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Elements of the hero's journey
The hero's journey analysis
The hero's journey analysis
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Everybody is obsessed with the Zombie Apocalypse these days. Bumper stickers reading “My zombie ate your honor student” and television documentaries about “preppers” who are ready for the zombies to come; even Law agencies placing their officers in specially designed zombie apocalypse training courses. The result of all of this zombie hype is that everybody wants to test themselves—to be the one who survives and saves mankind. Joseph Campbell’s monomyth of the hero’s journey is widely accepted as the basis for most, if not all heroic tales. Campbell relates that the hero begins ordinarily and is then called to the adventure, usually with the help of somebody. The hero must cross a threshold into danger and during the quest he/she faces trials and tests. Finally the hero meets the ultimate challenge; afterward returning home with some elixir or knowledge that betters themselves or human kind (). The role of the hero is one that appeals to anyone from elite soldiers to ordinary civilians—and Shaun is an ordinary man. More ordinary, perhaps, than anybody has ever known, but like so many people today aspire to be, he survives a zombie outbreak and ultimately becomes the hero in the movie Shaun of The Dead, written and directed by Edgar Wright.
As an electronics salesman in his late twenties, Shaun doesn’t have much to brag about in life. He drinks at the same pub everyday with the same friend and has the same relationship issues with his girlfriend that they’ve had for years. In the early scenes of the film, Shaun fails to maintain this relationship and Liz dumps him. He then ends up at his local pub and again, drinks himself under the table. Shaun’s character represents the status quo that so many people are a part of; t...
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...s. So humankind gains a workforce that enables them to relax more and work less.
Shaun of The Dead portrays many aspects of Campbell’s monomyth. Its hero, Shaun, starts in the status quo and has a call to adventure which requires him to cross many thresholds. Along the journey he is tested and finds help from his companions who fight alongside him in the final and strongest battle. Shaun as the hero gets the reward and returns home with it as well as something that improves the lives of mankind. Though slightly unorthodox, Shaun is a reflection of the hero in us all. He is the hero who likes to drink a bit too much and who can’t always satisfy the people in his life. He is like so many people today who feel like they are going nowhere with their job or relationships, but he overcomes his problems when duty calls and saves the day.
Who is your hero? Many of us can clearly picture our idea of our personal hero in our head, but is the person you consider to be a hero really a hero by definition? In Heroism: Why Heroes are Important, Scott LaBarge, a Classics and Philosophy Professor at Santa Clara University, awakens your thoughts on the word heroism and how it has changed since its origins in ancient Greece. Throughout his essay, he goes in depth into the term ‘hero’ and compares it to society’s take on heroes today. Although LaBarge uses examples to back up his stance that “Today, it is much harder to detach the concept of heroism from morality (LaBarge. 1),” his essay contains flaws and he contradicts his own words.
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 tragic death of a flawed hero can redeem and save both the hero and those who look up to him/her. In Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, a man named Randall Patrick McMurphy saves a ward and its patients from self destruction. The power hungry Nurse Ratched rules as Chief Bromden narrates. In a similar fashion, Abigail Williams reigns over Salem. Her and her group of girls will eventually be taken down by John Proctor in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. Both novels end with the downfall and deaths of McMurphy and Proctor, helping to save the ward and Salem. Randall Patrick McMurphy and John Proctor begin their journey as selfish but grow to become heroes along the way.
George Romero's reinvention of the zombie in night of the Living Dead (1968) is clearly a critique of elements of the American society, and the film as a whole is easily twisted into a warped view on the 'American Dream'. Themes throughout Romero’s film, dealing with controversial topics during the time that the film was made, are still, to this day debated by critics and film historians. Themes of racism and war are defined within the movie, hidden underneath the idea of carnal, cannibalistic zombies and over the top heroes who, eventually, succumb to the reanimated; despite their every effort. These themes are colored over and painted to hide beneath subtle references to the typical American Dream during this time, and Romero does quite the good job at it too. This dream, whilst continuously changing in the everyday lives of modern Americans, can be loosely defined as a national ethos of the United States, or a set of ideals dealing with freedom and the opportunity for success - an upward social status that can be achieved through hard work and effort.
The zombie sequence has become extremely popular with the increase of novels and films recently produced. George Romero and Maximillian “Max” Brooks are two popular screenwriters focusing on zombie stories and horror films. George Romero is an American-Canadian film director and producer best known for his horror film Night of the Living Dead (Staff, 2012). Max Brooks is an American horror author and screenwriter best known for his novel and now film World War Z (Staff, 2012). Romero and Brooks are both zombie fanatics who have many similar interest in undead creatures and numerous differences as well. The ideal view preferred in society is fast-moving zombies. Both authors scripts reflect this preference. Romero and Brooks are both talented authors in showing others their beliefs in zombies.
Night of the Living Dead represents more complex issues such as race, politics, and war and Ben was fighting the undead not just for himself, but also for the good of the collective. The 60s sparked a counter-culture that grew and spread throughout the Western world and according to the book by historian Terry Anderson titled “The Movements and the Sixties;” “ [t]he aggregate movement gained momentum as the Civil Rights Movement continued to grow, and would later become revolutionary with the expansion of the U.S. government's extensive military intervention in Vietnam” (Anderson, 254). The film emerged from the some of the most turbulent years in American history and Night of the Living Dead becomes the embodiment of the cultural revolution of the 1960s. Shaun of the Dead, on the other hand, embodies a more individualistic and narcissistic society. You can even say that characters portrayed in the film are socially unaware. Shaun and his friends do not seem to care about issues such as social injustices, politics or war. They take an active role of ignorance and entitlement and are apathetic towards causes outside the individual. Just as the Vietnam War was happening in 1968, the war in Iraq was happening in 2004, but the government no longer enforces the draft system (which is a positive change), and enlisting to fight for your country has become a voluntary decision of the individual. Our generation’s narcissistic and selfish behavior can perhaps be attributed to the idea that social issues are no longer dire than that of our personal responsibilities such as having a job, raising children, the day-to-day activity that consumes all our energy. Who wants to think about police brutality when a
Schumacher claims that mass production through specialization of labor actually do more harm to the poverty-stricken countries. He argues that the specialization of labor was developed to benefit nations with small populations, whose growth was restricted by the shortage of labor, and is therefore incompatible with developing countries that generally have large populations. Specialization of labor in nations with large populations serve only to enslave the majority of the populus to the monotonous production of goods that is devoid of any spiritual purposes and restricts the workers’ creative potentials.
George R. Romero modernized the concept of the “zombie” in the film “Night of the Living Dead”, which revitalized the genre and reintroduced it to mainstream audiences. In Romero’s films, zombies are not the main antagonist, and instead, the villains are usually other human beings, making it so that zombies are presented as a physical projection of the tensions between the characters. (Feshami)
“Shaun of the Dead” might not be the best way to help a reader understand. But, through virtue and always wanting to do good, Shaun teaches us about some of the key terms that Aristotle talks about in Nichomachean Ethics. We learn through his struggles in the Zombie Apocalypse how someone can achieve good. Aristotle talks a lot about how being good happens within the mean and with virtue. Shaun starts off being stuck in the mean and having no want to be good. But he grows and works at being good. If we can all find ways to live virtuously and with good intent like Shaun did in the movie, then the world would be a much better
When reading a novel or watching a movie, the audience often looks for a guiding light; a character that steps up to take the lead when all hope is lost. It is not uncommon for that beacon of hope to be a complete stereotype, all too often, the hero of the day is a strong, virile, ruggedly handsome man, but what if he was not? What if he was just an average man, or not even a man at all, but a woman or a child? When reading fiction, the imagination is allowed to run wild, painting vivid pictures interwoven with personal life experiences, relatable to the characters in the novels and to one’s own life experiences. The most memorable content of both The Road, by Cormac McCarthy, and World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War, by Max Brooks, leaves a lasting impression due to strong lead characters, their resolve to survive, no matter what obstacles may wind up in their paths, and the simple truth that they are human and flawed, but still resilient and willing to push forward as an example to others, both in the novel and in the target audience.
Heroes come in all varieties and forms and are imperative to almost any story. A hero may not always be the leading man or powerful and prominent figure in a situation and in Shakespeare’s tragedy of Macbeth, the Scottish nobleman Macduff arises from the abundance of characters as a humble hero. Macduff begins as a silent, static character and develops from a less than glorious beginning to eventually help lead(motivate) an army and ultimately save Scotland by ridding the country of its’ apocryphal king. Through this, Macduff can be characterized as Macbeth’s honorable and brave opposition and the hero of the play.
Goal: pacify and secure a stable and predictable work force for modern capitalist industry (today, workers are no longer needed, so need to regulate even more efficiently)
For most people, working isn’t just a way to earn a livelihood. It’s a way … to make friends and form communities … and to know themselves and others in a deep way. … [Workplace] is also a source of citizenship, community, and self-understanding.
...e the book “Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Zombies” to argue that modern zombies needed a new definition, but he achieved more than just his goal. Mogk defined what he believes the modern zombie is, and he effectively argues why zombies are important. Mogk targeted a very wide audience, but he was able to appeal to that audience because he effectively used qualified evidence and backed the evidence up with a clear analysis. “Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Zombies” is a very informative book and it taught the readers many facts about zombies and important tips on how to survive in an emergency. While zombies have not made an appearance in reality, when they do the readers of this book will be prepared to survive the zombie apocalypse.
On June 6, 1943, in Greenbow, Alabama, an unexpected hero was born with a crooked spine and strong legs. Forrest Gump is not an expected conventional hero, however his accolades and accomplishments suggest otherwise. A hero is someone who inspires and instills good morals upon others by their courageous and outstanding acts. Forrest demonstrates these characteristics multiple times during his heroic journey. Whether it be diplomatic pingpong, fighting in the Vietnam War, becoming a local football legend at the University of Alabama or donating money to a deceased friend’s family, Forrest influenced many people with his unselfish and charitable acts. Joseph Campbell’s monomyth consists of the following stages: taking place in an ordinary world, a call to adventure, refusal of said call, meeting with a mentor, crossing the threshold, trials and tribulations, an approach to the final challenge, an ordeal, a reward, the journey back, a purification or resurrection into the normal world and a return home with the capabilities to alter the world in which he lives. Many heroes follow this journey and Forrest Gump is no exception.