The Hero’s JourneyJoseph Campbell’s

Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949)

Identifying qualities that make a hero Analyze how a hero becomes a hero using

Campbell’s Monomyth Formula

Question to consider today:

How does a hero become a hero?

What you’ll be doing today…

Preamble: Take 2 mins to make a list of all the

qualities associated with a hero- be as specific as you can

What exactly is a hero?

Hero Picture Analysis

Who is this character?

What makes this character a hero?

Does the hero have any flaws/weaknesses?

Hero Picture Analysis

Who is this character?

What makes this character a hero?

Does the hero have any flaws/weaknesses?

Hero Picture Analysis

Who is this character?

What makes this character a hero?

Does the hero have any flaws/weaknesses?

We will now take a few minutes to read together a short story…

I will read out loud… You will annotate or highlight any parts of

the story where you see heroism being demonstrated…

What did you learn about heroes according to the story?

Bringing these out to the floor…

Heroes Among Us“Subway Story”

So how do you know when a hero is a hero?.... In walks in Joseph Campbell…

Joseph Campbell- Wrote a book called

“Hero with a Thousand Faces in 1949- describing the journey a hero goes through in mythology in very specific stages

Greek Mythology In pairs, take out the “The Top 10 Heroes of

Greek Legend” Compare your understanding of each of the

10 heroes based on what you read You should know the basics now of all 10

heroes… Let’s bring these out to the floor…Achilles Attacking Troy

Examples of Greek Mythology

We are now going to watch a short animated version of the story of David & Goliath

Some questions to guide you as you watch…1. What challenges does David have?2. How does he overcome them?3. What lesson does this story teach you?David and Goliath

Examples of Biblical Heroes

To end our session on myths and legends, you are going to create your own hero.

Here are some simple guidelines: You can draw, make a body outline, print from

La Negra an image-your choice Choose what powers and characteristics your

hero has Do they have an enemy? Do they have weaknesses? You can include anything else about your hero

Creating Your Own Hero…

Some questions to get us thinking before we dive into the Hero’s Journey as described by Campbell..

Take 2 mins to respond to these questions…

1. What are hardest aspects of being a hero?2. How do you know when you are in fact a

hero?

Joseph Campbell and The Monomyth

In most narratives (stories), the hero is always left with choices to make…which paths to take…those choices determine the outcome of the hero’s journey

The Hero Must Make Choices…

Campbell called this journey with stagesThe Monomyth

His argument about heroes…

All major stories in the bible and in Greek mythology have a formula for their stories

At the center is the hero

Some things to know about heroes…

Universal Theme

Truths about life that any person can connect with i.e. love, friendship, death, etc

Archetypes Every story has

different characters that help and challenge the hero

These “other” characters are called Archetypes

They are like a “blueprint” or “model”

The hero is never alone in the quest…

There are people present in the story that support but also challenge the hero

The 12 Common Archetypes

Examples of Archetypes

DepartureInitiationTransformationReturn

The Stages of the Monomyth…

Departure

The Call: Place in life where things are going to change – they may take challenge willingly or by force

The Threshold: Person crossed field of adventure leaving the known and ventures to unknown

Initiation The Challenges: Series of

tests, obstacles, person must undergo to begin transformation-failure is a part of this for growth

The Abyss: Greatest challenge of journey, must face their worst fear alone –AKA “Slaying the dragon”

Transformation

The Transformation: Death and rebirth- part of person dies so that new one can be born- i.e. fear must die to turn into courage

The Revelation: Sudden dramatic change in way person views life

The Atonement: Person is at peace with their new self- incorporate changes from “journey” and are “reborn”

The Return

The Return: Final stage of journey is return to everyday life, discovery of gift based on what they have learned- essence of return is contributing those lessons learned to the greater society

How does this theory help us understand the “hero” in narratives (stories)? What insight (understanding) do we get?

What happens if the hero fails one of these stages, does the hero still exist?

Questions to Consider…

Before you can start to identify the stages using Star Wars…

Let’s watch something short so you can practice

We are watching a 22 minute episode of Ultimate Spiderman (From Netflix)

Your job is try and identify the stages present in this short episode.

Go ahead and use a Thinking Log for this I saw… and I thought….

Practicing the Monomyth

REMINDER and TIP:Start to make connections with NPR piece for this week’s blogging.

Questions?

Before we dive into the movie next week, let’s become familiar with the creator George Lucas and the saga that is Star Wars

Here is a documentary from the History Channel that gives you better insight into Star Wars

Star Wars: A Legacy Revealed

Star Wars & The Monomyth