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Elements of the hero's journey
Elements of the hero's journey
Hero's journey essay introduction
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Superman experiences many stages on the Hero’s Journey cycle, like challenges and temptations and Abyss. He experiences these stages in his journey so that he can become complete and accept who he is. He experiences temptations and challenges when he meets Louis Lane which made him want to show off and make his true identity known. He also has trouble fitting in on Earth. He doesn’t feel comfortable hiding himself and trying to be two different people at the same time. He also feels the stage of abyss when he metaphorically dies and Louis Lane dies.
Superman felt many temptations and challenges. Some of the challenges he faced was him having trouble hiding his powers, showing off to Louis Lane, hiding his identity, and fitting in. You can see how he is faced with the challenge of hiding his identity when he came to Louis Lane’s house as Clark Kent and almost told her who he really was. Since Louis Lane was superman’s love interest he would show off a little to impress her, but it was dangerous because him showing off to her gave his enemies the answers to how to destroy him. You can also see him having the trouble of fitting in when he was in high school. An example of this is how he wanted to be in sports and be like a normal teenager in high
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school, but he had to hide his powers and become part of the lower social class of his high school. While superman felt many challenges and temptations, he also experienced Abyss.
Superman felt this deep dark hole when he metaphorically died and when Louis Lane dies. He metaphorically dies when he had the Kryptonite chained around his neck and almost drowned. He metaphorically died there because he was helpless and couldn’t stop what was about to happen and that made him feel like he was failing the purpose his father sent him there. He was suppose to be a light and a protector, but he couldn’t protect anyone or even save himself in that one moment. When Louis Lane died it caused him to also feel like he failed. He felt anger and helplessness, which made him then make a hard decision that led to his
transformation. Superman felt these two important stages of the cycle, which greatly affected him and brought him towards feeling complete. He faced his challenges and temptations and in the end conquered many of them by accepting who he was and feeling the freedom to live. He also felt the stage of feeling like he was in an Abyss, which was him metaphorically dying and Louis Lane dying. He got out of this hole by feeling a whole new deeper level of human emotion and ultimately led to him saving Louis Lane and reaching the stage of atonement.
Society favors the outlaw hero because we relate with that character more. We see ourselves more so in the outlaw hero than in the official hero. The outlaw hero has the child like talents that most of us wish we had as adults. To civilians it may seem that the outlaw hero lives more of a fantasy life that we all wish to have. Superman’s image has remained unchanged over the years. A blue suit accompanied by boots, a belt and cape have always been the Superman style, along with the Superman emblem on his chest. Superman’s real name is Kal-El, a descendant of the Kryptonian family of the house of El, with his father known as Jor-El and mother Lara. Krypton was discovered to be in the last seconds of life due to the coming supernova of its sun by Kal-El’s father. The other members of Krypton did not believe Jor-El could not tell others of his answers and examinations. Jor-El promised that neither he nor his wife would leave and with every last possible choice eliminated, Jor-El would send his newborn son to the planet Earth. Kal-El then crash landed into the care of Jonathan and Martha Kent, two farmers in Kansas. He then adopted the Kent family name,...
To understand the root causes of Clark’s behaviors throughout the movie as they relate to his relationships, beliefs, and perceptions of the world, one would need to utilize another approach such as Bowlby’s Attachment Theory which attempts to understand how adult relationships are influenced by interactions with parents as children, and could be useful in enhancing the interpretation of Clark’s personality. The three types of attachment are secure, anxious-ambivalent, and avoidant; in Clark’s case, observations of his actions throughout the movie could lead one to speculate that he had an avoidant attachment given his hostility, defiance, and ardent, passionate self-reliance throughout the film. He shows hostility and defiance toward his boss and Eddie, and also seems to be ardently self-reliant in his efforts to follow through with the Christmas tree venture by cutting down the tree, stringing excessive lights on the house, putting in a pool, and so on. Analysis of Clark’s relationship with his parents at a young age could provide a better understanding of his actions and current personality which is lacking through use of any other psychological approach in
On one end of the spectrum lays Superman, an alien who from birth is comparable to god, and on the opposite side lays Lex Luthor, a genius human who comes from nothing and created a financial empire. Superman
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.
With reference to “Man of Steel” and “Superman 1”, Superman is much taller than Lois resulting in her constantly having to look up at him and having him shot with a low angle from the point-of-view shot of Lois Lane, having the effect of Superman seeming more powerful. Superman’s adoptive mother is also a stereotypical, stay at home mother while his adoptive father
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.
Waiting For Superman, written and directed by Davis Guggenheim, is a documentary that showcases the journeys of five children and their families’ toward potential acceptance into charter schools. Throughout the film, the establishment of several charter schools is shown, including Harlem Success Academy, founded by educator Geoffrey Canada. Another of the charter schools shown was Kipp Academy, developed by Mike Feinberg and Dave Levin. In 1994, Feinberg and Levin began redefining what was possible for a classroom of public school students in Houston, Texas. Kipp Academy’s founders believed that the establishment of Kipp would “help underprivileged children develop the knowledge, skills, character and habits necessary to succeed in college.”
The pressures of society and many factors against us can at times seem impossible to overcome, however, these limitations are only the ones we place on ourselves. Whether it’s during the adolescent years as Sherman Alexie explained in “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me”, about the struggles of overcoming the stigma bound by his culture where “A smart Indian is a dangerous person, widely feared and ridiculed by Indians and non-Indians alike”, as well as having the courage to break free for his own benefit. In addition, this theme was also explored in the later years of adulthood as demonstrated in Malcolm X’s essay, “Learning to Read” where he’d become so frustrated while kept in prison, unable to quite express himself as he did
A notable trait that strongly pops out for Superman is essential for a hero to be respected. “Wish that I could cry. Fall upon my knees. Find a way to lie. About a home I’ll never see” (Five for Fighting 3). When looking into what he says, he is stating what he wants in life, but some of his wishes have negative elements; such as lying. Stating what he desires into the public eyes not only takes courage, but Superman builds a strong honest relationship with his fellow citizens and real life readers. To illustrate how this applies in the real world, we must speak why society trusted heroes like MLK or Superman. The simple answer to that mind boggling question is, honesty. Now let’s move that to the side and see what Superman really wants to accomplish in life, “I’m just out to find the better part of me” (Five for Fighting 1). From this, we can conclude when he states that he desires to find the better part of him; it balances his self esteem, which the trait ‘humble’ falls perfectly under. To tell the truth, heroes from every media also have some sort of humbleness that they fall into; It doesn’t matter what kind of hero it is. Einstein for instance, even though he is head strong, he still acts like a goof, which is good in a way. For the past few moments, we have discussed what makes Superman, and any other hero-like figures, a hero, but that’s enough. It’s time to discuss the flaws that Superman specifically possess that make him an ordinary civilian. The one flaw that Superman has is expressed by the following. “I’m more than a bird. I’ more than a plane...It’s not easy to be me” (Five for Fighting 2). One can see that Superman is implying that he is telling the world that he is not a simple stereotype. He’s more than that and from the tone that he portrayed, it is obvious that he is
A story is the most powerful way to communicate a message and people repeat the same stories over and over to relate to each other and be part of the same shared history. For example, many stories of American slavery have been repeated to inform different generations about the injustices that occurred and allow the different generations to share the same history and experiences. From Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin in the 1850’s to Alex Haley’s Roots in 1976 and to 12 Years a Slave in 2013, the repeated story of the atrocities of slavery still creates united empathy among its audiences. Stories that get repeated are typically entertaining, informative, have proven success with the audience and is based on what the writer knows.
Another thing I want to bring into focus is the title of this documentary, which in a certain light is cynical. At the beginning Geoffrey mentions that the saddest day of his life was in 4th grade when his mother told him that superman didn’t exist. He cried because he realized that there was no one that could save us from the poverty we had all been born into. We all wait for superman because it seems that a task this great cannot be achieved by the likes of
The art that was done to show superman's blood and ripped up clothes, also Lois Lane crying her eyes out, shows such great detail and really know how the end really shows. The symbolism in the panel is Lois Lane and Jimmy, they are showing how much superman meant to everyone. Now that he’s dead, there is no hero in the
Lois Lane becomes a damsel in distress when she is captured by the ultra sphinx because she was was wearing a radioactive crown jewels given to her by Atlas. Samsung said that he gave her the crown jewels because he wants the help of superman in order to defeat the ultra sphinx. They wanted to lure superman because “We[Atlas and Samsung] couldn't fight the ultra sphinx without help…so…so…we led it here”(Morrison). Grant Morrison illustrates Lois Lane as a dependent, therefor she has to get a rescued by superman or any male character in general. Lois Lane is unable to move until Superman saves her and assures her Lois that she is safe, “It’s okay Lois, I got you”(Morrison). This text suggests that Lois Lane is incapable of saving herself, one could even argue that the superpowers endowed to her by superman are utterly useless. By giving Lois Lane super powers, Grant Morrison would be appealing to the female audience instead he writes Lois as someone who “…is constantly in need of rescue by superman”(Lavin).
James Whitlark’s article, “Superheroes as Dream Doubles” articulates “that contemporary superheroes are more psychologically complex” (108). As a result of this complexity the superheroes show double identities the person “.... is divided into two selves: one ineffectual, the other heroic” (107). This idea of superheroes with dual identities is prevalent in “Heat” an episode from the Smallville television series. Throughout the episode the viewers see the main character, Clark Kent struggle with controlling his unconscious thoughts which are brought on by Desirée Atkins who also happens to have a doubling side. Though hers is predominantly evil. Throughout the episode the viewers get to watch Desirée try to spread her evil ways on Clark and it is up to him to be able to control his unconscious thoughts and expose Desirée’s secret.
Superheroes are people we can look up to. They never surrender, they never fear anything or anyone, and they always know exactly what to do. Did Lex Luthor just give up? Of course not! Superman had to defeat his arch-rival with great perseverance.