The Hero’s Journey

1. The Hero’s Journey

2. The Hero’s Journey • The hero's journey is anancient story patternthat you can findin texts from thousands of years ago or in newly released Hollywood blockbusters. • Joseph Campbell discovered this pattern several years ago and wrote about it in his work The Hero With a Thousand Faces

3. Do the author’s know they are following a pattern? Yes and no Ancient hero's journeys (such as The Odyssey by the Greek poet Homer or the legends of King Arthur) were not composed with an awareness of the pattern. The hero's journey is largely the product of the scholarship of Joseph Campbell, who studied myths, stories, and religions from all over the world to find their common elements. More modern hero's journeys (such as the Star Wars saga or The Lion King) were created with an awareness of the pattern and have been criticized for following the pattern too closely.

4. How are all heroes the same? Heroes share a common function as symbols of the ideals and values of their communities and cultures. A hero learns something significant about the world and gains self knowledge on his or her journey, returning to his or her community to share that enlightenment with others.

5. Step One: Unusual Birth Oftentimes there are unusual circumstances surrounding the birth of a hero. The hero is frequently born to royalty or has a god or goddess as one of his or her parents. The hero is sometimes in danger at birth and needs to be hidden or disguised.

6. Heroes with unusual births • Jesus Christ: Christ is born as son of God to the virgin Mary and is threatened with death by King Herod. • Harry Potter: Potter is born to parents who are wizards and who narrowly escapes Voldemort's effort to kill him as a baby.

7. Step 2: The Call to Adventure Heroes can begin their journeys in a number of different ways, but usually a traumatic event occurs that leads to the hero wanting or needing to leave home. Note: The Call can come in many forms – Frodo’s ring, Dorothy’s tornado, or Harry’s letters.

8. Heroes Called to Adventure • Luke Skywalker (Star Wars) is called into action by the distress message from Princess Leia, and knows he can leave when his aunt and uncle are killed. • Mulan willingly leaves home to fight in battle against the invading Huns.

9. Step 3: Refusal When the a hero is called to leave home, he or she may refuse to leave at first, only to be convinced, tricked, or forced into leaving later. In other cases, the hero leaves willingly. Still other times, the hero begins the journey on accident.

10. Heroes who initially refuse the call to adventure Luke Skywalker’s initial refusal is reversed when the reasons for his refusal are removed from the picture (his aunt and uncle die)

11. Step 4: Meeting the Mentor The hero is usually aided by someone, often old and wise, with magical and mystical power. This figure serves as a guide and mentor as the hero embarks into a new world and faces challenges to his or her life and character.

12. Mentors • Rafiki serves this role to Simba in The Lion King • Ben Kenobi and Yoda serve as role models to Luke in Star Wars

13. Step 5: Obtaining the Talisman The hero often has a weapon or protective device given to him or her that will be useful on the journey. The supernatural helper may be the one to give the hero the weapon or to tell him or her about it.

14. Talismans

15. Step 6: Crossing the Threshold At some point, the hero leaves the familiar, safe world of childhood and home and enters fully into the new world of the journey.

16. Heroes crossing the threshold • Luke Skywalker experiences this disorientation among the aliens and creatures at the spaceport in Mos Eisley. • Mulan, pretending to be a boy, enters a new world at the all-male army camp.

17. Step 7: The Hero Faces Trials and Meets Allies and Enemies The hero has to succeed at a series of trials that challenge and build his or her moral strength and character. Typically, one of these trials involves a descent into the underworld where the hero may experience a wound that cannot be healed.

18. Heroes facing trials • Shrek (and many other heroes) has to enter and escape a castle while defeating a dragon • Hercules has a famous list of twelve trials as part of his hero's journey.

19. Allies and Enemies

20. Step 8: Approach to the Inmost Cave The inmost cave may represent many things in the Hero's story such as an actual location in which lies a terrible danger or an inner conflict which up until now the Hero has not had to face. As the Hero approaches the cave he must make final preparations before taking that final leap into the great unknown.

21. Harry and his Inmost Cave

22. Step 9: Achievement of Goal Upon successful completion of the trials, the hero achieves the ultimate goal of the journey. The goal may be an object, such as the Holy Grail; a conceptual task, such as the destruction of the Empire and Death Star; or knowledge or a state of being as in the story of Buddha.

23. Step 10: Reconciliation with a father figure If a division or conflict with the hero's father or father-figure is part of the hero's journey, reconciliation or healing with the father occurs as part of the hero's journey.

24. Heroes reconciling Simba is reassured by the starry figure of his father, Mufasa, in The Lion King. Luke takes off Darth Vader's mask so his father can see him with his own eyes once before he dies.

25. Step 11: The Road Back This stage in the Hero's journey represents a reverse echo of the Call to Adventure in which the Hero had to cross the first threshold. Now he must return home with his reward but this time the anticipation of danger is replaced with that of acclaim and perhaps vindication, absolution or even exoneration. But the Hero's journey is not yet over and he may still need one last push back into the Ordinary World. The moment before the Hero finally commits to the last stage of his journey may be a moment in which he must choose between his own personal objective and that of a Higher Cause.

26. Step 12: Resurrection This is the climax in which the Hero must have his final and most dangerous encounter with death. The final battle also represents something far greater than the Hero's own existence with its outcome having far-reaching consequences to his Ordinary World and the lives of those he left behind. If he fails, others will suffer and this not only places more weight upon his shoulders but in a movie, grips the audience so that they too feel part of the conflict and share the Hero's hopes, fears and trepidation. Ultimately the Hero will succeed, destroy his enemy and emerge from battle cleansed and reborn.

27. Step 13: Return Home The hero, sometimes willingly and sometimes unwillingly, again crosses the threshold and returns home. He or she brings new wisdom and important cultural values back to the community upon return.

28. Heroes bringing wisdom and cultural values home • When Simba returns to Pride Rock with his kind and moral leadership, the land returns to health. • Odysseus returns home with his wit and skill and purges his palace of the inhospitable suitors of his wife, Penelope.

29. Summing it all up:

30. Hero’s Journey clip http://digg.com/video/stages-hero-journey-animated

31. Mulan’s Hero’s Journey https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BUc37aVX88 https://prezi.com/d7ap48q5jn9d/the-heros-journey-mulan/