Post on 02-Jul-2018
Archetypal CriticismThe Hero’s Journey And Hero Archetypes
The Hero’s Journey = the Monomyth
http://www.myhungergames.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/hunger-games-movie-wp_trio01.jpg
Art made by cavemen
Who is Joseph Campbell?
Joseph Campbell is the mythologist who coined the term “the hero’s journey”. According to him, there is one story which he referred to as a monomyth.
Campbell’s Hero’s Journey: Copy this...
The Hero’s Journey is the term used for a pattern that Joseph Campbell noticed occurs in myths, stories, movies and human experiences etc.. He recognized that the archetype “known as The Hero, the person who goes out and achieves great deeds on behalf of the group, tribe, civilization” commonly follows an adventure . He called this adventure “the hero’s journey”. In studying the hero’s journey, and applying it to our lives, Campbell argues that we humans can gain a greater understanding of our life path and become stronger individuals.
http://www.thewritersjourney.com/hero's_journey.htm
The Journey
An individual is called to leave his/her ordinary world and to enter into an adventure where he/she becomes transformed and then gives back to humanity.● Birth (fetus is transformed into a human)● Life (child transforms into an adolescent then
an adult through “milestones” and “rites of passage)
● Fiction (reflection of life)
Psychoanalytic Theory and Mythology
Joseph Campbell was inspired by:Sigmund Freud: the Id and the unconscious mindCarl Jung: the collective unconscious“ ...when we study the world’s mythologies and discover the archetypal patterns ...that essentially unite those mythologies, we study what we might reasonably call the dreams of humankind, in which we find information about the nature of humanity itself.” (Leeming 6).
The Hero’s Journey IS AN ARCHETYPE
THE STAGES OF THE JOURNEY
See handout...
1. The Ordinary World♦ Dorothy, an orphan, feels
that life is dull in Kansas and that she is unloved.
♦ Luke Skywalker is a farmer who longs for adventure
♦ Harry Potter, an orphan, seeks belonging
♦ It is important to see the hero in her Ordinary World to contrast this world with the next one.
The Call to Adventure
Fear is a Refusal of the Call. This is a stage in every hero’s journey. Luke decides to stay
and farm, but there isno farm to return to for him.
Sam Gamgee realizeshe has never strayed so far from the Shire.
Does Harry Potter have fears?
Mentors provide knowledge, inspire strength and often give magical equipment…
Crossing the First Threshold…♦ Crossing the threshold
means commitment to the adventure.
♦ It also means accepting the consequences of the journey.
♦ This is where the adventure takes off. There is no turning back….
Tests, Allies, and Enemies…
Approach to the Inmost Cave
The Ordeal♦ Here, the fortunes of
the hero hit bottom.♦ The greatest fear must
be faced.♦ This is also a black
moment for the audience as suspense over the hero’s fate is felt.
Reward (Seizing the Sword)♦ Having survived death
the hero and audience can celebrate.
♦ As Dorothy escapes from the Witch’s lair after defeating her with water, she has the broom and ruby slippers, her tickets home….
The Road Back
Resurrection ♦ In ancient texts, the Resurrection is a purification ritual before a hero returns to her community.
Return with the Elixir♦ The hero returns to her
Ordinary World, but the journey is pointless without a special elixir or lesson learned.
♦ Dorothy learns that she is loved: “There is no place like home…”
THE ARCHETYPAL CHARACTERS IN THE JOURNEY
HEROESSHADOWSMENTORSHERALDTHRESHOLD GUARDIANSSHAPESHIFTERSTRICKSTERSALLIES