A new danger threatens the peace of a community. One brave hero takes it upon themselves to eliminate the threat and restore happiness among their people and become the master of themselves. Is this Jaws, Jurassic park, Godzilla, The Lion King, Spiderman, Harry Potter, or Beowulf, the Anglo-Saxon poem published in the eighth and 11th century? The truth is it is all of them. The heroes journey is the common template used by a broad category of tales that involve a protagonist hero who goes on an adventure, overcomes an ordeal, and comes back home rewarded and changed. Coraline, a 2009 American 3D stop motion dark fantasy horror film produced by Laika, follows much of the same template created almost 11 centuries ago. All stages of the heroes journey can be picked out of Coraline beginning with the ordinary world. The ordinary world for Coraline is an extremely bland place. It consists of two workaholic parents, detached from their daughter, an ancient home filled with dull furniture and washed out colors, and strange new neighbors. “ I almost fell down a well yesterday mom,” Coraline says. “uh-huh,” her mom replied. “I could have died,” Coraline states hoping for an actual response from her mother. “Thats nice, …show more content…
Her call was a hand made doll made by “the other mother” that was able to spy on her life through its eyes and see she was unhappy. “The other mother” then lured her in with a jumping mouse, something that was new and vibrant in Coraline's life. At first Coraline refuses the call to adventure by telling herself that the other world is just a dream, which is understandable considering that it is nearly an inconceivable thought to even dream up, a whole other world that is the exact same only better in every way, plus she only visits there at night. But she then accepts her call to adventure once she realizes her parents have been stolen and the other world is
The first part of the Hero’s journey begins in the ordinary world. In the book, Star Girl, the protagonist Leo’s ordinary world is his high school where there are no leaders and all students act the same. Although Leo is different than the others, he keeps to himself. The next part of the hero’s journey is the call to adventure. After seeing Star Girl in school everyday for some time, Leo begins to have a crush on Star Girl and thinks about her often. Leo refuses this call by telling his school show co-host, Kevin, that they shouldn’t have Star Girl on the show, although Kevin wants her on it. Leo refuses the call again when Star Girl calls him “cute,” and he blushes and says nothing.
The approach to the hero’s journey in The Hunger Games, Star Wars, and A Wrinkle in Time has many similarities and variables. A few stages of comparison with the three books are during the call to adventure/refusal, the ordinary world, and crossing the threshold.
Throughout literature, there is a prevalent model found in various narratives that ensures its success. This archetype, called the “journey of the hero,” discovered by Joseph Campbell, serves as a guideline of three stages for authors to manipulate to their own desire. The departure, the initiation, and the return essentially create the same storyline, yet these formats can be molded into unique and refreshing works of art. Aspects of the “journey of the hero” in the movie Shrek 2 are highlighted as the main hero, Shrek, and his wife Princess Fiona depart from their accustomed residence, the swamp, rediscover the meaning of true love through peril, and return with Shrek being able to balance his identity between an ogre and royalty.
People do not have to fly to be hero, it takes much more. Many heroes of today are shown to have supernatural powers that makes them acquire amazing abilities, flying, super strength, skills to manifest anything, the list goes on. Our heroes in the present time are perceived by the audiences' mindset to have special powers but there are times where being a hero does not need to have all the extra tricks. Thomas, a character in The Maze Runner is thrown unconsciously with no memory into a place of the unknown called the Glades, consisting of only teenagers inhabiting the area. He would soon find out the whole place is bordered by a big wall that closes by night and day to protect them from the maze that are filled with demonic machines that will kill on sight. This begins his adventure, eager to learn what is out there and willing to become a maze runner which is equivalent to being a tribute for the greater good in their little homemade society. Having powers might help to become a hero, but in the dystopian novel The Maze Runner, by James Dashner, his protagonist Thomas demonstrates the hero journey in a more natural way by crossing the threshold, meeting a mentor, and lastly having tests, allies and enemies.
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 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
My research for this report began when I read Joseph Campbell's article "Departure" in which he discusses folklore; he outlines the course of action that a hero takes in an adventure. He describes the five steps the hero takes as "the call to adventure, the refusal of the adventure, use of supernatural aid, crossing of the first threshold, and the belly of the whale." After reading Campbell's criteria of an adventure, I decided to choose a movie and see how it ties into Campbell's outline of an adventure. The movie I chose was Willow and in this report I will note how it complies with Campbell's outline.
The departure stage of the journey includes the call to adventure, a mentor or aid, and the belly of the whale. The call to adventure serves as an important stage because this is where the adventure starts. Lawson studied Joseph Campbell’s hero journey and wrote an article about it. Lawson delivers the idea that “the hero’s journey is set in motion by means of a supernatural event that casts the innocent into a strange and unfa...
Under the sea, in an idyllic and beautiful garden, stands a statue of a young man cut out of cold stone – for the Little Mermaid who knows nothing but the sea, the statue stands as an emblem of the mysterious over-world, a stimulus for imagination and sexual desire, an incentive for expansion of experience, and most predominately, an indication that something great and all-encompassing is missing from her existence. Traces of curiosity and a vague indication of the complexities of adult desires mark the child mermaid; in such a stage of development, the statue will suffice. However, as the Little Mermaid reaches puberty, the statue must allegorically come alive in order to parallel the manifestation of her new-found adult desires – the statue must become a prince in his world of adulthood above the sea. Thus, powered by an insistent and ambiguous longing for self-completion, the Little Mermaid embarks on a journey of self-discovery, and, to her ultimate misfortune, prematurely abandons her child-like self as sexual lust and the lust for an adult life takes hold of her.
Steven Spielberg’s Jaws (1975) and his other film Jurassic Park (1993) both contain a major theme of what makes a successful hero in society. In Jaws, police chief Martin Brody must successfully eliminate the threat of a Great White Shark from attacking Amity Island. In Jurassic Park, billionaire John Hammond creates a theme park where cloned dinosaurs come alive, hoping that his ideal resort becomes a major success. Through the use of film style elements, such as editing and mise-en scene, Spielberg develops Brody’s character as a person who must learn from his past mistakes in order to become a successful hero while Spielberg creates Hammond’s character as a man who only sees himself as a hero of science and technology without realizing his attempted control over nature is what leads him to his ultimate failure.
Coraline must find her parents and her way out before the “other” mother changes her. During her adventure, she finds many lost souls that she also must save. They were once children like her, but never escaped. My favorite part of the story was in the beginning when Coraline found the door and went right through into the other world.
“The other mother has encased in glass marbles” the souls of the ghost children and are hidden throughout her world (Parsons, Sewers, and McInally 379). Coraline’s exploring game of hide-and-go-seek has some frightening encounters, especially one she has with her other father. According to Parsons, Sewers, and McInally, for Coraline “to complete her journey” she must face her other father (381). “The other mother knowingly gives Coraline the key [from her mouth] needed to open the flat in which her other father has been imprisoned in the basement” (Parsons, Sewers, and McInally 381). When Coraline encounters her other father in the basement he is unrecognizable. Coraline’s other father is just mere creation by the other mother and she makes him try and hurt Coraline “so that [Coraline] can never finish the game and [the other mother] will win” (Gaiman 110). She is able to escape this encounter and finds all of the marbles that the ghost children are encased in. Now all Coraline has to find are her real parents.
These are developed from Joseph Campbell’s The Hero With A Thousand Faces and they outline a pattern of narrative principles that describe the typical journey of the archetype called ‘The Hero’ in a film.
One well-known example of “The Hero’s Journey” from popular culture is the Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, by J.K. Rowling. In the novel, Harry Potter, the main character, is the chosen one and “The Hero’s Journey” applies to his life from the moment he is attacked by He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named as a baby. Joseph Campbell calls the initial phase of a hero’s development the “Call to Adventure.” The call is the in... ...
A person can be a hero for saving the life of one or of millions. Heroes are not only real people, but they are also fantasy figures. Children are extremely interested with legendary and fantasy figures because they take on such tasks as: difficult journeys, challenges with dragons, discovering lost treasure, and changing the nature of the world through their singular acts of courage and selflessness. They also endure much resistance, hardship, and danger. Often the hero learns valuable lessons about survival and self-reliance. Not only do heroes teach valuable lessons they give a child a sense of belonging. To a child, a hero is an invincible person who will change the world.