Mean Girls - the Hero's Journey
Explore through any film of your choice using either Vogler's, Voytilla's or Cochrane's model, the concept of the Hero Journey as discussed by Joseph Campbell in his book The Hero of A Thousand Faces.
In a world whereby diverse cultures and religions collide amongst the disparate and polarized people of our planet, there are few pervading threads that adhere the seams of human life and experience as vividly and profoundly as mythology. Emerging from the first primordial peoples of the earth, from the Occident to the Orient, mythology appears to be an almost innate and inbuilt feature of the human psyche; as religion fuels the contention of superhuman gods who perhaps once sowed the seeds of life, mythology yields the direction and guidance that we all individually require whilst balancing on the beam of existence. Timeless in nature and endlessly influential, the mythic structure reflects the journey we all experience from the cradle to the grave, whereby the fantastical monsters and heroes of yesterday now act as allegorical agents for surviving the trials and obstacles of today. These archetypes, the mystic guides we associate wholeheartedly with fantasy and exaggeration, are found not only in ancient scriptures and folklore, but also deep within the recesses of our unconscious where these characters facilitate the uncertain and perilous path of living. They exemplify how the human psyche sculpts separate dimensions to our personalities to cope with the theatrics the world stage may throw at us, whereby psychologist Carl Jung (1961) identified a particularly strong correlation between dream characters and the mythic archetypes; he postulates that they are both originating from the same source, the collective unconscious, whereby the human psyche manifests itself through mythic figures in dreams. (Jung, 1961) Myths are therefore psychologically accurate; they represent the inner mechanics of our minds, the universal cogs and gears constantly rotating the
In a world whereby diverse cultures and religions collide amongst the disparate and polarized people of our planet, there are few pervading threads that adhere the seams of human life and experience as vividly and profoundly as mythology. Emerging from the first primordial peoples of the earth, from the Occident to the Orient, mythology appears to be an almost innate and inbuilt feature of the human psyche; as religion fuels the contention of superhuman gods who perhaps once sowed the seeds of life, mythology yields the direction and guidance that we all individually require whilst balancing on the beam of existence. Timeless in nature and endlessly influential, the mythic structure reflects the journey we all experience from the cradle to the grave, whereby the fantastical monsters and heroes of yesterday now act as allegorical agents for surviving the trials and obstacles of today. These archetypes, the mystic guides we associate wholeheartedly with fantasy and exaggeration, are found not only in ancient scriptures and folklore, but also deep within the recesses of our unconscious where these characters facilitate the uncertain and perilous path of living. They exemplify how the human psyche sculpts separate dimensions to our personalities to cope with the theatrics the world stage may throw at us, whereby psychologist Carl Jung (1961) identified a particularly strong correlation between dream characters and the mythic archetypes; he postulates that they are both originating from the same source, the collective unconscious, whereby the human psyche manifests itself through mythic figures in dreams. (Jung, 1961) Myths are therefore psychologically accurate; they represent the inner mechanics of our minds, the universal cogs and gears constantly rotating the
References: Batty, C., (2010) Physical and Emotional Threads of the Archetypal Hero’s Journey. Journal of Screenwriting, 1(2) Bulfinch, T., (1979) Myths of Greece and Rome Campbell, J., (1949) The Hero with a Thousand Faces. New York: MJF Books Campbell, J., (1988) The Power of Myth Tyldesley, J., (2011) Myths & Legends of Ancient Egypt. St Ives: Penguin Books Vogler, C., (1992) The Writer’s Journey Voytilla, S. (1999) Myth and the Movies. California: Michael Weise Productions Bibliography Batty, C., (2010) Physical and Emotional Threads of the Archetypal Hero’s Journey. Journal of Screenwriting, 1(2) Bulfinch, T., (1979) Myths of Greece and Rome Campbell, J., (1949) The Hero with a Thousand Faces. New York: MJF Books Campbell, J Campbell, J., (1988) The Power of Myth. New York: Doubleday Campbell, J., (2004) Pathways to Bliss Cousinea, P. and Brown, S.L. eds., (1990) The Hero’s Journey. San Francisco: Harper & Row. Publishers Fuller, A.R., (1986) Psychology and Religion Hunter, R. (1993) Apollonious of Rhodes: Jason and the Golden Fleece. Great Britain: Oxford University Press Reeves, J., (1987) Heroes Monsters: Legends of Ancient Greece Tyldesley, J., (2011) Myths & Legends of Ancient Egypt. St Ives: Penguin Books Vogler, C., (1992) The Writer’s Journey Voytilla, S. (1999) Myth and the Movies. California: Michael Weise Productions