films can secure the audience’s empathy while creating new forms of enjoyment by appropriately balancing genre conventions with challenges to those conventions within their films. Furthermore, audiences who study genres will enjoy the privilege of understanding the director’s intentions and viewing and experiencing the film on a deeper level by identifying the moments where the film follows, deviates from, or subverts genre conventions. Just as we have been able to view ‘The Complete Guide to Life’ with fresh eyes by identifying both its typical and exceptional characteristics as a fantasy film.
