What it's like to have a dragon best friend Imagine the fear of losing your parents to a car crash in the middle of nowhere, you're all alone surrounded by the scary wonders of nature then all the sudden you interact with a creature you did not believe existed. The fear of what was hidden beneath the shadows of the forest could not overwhelm him forever. As soon as Pete took a step into the forest his archetypal journey had began. Pete did not want to face his fear of nature or what occurred within them. He risked consequences, but he had already stepped inside. He believed there would be a large challenge that came upon him which caused him to become frightened. Pete did not believe in himself when it came to strength and confidence. Pete wanted to give up and turn around but along came a large …show more content…
beautiful creature that soon led him through this incredible journey.
In the film Pete's Dragon, David Lowery conveys the hero's level of strength and the journeys plot line to reveal how we as humans tend to avoid frightening paths because they challenge our abilities and all we want is for life to take us through easy and non-stressful paths; however, the frightening paths always end up leading us to the most incredible moments. In the beginning of the movie Pete's Dragon, Pete a young boy who was put through a difficult situation strongly believed he would not be able to survive. After the loss of his loving parents he chose to take on the archetypal journey full of confidence and strength, he met a friendly creature along the way. According to the movie Pete's Dragon, Elliot swoops Pete off his feet on to Elliots hand and as Pete is staring into Elliot's eyes he states “Are you gonna eat me?”. After, Pete finally decided to face his fear of what lied within the woods. As he took a step in, he heard terrifying noises which
caused him to doubt himself and wondered why he chose to go inside. He had no other choice, he was in the middle of nowhere. A large green creature came along and lifted Pete off his feet, he was terrified. His thoughts had then overwhelmed him and took over his brain. The way Pete's eyes glowed up as Elliot swooped him off his feet seemed as if he was terrified. Elliot gave pete a crazy look, Elliot was not there to hurt him, he was there to help. Elliot was a strong archetypal hero who led Pete through his whole future. The hero archetype explains Elliot in every way. Pete was not ready to face this journey on his own, so Elliot and Pete faced it together. Elliot was a dragon but Pete did not understand, so he chose the name Elliot. Pete was a young kid who needed a water source, food source and clothing. Elliot was able to provide Pete with those 3 things just by flying around the woods and searching for the most useful products. Pete and Elliot became best friends, they took on a 6 year journey together with no danger to haunt Pete. Elliot was his protector, he even helped Pete gain confidence and the ability to face his fears without giving up. Pete and Elliot soon had to face an even larger fear, but separated this time.
There are many differences between the archetypes of the hero’s journey. For instance The Hobbit is about a hobbit that is taken on a journey with dwarves to reclaim the Lonely Mountain. While A Long Way Gone is a story about a boy who is separated from his family and is drafted into the army to do unspeakable things.The hero’s journeys in The Hobbit and A long way gone were very different from each other.
...o face our fears, looking them dead in the eye. He notes that tigers only attack when you are not looking straight in the eye. When Pi tries to tame Richard Parker by blowing the whistle, while Richard Parker is seasick. Pi faces his fears instead of letting it sit there and control him. We need to ‘blow the whistle’ on our own fears and admit we do have a fear, so they become easier to control in our lives. Richard Parker also teaches Pi his inner strength even though Pi does not display it himself. "This was the terrible cost of Richard Parker. He gave me a life, my own, but at the expense of taking one. He ripped the flesh off the man's frame and cracked his bones. The smell of blood filled my nose. Something in me died then that has never come back to life. (Martel 139)”
Once leaving the unknown, our hero, according to his/her circumstances must face his demons by slaying the dragon. It is now our hero overcomes to be a better version of himself/herself. Slaying the dragon is something the hero probably ran from their entire life up until this point. It’s what has scared our hero the most.
Aristotle, an ancient Greek philosopher and scientist, conveys, “Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom”. In other words, Aristotle states that the gaining of self-knowledge provides an individual with the ability to know one’s personal gifts and accountabilities. To start one’s adult life a person must pursue the journey of self-discovery to learn in depth about their skills and weaknesses. Individuals must find themselves through the limitations and ordeals that they face during their voyage for self-awareness. For example, in Tim O’Brien’s short story, “On the Rainy River”, the narrator shares his story about self-discovery. O’Brien looks back into his past, to the time when he was called to serve in the Vietnam War. O’Brien’s initial
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.
Joseph Campbell made himself one of the chief authorities on how mythology works when he published his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces. In this book, Campbell describes what he believes to be the monomyth, known as “The Hero’s Journey.” Campbell wrote that this monomyth, the basic structure of all heroic myth, has three basic stages, which in turn have subcategories themselves. The heroic story of Katniss Everdeen, told in the movie Hunger Games, follows Campbell’s monomyth outline quite well.
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
Joseph Campbell is well known for writing The Hero with a Thousand Faces outlining the stages of a hero’s journey. Ever since then, the hero’s journey became famous as it is used in many works of literature (Bancks). A literature work that represents the hero’s journey is Lord of the Flies. In Lord of the Flies, the protagonist Ralph presents himself a brave hero that undergoes the hero’s journey to return home. Ralph is on a plane which landed on an isolated island after a plane accident where the pilot is unconscious and most likely dead. Along with the other children who boarded the plane, they must survive and find a way to get home. According to Campbell, the three main phases of a hero’s journey is departure, initiation and return, separated into many stages (Siegelman). The departure stage is where the hero exits his comfort zone and enters into the world of the unknown. The initiation phase is where the hero is tested to prove his character and the return is when the hero returns home with a boon for the benefit of his people (Ubelhor). Lord of the Flies qualifies to be an example of the hero’s journey because the protagonist Ralph goes through the “departure, initiation and return” process of the hero expedition in order to show that he is a hero through his courage, intelligence and leadership.
Even still the unknown beckons forth and the uncertainty of life provides a larger, more enthralling sense of mystery within the Quest journey, and the unsureness every Hero must face creates life-changing decisions and the adornation of peril to path of the Hero sparks the growth in the Hero’s self. Whether it be celestial Thunder speaking of peace beyond understanding, a crazed fortune teller speaking of death, suspicious eyes watching over the, “dead lands” (Eliot, “The Hollow Men” 39) , or a renegade angel choosing to, “Better reign in Hell than serve in Heaven” (Eliot, Paradise Lost 263), no decision is ever made for the hero. The all encompassing Butterfly Effect revels within the decisions of the Hero, yet Fate always seems to throw
“There are all these books that say we create our own destiny and what we believe is what we manifest. You're supposed to walk around with this perpetual bubble over your head thinking happy thoughts and then everything is going to be sunshine and roses. Nope, sorry, don't think so. You can be as happy as you've ever been in your life, and stuff is still going to happen. But it doesn't just happen. It knocks you sideways and crushes you into the ground, because you were stupid enough to believe in sunshine and roses. (Stevens 99). She was forced to live every day of her life worrying about her family and friends. The likelihood of her feeling threatened by ‘the Freak’ is extremely high causing her to live in fear worrying about everyone that could be impacted. After being trapped in the woods for over two years she started to do nothing but look at the negatives of the scenario. The only light in the tunnel was when she was able to go outside for the fifteen minutes. Overall, the changes eventually led to the change in her personality as well as change in attitude and approach towards the entire
“The journey of the hero is about the courage to seek the depths; the image of creative rebirth; the eternal cycle of change within us; the uncanny discovery that the seeker is the mystery which the seeker seeks to know. The hero journey is a symbol that binds, in the original sense of the word, two distant ideas, and the spiritual quest of the ancients with the modern search for identity always the one, shape-shifting yet marvelously constant story that we find.” (Phil Cousineau) The Hero's Journey has been engaged in stories for an immemorial amount of time. These stories target typical connections that help us relate to ourselves as well as the “real world”.
What does it take for someone to be a hero? There is a set of rules that is known as the monomyth, or also referred to as the hero’s journey. The novel Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson follows the story of a young boy named Jim Hawkins who embarks on an adventure to find a buried treasure. Throughout the story he learns to become independent and survive on his own while on a ship filled with strangers. Some key aspects of the hero’s journey are that they involve a call to adventure, tests, elixirs and more. Treasure Island is a prime example of a story that follows the monomyth, as it contains all of the aspects that the monomyth portrays.
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 their journey by, “leaving one condition and finding the source of life to bring you forth into a richer more mature condition” (Moyers 1). She first enters her journey when she learns about invisible strength from her mother, “I was six when my mother taught me the art of invisible strength. It was strategy for winning arguments, respect from others, and eventually, though neither of us knew it at the time, chess games”(Tan 89).
In movies, novels, and life, people are named as heroes. The heroes we establish and the heroes we recognize, however, may not meet the criteria for a mythic hero. A mythic hero ventures forth on his journey, and comes forth from the hero’s path to greatness. Joseph Campbell, a mythologist who studied many of the great human myths and religious tales, realized, in studying these myths and tales, that there were certain steps that every hero went through. Campbell called this “The Hero’s Journey”; it is based on Carl Jung's idea that all human beings have an archetype. 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. 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.
As the bushes and brush grew more solid I began to ponder. Will I make it through this forest tonight or will I be taken in by the thick of the mystery? Sounds from sluggish foot steps caused a vibration around me that lead me to stop in my place and listen closely. Could this forest be haunted or was I just over exaggerating? I started to get very nervous by this time. “It will be just fine,” I told myself. I am just imagining things. I continued my journey through the forest but negative thoughts were running through my l...