Ever notice that every blockbuster movie has the same fundamental pieces? A hero, a journey, some conflicts to muck it all up, a reward, and the hero returning home and everybody applauding his or her swag? Yeah, scholar Joseph Campbell noticed first—in 1949. He wrote The Hero with a Thousand Faces, in which he outlined the 17 stages of a mythological hero's journey.

About half a century later, Christopher Vogler condensed those stages down to 12 in an attempt to show Hollywood how every story ever written should—and, uh, does—follow Campbell's pattern. We're working with those 12 stages, so take a look. (P.S. Want more? We have an entire Online Course devoted to the hero's journey.)

Ordinary World

Unfortunately, Bertie's "Ordinary World" isn't all that great to begin with. He has a bad stutter and can't get through a public speaking performance without embarrassing himself. He'd love to just give up public speaking, but he's a member of the royal family and can't simply disappear from public view, especially with his irresponsible brother David threatening to ruin the family with his bad behavior.

Call To Adventure

After going through a ton of speech therapy specialists, Bertie decides once and for all that he's going to accept his stutter for what it is and stop trying to cure it. His wife Elizabeth doesn't accept this decision, so she runs off to visit a controversial specialist named Lionel Logue. She then heads back to Bertie, who refuses at first but eventually agrees to go see Logue. Who knows? Maybe this dude will find a way to cure Bertie's stutter.

Refusal Of The Call

It only takes a few minutes before Bertie gets fed up with Logue's methods and storms out of his office. Before he leaves, though, Logue gives him a recording that he made of Bertie's voice while Bertie was listening to loud music.

Bertie goes home to stress about what's going on with his brother David, who seems as though he's ready to throw away his royal status altogether. While brooding about his crummy life, Bertie gives in and listens to the recording that Logue made of him reading. He realizes that he is speaking perfectly on the recording and he returns to Logue for more lessons.

Meeting The Mentor

The next time he sees Logue, Bertie has accepted that this man is going to be his true mentor. He still doesn't want to talk to the dude about personal matters, but Logue has ways of sneaking around the walls that Bertie keeps putting up. He begins by insisting that he and Bertie will have to learn to trust one another and even become friends if his treatments are going to work.

Crossing The Threshold

Things look good as Logue goes through all kinds of silly exercises with Bertie and teaches him how to form syllables properly. In a cool Rocky-esque montage, we can see Bertie slowly but surely getting better with his speaking.

He even learns how to swear in front of Logue and be comfortable with him. But, as we all know, it's still too early in the movie for the conflict to be resolved…

Tests, Allies, Enemies

Unfortunately, all of Bertie's progress seems to go out the window when he's confronted with a stressful family situation. He goes after his older brother David about neglecting his duties as the new King of England, but he can barely get a word out once David starts bullying him and making fun of his stutter.

Bertie returns to Logue frustrated and humiliated, feeling like all the progress he's made is now gone. He has put his speech training to the test and failed miserably in his own mind. Now his brother is going to ruin England and there's nothing he can do about it.

Approach To The Inmost Cave

In their next session, Logue is interested to know why Bertie stutters so much more around his older brother than he does around Logue. Bertie resents Logue prying into his personal life. But he eventually learns to talk about his early childhood and how one of his first nannies hated him and even starved him. It's clear that some sort of early childhood trauma has had a role to play in Bertie's stutter.

Ordeal

Things get really, really bad when David leaves the throne. Now England is about to go to war with Germany and it has no king to rally behind. As the next person in line for the throne, Bertie realizes that he will have to become king.

But he doesn't want to be king because it'll just expose his stutter to the public even more. Worse yet, he feels like he's going to let down his whole country by being unable to inspire them with speeches like his father used to.

Reward (Seizing The Sword)

When Bertie finds out that Lionel Logue has no training or credentials in speech therapy, he accuses Lionel of betraying him and betraying all of England by posing as a certified speech therapist. Logue makes one final gambit by saying that he shouldn't bother listening to Bertie.

In the end, he lures Bertie into making a passionate speech about how he deserves to be heard because he's a man with a voice. The gamble pays off, as Logue and Bertie emerge from the argument better friends than ever. Better yet, Bertie now respects himself as a human being and believes in his right to be heard.

The Road Back

Now that Bertie believes in himself, there's still the minor issue of him having to give an insanely stressful wartime speech to all the citizens of the United Kingdom. With Logue's help, Bertie prepares for the speech and does a great job. It's his best speech yet, and everyone knows that the public will rally around him.

Resurrection

After giving his first wartime speech, Bertie emerges from the recording booth a new man. He takes his daughters in his arms and kisses his wife, basking in the triumph of what he's accomplished. The leaders of England congratulate him for a job well done. But the most important thing is that Bertie and his wife Elizabeth both acknowledge Logue as a personal friend and thank him for everything he's done.

Return With The Elixir

As many of us know, England and its Allies would go on to win World War Two. And the notes onscreen before the credits roll tell us that Bertie would go on to be one of England's most beloved kings, and that he would remain friends with Lionel Logue for the rest of his life. (Aww.)

That's not to say that Bertie ever fully became cured of his stutter. It would always remain a struggle. But people like Lionel Logue would always be there to make sure he didn't have to face the struggle alone.