In Joseph Campbell’s “The Hero with a Thousand Faces”, the hero undergoes a transformation throughout his journey. This transformation is an important part of the journey as it hooks viewers into the story by establishing a relatable character for the viewers, in addition to showing the hero’s struggles to change in his attempt to complete his quest.
When the hero is relatable, viewers will be able to understand the actions and growth of the hero. Not only does this ensure that the hero is a plausible being, at least in terms of the fictional world, it also allows the viewers to emphasize with the hero’s plight.
In a typical story of the hero’s journey, the viewers connect with the hero by accompanying him on the quest from the Departure
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At the start of a typical hero’s journey, the hero starts off immature and flawed in one way or another. However, he undergoes the journey in order to attain the Ultimate Boon. To do so, he has to endure through the trials in the Road of Trails, The Meeting with The Goddess, Woman as Temptress and The Atonement with The Father. As the hero surmount each trial, he matures and inches one step closer towards the Ultimate Boon. The Apotheosis marks the peak of his development, and at that point the hero is ready to take on any challenge to attain the Ultimate Boon.
In essence, the hero’s transformation illustrates the hero’s struggles to acquire the Ultimate Boon, which is a major element of a hero’s journey.
Below are the analysis of 3 different types of heroes to show how the hero’s transformation is an important aspect of his journey.
The first hero to be analyzed is the everyman hero, Lee, from the Walking Dead Game: Season 1. Lee is an everyman hero as he started off as an ordinary person with no special skills, though he had a somewhat tragic backstory of being convicted after murdering a state senator who had an affair with his wife in a fit of anger. Soon after the zombie apocalypse started and he was inadvertently freed, he met a young child, Clementine, who saved him from an attacking zombie. Lee then decided to protect Clementine and help her find her
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His backstory and motivations were made abundantly clear at the start of the story, thus explaining his quick temper as well as why he had to deal with the suspicions about his backstory and his reluctance to explain it. This relatability makes it easy for players to want to support Lee, especially since he was also generally kind and willing to put others before himself. This makes Lee’s actions in the game compelling and intriguing, as it is a reflection of the player moral choices.
This led to the struggles which he faced in the apocalypse. In the story, Lee underwent a transformation from a professor with a criminal record to a leader, making tough decisions for the greater good, which ranged from selecting who to feed in a food shortage, to choosing who to save first in a crisis, which usually leads to the other party dying. He also became a mentor to Clementine, teaching her how to defend herself despite his hesitance over the danger
After Campbell studied a lot of the great myths and realized this pattern, he published his findings in his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Ever since then, authors have used “The Hero’s Journey” as an outline to tell their stories. “It is important to note that not all of these individual steps are present in every hero’s tale, nor is it important that they be in this exact order” (Vogler 20). The Hero with a Thousand Faces gives a sense of significance as it looks into the inner mind and soul. The author, Joseph Campbell, performs two extraordinary accomplishments: compelling his readers that myth and dream, those are the most effective and everlasting forces in life and a unification of mythology and psychoanalysis with a gripping narrative.
the traits of becoming a hero. Sometimes it would have to depend on the wisdom that the character has. It is their purpose to explain what is going on in this story to make it clear for the audience to understand. Even some stories have insights of what a person can do.
...heir journeys or overcome their limitations had it not been for the gods. Of all of the requirements of heroism, being influenced by the gods is the most important. Only through the aid of the gods can a character defeat his shortcomings and truly understand what a hero is. The character must become overconfident and prideful, then, and only then, can the gods step in and break their faults. Finally, the hero either comes to realize how wrong he was or he dies in ignorance.
A hero puts other people before themselves and is admired for their qualities, courage, and achievements. A hero obtains knowledge throughout their journey of helping and healing. From Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huckleberry begins his journey with his first dilemma to save a slave, Jim. Huckleberry Finn begins to transform into a courageous hero when he learns the value of a human being.
As the story comes to its conclusion, the hero has endured his hardships; he went from the one that started fights to the one that thought of what could make everything work. An ordinary person in an ordinary world faced his share of trials and tribulations to come out as a new person. Defining the hero myth—he struggled and still was able to triumph to his prize at the end ; individuals relish these type of stories, they can
Watching a film, one can easily recognize plot, theme, characterization, etc., but not many realize what basic principle lies behind nearly every story conceived: the hero’s journey. This concept allows for a comprehensive, logical flow throughout a movie. Once the hero’s journey is thoroughly understood, anyone can pick out the elements in nearly every piece. The hero’s journey follows a simple outline. First the hero in question must have a disadvantaged childhood. Next the hero will find a mentor who wisely lays out his/her prophecy. Third the hero will go on a journey, either literal or figurative, to find him/herself. On this journey the hero will be discouraged and nearly quit his/her quest. Finally, the hero will fulfill the prophecy and find his/herself, realizing his/her full potential. This rubric may be easy to spot in epic action films, but if upon close inspection is found in a wide array of genres, some of which are fully surprising.
mythic story of the questing hero is a metaphor of the inward journey to self-knowledge, that
The human need to be relatable is unquenchable. We love to be able to see parts of ourselves in others, and to be able to feel like our idols are not untouchable. The Hero’s Journey format is one that can be found in almost any story, even in real life. Overall, it is the perfect recipe for keeping readers engrossed. Another place the journey has shown up is in Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand and Odyssey by Homer. These two stories—one a biography, the other, an epic poem—are so effective in their storytelling, it is easy to see how authors today continue to use the same method to make stories that grab the readers’ attention. What makes them most alike, however, is the emotions and thoughts they have the power to provoke.
To fully appreciate the significance of the plot one must fully understand the heroic journey. Joseph Campbell identified the stages of the heroic journey and explains how the movie adheres meticulously to these steps. For example, the first stage of the hero’s journey is the ordinary world (Campbell). At the beginning, the structure dictates that the author should portray the protagonist in their ordinary world, surrounded by ordinary things and doing ordinary tasks so that the author might introduce the reasons that the hero needs the journey in order to develop his or her character or improve his or her life (Vogler 35). The point of this portrayal is to show the audience what the protagonist’s life is currently like and to show what areas of his or her life are conflicted or incomplete. When the call to adventure occurs, the protagonist is swept away into another world, one that is full of adventure, danger, and opportunities to learn what needs to be learned. T...
The hero’s journey can be seen as a set of laws or challenges that every hero faces through their own journey(Christopher Vogler). The hero’s journey is used as a general term such as all
The Hero’s Journey is an ancient archetype that we find throughout our modern life and also, in the world of literature.Whether metaphorical or real, the journey that a character goes on shows not only the incredible transformation of the hero but it also gives them their life meaning. It is the ultimate human experience and it reflects on every aspect of life. Take Logan, also known as Wolverine, from the X-Men movie as an example. His adventure starts with “The Call,” which is the first step of the Hero’s Journey. This step happens due to the realization of imbalance and injustice that the character has in their life. Logan steps into the first stage of the pattern but is hesitant to start his adventure because he does not know what and
The embarkation of the hero’s journey is more than a call, it is taking control of your life and discovering the hero who dwells inside you. Each hero who enters the journey is tested to the very end of the cycle, where the hero must choose rebirth or death. Othello is man of many fortunes, but he does not have what it takes to complete the Hero’s Journey.
Holmes, Thomas. “The hero’s journey: an inquiry-research model. Jun 2007, vol 34 issue 5, p19-22.4p. 1 Diagram
Joseph Campbell defines a hero as “someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself ” (Moyers 1). The Hero’s Journey consists of three major parts: the separation, the initiation and the return. Throughout a character’s journey, they must complete a physical or spiritual deed. A physical deed involves performing a daunting and courageous act that preserves the well-being of another person. A spiritual deed calls for action that improves another individual’s state of mind. While fulfilling their journey, a hero must undergo a psychological change that involves experiencing a transformation from immaturity into independence and sophistication.Campbell states that these events are what ultimately guides a hero into completing
Myths have been a great example of the hero’s journey. Many heroes have journeys and trials to face throughout their life. Most of their journeys start out with their origin and end with the return. However, the hero’s role remains identical to every other hero. Most heroes like Gilgamesh has heroic traits because of the stages in the hero's journey. Gilgamesh is a man who can turn into a hero by changing himself, even when he has unusual circumstances surrounding his birth. Gilgamesh is viewed as a hero due to the stages of the hero's journey.