Demigods: Human Gods or Godly Humans?

Not so long ago I decided I was going to watch “Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief”. While watching this movie I discovered that there were quite a lot more mythological archetypes in this movie than I had originally thought there were going to be.

For those of you who don't know the movie, here is a summary of the movie.

Because so many of the aspects within this movie are important, it was hard to paraphrase the movie into a few simple paragraphs.

Movie Summary:

The movie “Percy Jackson & The Olympians; The Lightning Thief” is about a teenager named Percy who happens to be the son of the god Poseidon and a human mother.

The movie begins with the god of the sea, Poseidon, and the Zeus having an argument about Zeus's missing lightning bolt, in which Zeus claims that Poseidon's son Percy has stolen. Without the bolt, large storms build over the Earth below from Zeus's anger and no lightning is visible. The in the argument Zeus demands that Percy returns the bolt within a set amount of days or there will be a 'war of the gods”.

While the storm clouds accumulate, Percy attends school and does not know that his father is the god of the sea, however this would explain his miraculous ability to hold his breath under water for four minutes at a time and his gift of being able to read ancient Greek.

One day while on a school field trip, Percy is attacked by his teacher, who turns into a winged creature called a Furi and demands Percy to hand over the bolt. Coming to his rescue, the leader of the field trip and his best friend end up scarring away the beast, and the leader gives Percy a magical pen that he says will keep him safe.

Along the car ride to the “safe place”, a training camp for Demigods (the children of a god and a mortal), Percy's mother and best friend explain who his father is and the whole situation. Once at the site, the three of them are attacked by a vicious beast sent by Hades to capture Percy to find the bolt, however the beast ends up taking Percy's mom and Percy fights his first battle with the magical pen that can turn into a sword.

During his first fight, Percy his hurt and when he wakes, he is inside the training camp. He soon discovers his best friend is a Satyr (Half goat, half man), who is his protector.

In the camp Percy fights in his first capture the flag training battle and discovers his magical healing powers when he touches water to heal his wound. At a celebration party for Percy, the long awaited demigod, Hades erupts from the bonfire and demands to know where the lightning bolt is. After hearing that Percy does not have the bolt, Hades becomes mad and tells Percy he will never see his mother again.

Seeing that his mother has been trapped by Hades, Percy sets out with another demigod, Anabeth (The daughter of Athena), and his protector to go on a quest to get to the underworld an back to save his mother. Taking with them a map of where pearls to escape the underworld are held, a shield and flying shoes, all given to him by Luke (the son of the messenger of the gods), the trio sets out to find the pearls.

The first pearl was in a sculpture yard, home of Medusa. After killing Medusa and receiving the first of three pearls needed, they continued on to the second, a statue of Athena protected by a Hydra (a dragon like creature who can grow 3 more heads in replace of one, if chopped off), and then on to Las Vegas for the third.

After finding all three of the pearls, the trio then descended into the underworld. Only two of original people who entered could leave, while taking Percy's mother with them, because there were only three pearls for four people. In the Underworld is also where Percy discovers the lightning bolt was hiding in the shield given to him by Luke. Rushing to hand in the bolt before the war of the gods takes place, Percy lands himself in a fight between himself and Luke for the bolt.

In the end of the movie, Percy returns the bolt to Zeus, meets his dad, and returns back tot eh training camp safely.

The movie “Percy Jackson and the Olympians; The Lightning Thief' contains many mythological archetypes, including:

Heroic Archetypes

Hero as a Warrior: Percy would be this type of hero because he battles for his mother against Hades' minions and Hades himself.

Archetypal Journeys

The Fools Errand: This is shown in the movie when Percy enters the Underworld to save his mother, not knowing if he will ever be able to make it back out.

Stages of a Hero's Journey

Departure: Percy is thrust into the world of Greek gods as he becomes the prime suspect for stealing Zeus's lightning bolt. Percy is reluctant to leave his family for something he only just found out about.

Initiation: Percy trades in his quiet, normal life for the life of a Demigod. By doing this he enters into a world of war and tactics, as he soon learns in the camp.

The Road of Trials: There are many aspects from the movie that fit into this category. First, Percy breaks the rules and leaves the safety of the camp to find his mother, defeats Medusa, Defeats the Hydra, and escapes from the Lotus Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. After all of these things, Percy also had to choose who to leave in the Underworld as there were only three pearls, but four people.

The Innermost Cave: Percy enters the Underworld and has to face off against Hades.

Return and Reintegration with Society: Having found the bolt, Percy returns it to Zeus, prevents a war of the gods and restores the world to it's natural state.

Characteristics of a Hero's Journey

The Hero is naive and inexperienced: Percy only just heard of his powers within one day of being in the Demigod camp and sets off to save the world and his mother.

The Hero meets monsters or monstrous men: Along his journey, Percy meets many monsters. These monsters include; Medusa, Hades (in dragon form), a Furi (winged demon), Satyrs (half goat, half man creatures), Centaurs (Half horse, half man creatures), a Minotaur, and a Hydra (a three headed, fire breathing lizard who grows three more heads when one is chopped off.

The Hero has a strange, wise being as a mentor: Percy has two mentors in this movie, his father, Poseidon, and his protector and best friend, the Satyr.

The Hero struggles for something valuable or important: There are a few very important things Percy battles for in this movie; First Percy battles with himself for Anabeth's love, second he battles with Hades for his mother, and last, he battles for peace to gain the lightning bolt to return it to Zeus

The Hero has help from divine or supernatural forces: Percy's father Poseidon helps Percy throughout his task to find the bolt.

The Hero has a guide or guides: Percy has the help of his protector (the Satyr), who shows Percy his options and helps show him around.

The Hero has a loyal band of companions: Anabeth and his protector are the main people in Percy's loyal band of companions

Situational Archetypes

The Initiation: This occurs for Percy at his party when Hades shows up with a threat and shows him that his captured mother is still alive

The Task: Percy, his protector, and Anabeth must go to Hades in the Underworld to save Percy's mom, come back to give the lightning bolt to Zeus, and battle numerous mystical creatures on their way.

The Battle Between Good and Evil: Percy, his protector and the majority of the gods and demigods represent good, and Hades and Luke represent evil. During this movie, Percy or someone from the good side is battling someone from the evil side. In the end good ended up winning, as the bolt made it back to safe hands.

The Magic Weapon: The pen that turns into a sword, that Percy received from the leader at his school field trip and used to defeat the Minotaur, is the magical weapon that exists within this movie.

Father- Son Conflict: This conflict is seen between Percy and his father, Poseidon, because Poseidon came to Earth and married a woman, who had Percy, and the god was not allowed to stay to watch him grow up, so Percy feels abandoned by his father.

Symbolic Archetypes

Heaven vs. Hell: This is seen as Heaven is located High in the air, by taking the Empire State Building's elevator, to the top of Mount. Olympus and Hell is located at the center of the Earth.

Haven vs. Wilderness: This symbolic archetype is seen as Percy enters from the outer world, which is dangerous for him, supported by the fact that he had just been attacked by a demon, into the Demigod camp where he is protected from any dangers that roam outside the arches tot eh camp.

Supernatural intervention: In the movie, this archetype is shown when the gods help their Demigod children through bad situations

Colours

Black- Hades is seen wearing all black when Percy enters the underworld, suggesting that he is an evil person

Blue- Percy is seen wearing blue throughout the movie, which pushes the viewer to believe that he is innocent and truthful.

Numbers

Three- The Number three often stands for life, death, the trinity and birth. In the movie there are three pearls that Percy obtain in order to leave the Underworld. This idea of the number three suggests that the process to get the pearls is a life or death situations. This idea holds true in that is the did not get the pearls and went straight to the Underworld they would be stuck there and essentially be dead, so they need to get each pearl in order to be alive in the end of their mission.

Nature

Lightning- Lightning is usually used to show inspiration in a character. In this movie, Percy and his friends are inspired to go on their task after hearing that Zeus has lost his lightning bolt and seeing how the results of this could have a great impact on the world.

Character Archetypes

The Hero: Percy is the hero in this movie, because he sets out to save his mother and the world and aims to return the world to its natural setting by giving Zeus his Lightning bolt back.

The Initiates: Anabeth and Percy are the initiates, as they all had to go through battle and tactic training before they go off to complete their task.

The Mentors: Poseidon and Percy's protector are both mentors for Percy, because they offer him helpful hints and tips for him that help him with his task.

The Loyal Retainers: Percy has his protector and Anabeth who are always with him and helping him throughout the movie.

The Devil Figure: Hades the god of the underworld is the “devil figure”. In most modern movies, the “devil figure” will not actually be the devil, but rather an evil person, however this is not the case in this movie.

The Star-Crossed Lovers: The two characters who fit into this category are Percy and Anabeth because their parents hate each other, yet they love each other and still have some of their parents powers, so in all actuality they should hate each other.

“Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief” presents the idea that demigods were more human than god. This was shown in that all of the demigods were in human form and mortal, however, they did have some magical powers that were given to them by their mom or dad who happens to be a Greek god.

This idea surprised me because I had always imagined the demigods to be more godly than they were human.

Confused about how the demigods were viewed centuries ago by the Greek humans and the Greek gods, I decided to look up a myth about a demigod, so that I would be able to conclude how the demigods were viewed back then.

Hercules is an example of a demigod, being the son of Zeus and a woman named Alcmene. Hercules is said to have superhuman strength, and be at the stature of a god. Although still human, Hercules completed extreme tasks that were valued at the level of the gods by the Greeks. In the myth of Hercules, Zeus's wife Hera becomes very angry with Zeus and, taking her revenge, made Hercules become crazy. In his craziness he killed his wife and children and after coming to his scenes, he repented. In order for the gods to forgive him, they set up “Twelve Labours” for him to complete in order to gain their forgiveness. Hercules was able to complete the tasks and with doing so he was guaranteed to become a god when he died, which turned out to be not so long after he remarried.

Although Hercules had superhuman strength, it seems as though he was more human than god, in that he was able to be tempted to kill his wife and children. As a contrast, he seem to be more godly due to the fact that he had very god like views in that he wanted to make everything right again and regain his respect. But then again don't all humans try to regain their respect after losing it?

Could Hercules had just been trying to become a god by repenting and regaining his respect out of greed?

Do you think that Demigods were meant to be seen as more human or god?

Why do you think that the Greek gods were portrayed as oh so human-like in their actions?

Some examples of this from Greek mythology are Hera getting revenge on Zeus and Zeus giving in to the temptation of having an affair with another woman, a human woman. In this movie, this is seen by the gods fighting with each other.

Technology vs. Nature

The movie “9” is full of magnificent mythological archetypes. Before we get into picking out the archetypes, I figured it would be best if I gave you a little bit of a summary, just so you know what it is about.

Movie Summary:

“9” takes place after a war in which technology has wiped out the human race, and focuses on the idea that the human pursuit of technology can lead to complete human destruction.

This movie follows the adventure 9 fabric dolls to save the Earth from total destruction. The dolls were created by a craftsman before the destruction of the human race and each contains a piece of his soul. This craftsman was also the creator of the very first robot, however unfortunately the government took the robot and used it in battle, which led to the battle off human made robots against the humans.

The movie starts with the #9 doll awakening, finding and taking a mystery piece, and making his way to the outside world. Not knowing who he is or what is happening in the world around him, 9 sets out to find information about the past. Once outside, 9 meets #2, and is almost killed by a robot who finds and takes #2. Seeing from his lookout tower that #9 is in need of help, #5 leaves the safety of the doll's hideout to save 9 and returns to the hideout with 9.

In the hideout 9 finds that there are very strict rules that he must follow, and that the dolls operate by a hierarchy type system in which #1 is in charge. Going against the rules by leaving the hideout and entering the robot hideout, 9 and 5 set out to find and save 2. Along their mission they find 7, 3 and 4, who help them save 2, however 9 ends up messing up their hopes of saving the world from destruction when he places the mystery piece into a hole in the master robot, awakening it.

Realizing what has happened, 3, 4, 5, 7 and 9 set out to find more information on what their purpose is. After searching and finding large amounts of helpful information, the dolls returns to their hideout and brings 1, 2, 6, and 8 with them to destroy the robots. Encountering many robot attacks on their way, losing many of the doll's souls to the soul capturing robots, the remaining dolls are able to use their creativity and new found knowledge to defeat the robots.

Having destroyed all the robots and returned Earth to it's natural setting, or as close to that as possible after the destruction that has occurs, 9 is able to use his new found knowledge of the mystery piece to return all the doll's souls to where they belong, resulting in a sad, yet happy ending to a very unique journey.

Through out the movie, many mythological archetypes appear, such as:

Heroic archetypes

Apocalyptic Hero: Usually a hero who faces the possible destruction of society if he does not succeed. 9 faces the destruction of the world by technology if he does not succeed.

Archetypal Journeys

There are many of these types of archetypes seen in “9”.

In the beginning:

The Quest for Identity : 9 enters the world and does not know who he is or where he is so he searches for information about himself

Later on in the movie:

 The Journey in Search of Knowledge: 9 tries to figure out what happened to the Earth and how to defeat the robots

The Quest to rid the land of Danger: 9 sets out to destroy the robots after finding out what his purpouse is.

Stages of the Hero's Journey

Departure: 9 sees the world and how destroyed it is and is drawn to made it better

Initiation: 9 moves from the apartment he was created in to the dangerous outer world and is attacked by a robot

Road of Trials: 9 rebels against 1's rules in order to save #2

9 and 5 use creativity to find 2

9 decides to put the mystery piece in the robot without knowing what it would do

9 decides to save 1 even after his rudeness and attitude

The Innermost Cave: This is seen as 9 descends into the robot's lair to destroy the robots

Return and Reintegration with Society: After destroying the robots, 9 releases the doll's trapped souls from the mystery piece and sends his soul to heaven too

Characteristics of the Hero's Journey

The hero is naive and inexperienced: 9 is new to the world and has no idea who he is or what has happened to the world

The hero is special, one of a kind: 9 is the last fabric doll made to save the world. He is made with a with a mechanism inside of him that brings him to life

The hero has a loyal band of companions: 9 is helped out with his journey by dolls 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8

The hero often crosses a body of water or travels across a bridge: 9 and his companions often cross the bridge to the robot's hideout

Situational Archetypes

The Journey: 9 must find out what is happening with the robots and the technology in order to destroy them

Nature vs. Mechanistic World: Technology and robots are the only things left on the Earth and the robots have destroyed most of the nature on the Earth. This movie portrays Technology as bad or evil and nature as good

Symbolic Archetypes

Haven vs Wilderness: This contrast is seen between 9's apartment he was created in and the outer world, in that the apartment is safe and outside is extremely dangerous

Light vs. Darkness: This contrast is portrayed by the doll's hideout being seen in light and the robot's hideout being seen in darkness or could covered

Colours

 Red: A red cape is worn by the 1, which sows the sacrifice he is willing to make for the group of dolls. This cape not only shows his willingness to sacrifice himself for the group, but more so his willingness to sacrifice others in order to save himself and the rest of the group

The colour red is also seen in the robot's eyes, which enforces their violent passion, lust for death and their thirst for blood

White: seen in the fabric all of the dolls were made from, suggesting to the viewers that they are innocent, pure beings that are good and long for peace

Green: This colour is seen in the light that shines from the mystery piece, which suggests that the piece should bring hope to the dolls, and restore growth, fertility and vegetation to the Earth if it is used to defeat the robots

Numbers

Six: This is the number of the doll that draws the evil shapes and see's evil things in his dreams that he draws out for the other dolls. The number six is ofter associated with evil, which explains why doll number six would be drawing evil things

Seven: This is the number of the doll that continuously saves the other dolls throughout the movie. The number seven suggests divinity and mankind, which matches perfectly with the actions of doll 7, in that she is the saviour for mankind by rescuing the other dolls

Shapes

 Circles: seen on the front of 5, suggesting that he is very intellectual, thoughtful and perfect. All of these ideas presented by the circle shape hold true with 5, except the idea of perfection because the doll is not perfect by looks, but rather imperfect, because he has one eye missing. This idea of perfection could be used to think about the insides instead of the outer appearance of 5, with regards to his caring, hopeful personality.

Nature

Wind: this aspect of nature is used to present the idea of life, however it holds the opposite meaning in “9”, as this is seen when the #5 doll almost dies.

Fire: usually used to present the ideas of love, life and spiritual energy, which all hold true in this movie, as fire is seen when the doll's spirits are released to heaven. The love aspect is confirmed by the fact that the love of 9 for his companions is what makes him gain the mystery piece back to enable him to release their trapped spirits. The idea of life is a little ironic in this scene as the dolls are essentially dead, however their spirits are being released to heaven where they will essentially have a new life. Spiritual energy is the most obvious to relate to this scene in which fire is viewed when 9 releases the trapped spirits of his friends which are seen travelling up to heaven.

Character Archetypes

The Hero: #9 doll who was created and sent out into the world to save Earth from the evil technology destroying it

The Loyal Retainers: The #1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 dolls who aid 9 on his Journey

The Outcasts: The #3, 4 and 7 dolls who were rejected by the rest of the dolls because they had went against 1's rules

One aspect in the movie that I really enjoyed was the idea of technology overwhelming the human population and essentially destroying the human population.

Are there any other movies in which you see that technology is evil and nature is good?

If technology is considered to be evil in mythology, what do you think the Greek and Roman gods would think about our technology reliant society today?

In what other movies do you see odd creatures on a mission to save the world?

 

Shrek Archetype Analysis

Last week I watched “Shrek”. While watching this movie, I realized that there were numerous mythological archetypes from Greek and Roman mythology in the movie, which you will see shortly. First, here is a short summary of the movie.

Movie Summary:

This histerical movie follows the quest of an ugly ogre named Shrek, who has been sent out to retrieve Princess Fiona and return her to the King Lord Farquad.

After Lord Farquad sends out his armies to find all fairytale creatures in order to find the magic mirror, originally from “Snow White”, he discovers that he must marry a Princess in order to be considered a King, to have the “fairest kingdom of them all”. Having found the magic mirror, he sends all the useless fairytale creatures to Shrek's swamp.

Having had his swam invaded by fairytale creatures, Shrek is determined to reach Lord Farquad to make him remove the fairytale creatures from his swamp. Along his way he meets his trusty sidekick Donkey, a magical donkey who can talk. Once Shrek reaches Du Lock, the kingdom of Lord Farquad, he finds himself in the middle of a battle to weed out the strongest knight, who would be sent out to save Princess Fiona and return her to Lord Farquad so they can marry.

Coming out of the battle as the winner, Shrek makes a deal with Lord Farquad; he would save and return Princess Fiona and Lord Farquad would remove the fairytale creatures from his swamp.

Saving Princess Fiona, the breathing dragon falls in love with Donkey, and the group is able to escape from the castle. On their way back to Du Lock, Shrek falls in love with Fiona and Donkey soon finds that Princess Fiona is under a curse, which forces Fiona to turn into a “terrible, ugly ogre” at sundown, an that only “true love's first kiss” can break the spell. Having overheard Fiona's words about the ogre, Shrek is hurt, assuming she was talking about him, and returns to Du Lock and returns back the next day with Lord Farquad.

Lord Farquad takes Fiona back to Du Lock and the two prepare for their wedding. Not so long after, Donkey explains to Shrek that Fiona loves him back and assures Shrek that what he overheard was not about him.

Shrek races back to Du Lock just in time to stop the wedding and explain to Princess Fiona what had happened. The angry Lord Farquad attempts to remove Shrek from the church, but ends up being gobbled up by the fire breathing dragon that Donkey and Shrek came to the wedding on. During this time, the sun sets transforming Fiona is turned into ogre form and Shrek remembers her previous words. Fiona realizes she loves Shrek, and they both share “true love's first kiss”. Disappointed, that she remains an ogre but at the same time happy, that the curse is broken, Fiona and Shrek return to his swamp.

The last few scenes in the movie are of Shrek and Fiona's ogre wedding at Shrek's swamp, with all the fairytale creatures in attendance.

The mythological archetypes found in “Shrek” are :

Heroic archetypes

Hero as a Warrior: Shrek battles for Fiona against a fire breathing dragon.

Archetypal Journeys

The search for love: Shrek searches for Lord Farquad's lover.

Later on in the movie, Shrek searches for Fiona because he realizes that he loves her.

Stages of the Hero's Journey

Departure: Fairytale creatures invade Shrek's swamp, so Shrek must go to see Lord Farquad to rid them from his swamp.

Initiation: Once in Du Lock, Lord Farquad will only rid the creatures from Shrek's swamp if Shrek finds and frees Fiona

The Road of Trials: There are many trials for Shrek on his journey. Some include defeating the dragon, falling in love with Fiona, Saving Fiona from the dragon, bringing Lord Farquad to Fiona and letting Farquad take Fiona back to Du Lock to be married.

The Innermost Cave: Shrek lets Farquad take Fiona back to Du Lock to be married, as he realizes he really loves Fiona

Return and Reintegration with society: This occurs when Shrek returns to Du Lock and objects to their marriage, marries Fiona and returns to his swamp, still full of fairytale creatures.

Characteristics of the Hero's Journey

The hero is raised in a rural setting away from cities: Shrek was raised and lives in a swamp away from all civilization

The hero is special, one of a kind: Shrek is one of the only ogres in the land

The hero engages in tests or contests of physical strength and shows pride: Shrek battles all of the kingdom's strongest knights and shows pride when he celebrates his win.

The hero often travels on a bridge: Shrek travels on a bridge to go talk to Lord Farquad and again when he goes back to the castle having found Fiona

Situational Archetypes

The Quest: Shrek sets out on a search for Princess Fiona so she can marry Lord Farquad, and as a result Lord Farquad will remove the fairytale creatures from Shrek's swamp

Symbolic Archetypes

Lightness vs. Darkness: Light represents goodness and darkness represents evil, which is why the rest of the kingdom is in light and the castle Fiona lives in guarded by the fire breathing dragon is seen in darkness.

Colours:

Black- Castle guarded by the fire breathing dragon is black, foreshadowing the mystery,chaos and evil that exists inside it's walls with regards to the dragon.

Green- Shrek is a green ogre, showing that he is full of hope, envy, sympathy and adaptability. These traits are backed up by Shrek being hopeful in himself defeating the dragon, his obvious envy as the girl he loves gets whisked away by Lord Farquad, his ability to relate to Fiona on a sympathetic level, and his ability to change his plans when things do not go as he planned.

Fiona is also seen throughout the movie in a green dress and as a green ogre, suggesting that she is also full of hope, sympathy and adaptability. Supported by her actions of waiting for her Prince Charming to rescue her from her entrapment and her kind actions towards Shrek after her reveals that he is an ogre.

Red- Lord Farquad is seen wearing red, showing the sacrifice he is willing to make to find a perfect princess to marry.

Orange- Orange is usually used to represent ambition. In the movie, there is orange lava surrounding the castle Fiona is trapped in, this shows and enhances Shrek's ambition and drive to save Fiona to free himself from the fairytale creatures.

Numbers:

Three- There are three bachelorettes Lord Farquad can choose from, creating the idea that he will have a new life after marrying one of them.

Being the third bachelorettes, Fiona is expected to be full of life and spirit, as this is what the number three represents.

Nature:

Steam- Usually steam represents transformation, steam appears in “Shrek” as Fiona transforms into an ogre

Mountain- Representing goals and admissions, the mountain Shrek climbs to reach the castle guarded by the dragon, suggests that he has extreme goals and ambitions to reach and save the Princess.

Clouds- When Shrek reaches the castle Fiona lives in, clouds cover the sky above, creating the idea of mystery, foreshadowing the encounter with the dragon inside.

Cave- usually caves represent femininity, which would make sense in “Shrek” when Fiona decides to sleep in a cave instead of outside.

Stars- Shrek and donkey point out images in the sky made of stars, representing guidance, in this scene Shrek is guided to do the right thing, with regards to saving Fiona or making her walk back to Du Lock by herself.

Objects:

Skeleton- The skeleton usually represents mortality, so when seen scattered about the castle guarded by the fire breathing dragon, the idea of mortality is suggested, reminding Shrek and donkey of what a dangerous mission they are on.

Character Archetypes

Hero: Shrek, because he saves Fiona from the fire breathing dragon

Loyal Retainers: Donkey is Shrek's loyal retainer, also considered to be his sidekick because her is always by Shrek's side, through thick and thin.

The Evil Figure with the Ultimately Good Heart: The fire breathing dragon is the perfect example of the “evil figure with the ultimately good heart” because in the beginning she is evil and trys to kill Shrek and Donkey, however after they captured the Princess, she becomes kind and helps Shrek and Donkey stop the wedding between Fiona and Lord Farquad.

The Damsel in Distress: Princess Fiona is seen to be the “damsel in distress” in this movie, as she needs to be “rescued” from the castle. Although this character type usually needs to be protected from danger, Fiona can fend for herself, which makes me wonder if she fits into this category well or not.

The Star-crossed Lovers: This character archetype is seen as Shrek falls in love with Fiona and Fiona falls in love with Shrek. This is a little odd because Shrek is a massive ogre and Fiona is a tiny human Princess who was meant to marry a human Prince. This also changes in the end, as Princess Fiona transforms into and Ogre

Throughout Shrek, the idea of love is persistent. In the beginning, Lord Farquad sends Shrek out to rescue his Princess so he can become a king. In the end, Shrek falls in love with Fiona and marries her.

In this movie, do you think that Lord Farquad should be considered as an evil character?

Keep in mind that he sent Shrek to complete the dangerous task of saving his princess, so he would not get hurt himself. When Shrek returns with the Princess, Lord Farquad makes fun of him by calling him and “ugly ogre”.

Do you think it was right for Shrek to help someone else for his own benefit, out of his own selfishness?

Is this idea of helping someone for your own benefit found in any Greek myths?

All We Need is Love...

Many months ago I decided to watch “A Cinderella Story”.

The movie “A Cinderella Story” is a modern day version of the old Disney classic “Cinderella”.

Movie Summary:

This movie takes place in the 21^st century in a small town within the United States, and features Hillary Duff as Sam, a unpopular high school senior, who's mom died soon after she was born. When she was around eight years old her father passed away trying to save her stepmother during an earthquake. Having lost both of her parents, she finds herself living with her “evil” stepmother and two twin stepsisters who hate her and force her to scrub floors at at her father's old diner.

Having talked to an anonymous boy over email for several weeks, and realizing he attends her school, Sam decides to finally meet him at the high school's Halloween homecoming dance at the center of the stage. The only problems being that she has no costume to wear, and her stepmother expects her to be at the diner cleaning floors, not the homecoming.

Her close family friend and mentor from before her father died, as well as her loser friend from school, help her find a costume and prevent her stepmother from finding out where she went for the night.

Once at the dance Sam meets her mystery man, who happens to be Austin, the most popular guy in the school, she realizes she has to return to the diner before her family makes it back before she does. On her rush out the doors she drops her cell phone, which leads Austin on a search to find out who the princess was that he danced with at homecoming. Not wanting to tell Austin who she is in fear that he will not like her anymore, Sam keeps her identity a secret.

As her evil stepsisters search through her emails, they find the emails from Austin and decide to create a mean play to preform at the upcoming pep rally in front of the entire school, because they do not think that Sam belongs with him as they like him as well.

The play ends up hurting Sam and she does not want to see Austin anymore because she thought he was the one who created the play.

In the end Austin ends up following what he believes in, and ends up with Sam. Together, they find her father's hidden will, which leaves all of his possessions to Sam. After packing up all of her belongings, selling her stepmother and stepsister's cars, and restoring the diner to it's original state when her father owned it, she escapes to Princeton University with Austin.

While viewing this movie, I was able to pick out many archetypes from Greek and Roman mythology.

Some of them being:

Heroic archetypes

Hero as a Lover: Austin Aims is Prince Charming and saves Sam from her entrapment under her stepmother's close watch.

Archetypal Journeys

The Search for love: Austin finds a way to be with the girl that he loves and helps her find a way to be happy.

Stages of the Hero's Journey

Departure: This stage occurs when he finds Sam's dropped cell phone.

Initiation: Austin falls in love with who Sam and finds out who she really is.

The Road of Trials: Austin has to face many trials as he continues on his quest for love. Some of the things he goes through include deciding to date Sam even though everyone is making fun of them because she is unpopular, Choosing Sam over his ex-girlfriend Shelby, and facing the actions of his ex-girlfriend and Sam's evil stepsister who try to break them apart.

The Innermost cave: Austin chooses Sam over his football career.

Return and reintegration with society: Austin helps Sam find her father's hidden will, which allows her to get rid of her step-family and the two of them go off to their dream school, Princeton.

Characteristics of the Hero's Journey

The Hero Struggles for Something Valuable or Important: Austin faces many delays when striving for the love of a less popular girl.

Situational Archetypes

Innate Wisdom vs. Educated Stupidity: Sam has had a worse education than her stepsisters and yet her sisters, who were given a superior education, are way more unintelligent.

This is also seen between Sam and Shelby (Austin's ex-girlfriend), as Sam is smart and Shelby is stupid, having had the extra education.

Symbolic Archetypes

Colours:

White- Usually symbolizes purity, peace and innocence. In this movie, Sam's homecoming dress is white, showing that she is innocent, pure and peaceful. This helps the viewer realize that her love for Austin is pure and that she is innocent and does not deserve to be trapped and slaved by her Stepmother.

Blue- Sam is seen in blue throughout the entire movie, symbolizing that she is innocent and truthful. This colour of clothing being seen on Sam from the beginning of the movie to the end, present the idea that Sam does not deserve all of the mistreatment she is encountering.

Austin is also seen in blue clothing, suggesting that he is also truthful and innocent to some extent as well.

Green- Austin is constantly seen in green throughout the movie, presenting the idea that he is full of hope and sympathy. This idea of Austin being sympathetic is confirmed when he goes after Sam to help her having just been made fun of in front of the entire school.

Nature:

Center- During the homecoming dance, Austin and Sam meet in the center of the dance floor and dance in the center of the gazebo. This idea of the center represents timelessness, unity, spacelessness and paradise, suggesting that Austin and Sam are meant to be together.

Rain- At the end of the movie, Austin chooses Sam over his football career being forced on him by his father. Because rain usually represents the idea of the giver of life, Austin is suggested to have begun a new life, as he leaves his father's plan for his life, and enters into a new life with Sam.

Objects:

Masks- The idea presented by masks is concealment, so when Sam comes to the Halloween homecoming dance in a mask, she is suggested to be concealing something from someone. This is confirmed when Austin and Sam meet at the dance, because she conceals her identity from him.

Character Archetypes

The Hero: Austin is the hero in this movie, as he sets out to save Sam from her evil step-family out of his love for her.

The Outcasts: Carter (Sam's best friend) is an outcast, as he is rejected by the rest of his school because he is uncool and “weird”.

Sam is also considered an outcast, as she has also been rejected by her fellow students because she is unpopular and hangs out with Carter.

The Temptress: Shelby (Austin's ex-girlfriend) is a temptress, because she pulls Austin off of his path to find his true lover.

The Evil Figure with the Ultimately Good Heart: Austin's popular friends would be this type of character archetype because in the beginning they prevent Austin from being with the unpopular girl that he loves, however, later in the movie they support Austin's choice to be with who he is with.

The Star-crossed Lovers: This is seen between Austin and Sam, as they both love each other, but are not supposed to be together due to the fact that they are on opposite sides of the popularity scale at their school.

This movie is somewhat like the movie I watched for my first blog, “Snow White”, in that “Prince Charming” rescues his princess, however, instead of risking his life to save her, Austin risks his social life.

Do you think that it is more praiseworthy to risk your life for someone, than it is to risk your social life for them?

All of the character archetypes in “A Cinderella Story” really interested me, but mainly the idea of the “star-crosses lovers”. In this movie, Austin, the most popular guy in school falls in love with Sam, an unpopular girl.

In this movie, and in most movies were we see the “star-crossed lovers” archetype, it appears to be an odd occurrence, simply because the two people are not meant to be together, but are together anyway. This archetype usually leads to a happy ending for the lovers.

Do you think that this archetype can also lead to a very unhappy ending, where one or both lovers are hurt?

One example of this is in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.

Can you think of any others?

Recently I read the myth of Hades and Persephone.

In this myth, Hades sees Persephone, during one of his trips out of the Underworld , and falls deeply in love with her. Having made his decision to kidnap her to marry her, he devises a plan with Zeus.

Hades and Zeus crack the ground open underneath her feat and she falls to the Underworld, where she was forced to marry Hades against her will.

This myth seems to have the archetype of the "star-crossed lovers" because the god and the human do not belong together. The only difference is that the love was one sided in the beginning as Hades loved Persephone, but she does not share the same feeling towards him. After a while she came to love him, as she realized that there was no escaping him.

An Opposite Meaning

A few weeks ago I watched the 2010 vesion of Alice in Wonderland.

Movie Summary:

The movie “Alice in Wonderland” starts with a father comforting his little girl (Alice) after being woken by a bad dream. In this scene Alice explains aspects of the dream to her father, such as the blue caterpillar, a rabbit in a waistcoat and the disappearing, talking cat.

After 13 years pass, Alice is on her way to a formal party of the royal family, completely unaware of the fact that the party is her own engagement party and Lord Hamish has plans to propose to her. Once proposed to by Hamish, she sees the rabbit from her dream and runs after it, like she has done for the past 13 years in her dreams. Following closely behind the rabbit, she ends up falling into a rabbit hole, where she lands in a room with 4 doors, 3 regular size and 1 the size of her head. After realizing she can only pass through the small door, Alice drinks a shrinking potion and enters the door into the world of her dream, controlled by the wicked Queen of Hearts.

After seeing “Alice's” legacy, she first denies that the quest is meant for her, but not so long after, she realizes she must return the crown to the White Queen by defeating the Jabawokee with a magic sword, so the people of her dream world can be safe once again. Only, Alice does not accept the need for her to defeat the creature and attempts to find ways around the task she was foretold to do.

Along her way, she meets the Mad Hatter, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb, the disappearing cat, a mouse warrior, and a hound dog, who all help her along her quest and steer her in the right direction. Not so long after Alice meets these friends, they are all captured by the queen of hearts, so Alice decides it is necessary for her to go to the queen's castle and save them.

Once within the castle walls, Alice pretends to be someone she is not, so that the queen will not be suspicious. Soon after entering the Queen's castle, Alice finds the magical sword and returns it to the White Queen.

Having successful made it to the White Queen, Alice prepares for the battle that will soon take place. At the battle grounds the White Queen comes to find that the Queen of Hearts will not back down, so the queens are given the choice of who they would like to do battle on their behalf, and just as the legacy foretold, Alice ends up battling the Jabawokee. After a gruelling fight, Alice defeats the beast and the crown is returned to the White Queen, who then banishes the Queen of Hearts to the outskirts of the land, and sends Alice back home.

Back at her engagement party, Alice uses her new found knowledge about herself and denies the proposal offer, saying she "will do as she wishes” and that she refuses to be forced into something she does not want to do.

Throughout “Alice in Wonderland” many mythological Archetypes are seen.

There are:

Heroic archetypes

Proto-Feminist Hero: Alice is a girl who sets out to save her imaginary world

Archetypal Journeys

The Journey in Search of Knowledge: In the beginning Alice wants to find out where the rabbit from her dream goes and if her world exists.

Throughout the whole movie, Alice did not know, but she was on a search for knowledge about herself the whole time.

The Quest to Rid the Land of Danger: Alice goes on a quest within her imaginary world to free her people and return the power to the White Queen so her dream world will be safe once again.

Stages of the Hero's Journey

Departure: The rabbit in the waistcoat prompts Alice to follow him, although she does not want to go because she is in the middle of a “very important” time as she is about to accept a proposal by a Lord.

Initiation: Alice tumbles down the rabbit hole and enters a door into her imaginary world where she soon see's that danger awaits her at every turn.

The Road of Trials: Along her way, Alice deals with many trials, being both inner and outer conflicts. Alice first realizes that she must kill the Jabawokee, then she battles a monster dog and looses her guides. After this things got a little more difficult for Alice; she hides from the Queen of Hearts, enters into the Queen of Hearts' castle to save her friends, then lies about who she is to the Queen of Hearts in order to release the people held captive.

The Innermost Cave: Alice accepts no one else is coming to defeat the Jabawokee, so she must do it to save the people from the Queen of Hearts' mean ways, so she defeats the beast.

Return and Reintegration with Society: Once back at the party, Alice decides not to marry Hamish and she decides she will no longer do what other people want or tell her to do.

Characteristics of the Hero's Journey

The hero has a strange, wise mentor: The crazy Mad Hatter is Alice's mentor, as he gives her advise on where to go and what to do. He also gives her some past history about the land.

The hero must go on a journey, learn a lesson, change in some way and return home: Alice sets out on her journey to save her imaginary land from danger and in the process learns that she does not like it when people tell her what to do, and that she likes to maker her own decisions.

The hero has a guide or guides: Alice has Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb, Rabbit, Moues, the disappearing cat and the Mad Hatter as her guides along her journey.

The hero has a band of loyal companions: Mad Hatter, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb, Mouse, rabbit all help Alice along her journey and are loyal to her from start to finish.

The hero meets monsters or monstrous men: Alice meets the Bandersnap (a monster dog), Huge card soldiers and the Jabawokee (huge dragon-like creature) on her journey.

The hero often crosses a body of water or travels on a bridge: Alice comes across a bridge when she enters the imaginary world, crosses a river to get to the Castle, and crosses the water filled trench around the castle to get to her friends.

Situational Archetypes

The Battle Between Good and Evil: The Queen of Hearts in this movie is seen in a dark castle and represents evil, while the White Queen is seen in light and represents goodness.

The Magic Weapon: Alice must use the “Whoopoo” sword to kill the Jabawokee.

Symbolic Archetypes

Light vs. Darkness: The Queen of Hearts in this movie is seen in a dark castle and dark clothing, while the White Queen is always seen white and in bright light.

Colours:

White- The White Queen is seen, not only wearing white, but also has white hair, suggesting that she is innocent, good, peaceful and pure.

Blue- For most of the movie Alice is seen in blue, showing that she is a innocent, truthful girl.

Green- The Mad Hatter has green eyes, showing that he is full of hope and sympathy. This hope is shown through him hoping Alice will save the land, and his sympathy is shown when he supports Alice through making the decision to kill the Jabawokee, even though this is against Alice's values.

Red- The Queen of Hearts is seen in red from the beginning to the end in this movie, symbolizing that she has a violent passion and is an angry person. This is supported by her becoming very easily angered and screaming “chop of their head” whenever someone upsets her.

The Queen of Hearts' card soldiers are seen in red, as they also have a violent passion, and they sacrificed themselves for the Queen and her wishes.

Once captured by the Queen of Hearts, Alice is seen wearing red, creating the idea of sacrifice, suggesting that she will sacrifice herself in the battle against the Jabawokee in order to return the crown to the White Queen. Although she is seen in a red dress, there is also white in there too, symbolizing that she is still innocent and good and wants peace.

Black- The Prince of Hearts is seen wearing black throughout the whole movie, showing that he is purely evil.

Orange- The Mad Hatter has orange hair, which suggests his ambition to return the land to it's natural setting when the White Queen once ruled.

Nature:

Tree- In the start of the movie, Alice falls down a rabbit hole under a tree. Because trees represent knowledge and learning, it is suggested that Alice will learn a lesson or come out of her journey with more knowledge.

Fire- In a flashback to when the Queen of Hearts took over the land, fire covers the land. Although fire usually represents love and life, in this scene it is used to represent hatred and death as the Queen of Hearts hated the White Queen so she burned down the village and killed many of the people.

Objects:

Heart- The heart usually represents love, however in this case, the Queen of Hearts makes the heart represent hatred.

Character Archetypes

Hero: Alice is the hero as she sets out to save her imaginary land.

The Friendly Beasts: Rabbit, Mouse, the disappearing cat, the caterpillar and Dog are all “Friendly Beasts” in this film. They are all animals who give Alice some sort of help on her journey, either through advise or physical effort.

The Evil Figure with the Ultimately Good Heart: There are two of these types of characters in “Alice in Wonderland”. Dog is the first, because he helps the Prince of Hearts find Alice, but after meeting Alice, he leads them away from her on purpose to let her escape.

The last “evil figure with the ultimately good heart is the Bandersnap, as he is out to kill Alice in the first half of the movie, but after loosing his eye in the first battle and having it brought back to him by Alice and her kindness, he decides to help Alice by showing her where the magic sword is, and taking her quickly to the White Queen.

The Creature of the Nightmare: The Jabawokee is considered to be the “creature of the nightmare” because he is the most evil creature in the movie, and he is summoned by the Queen of Hearts in the dream to battle Alice. This archetype is ironic in this situaton, as the beast is actually from Alice's nightmare.

The Loyal Retainers: Rabbit, Mouse, the Mad Hatter, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb are all Alice's friends who help her throughout her journey and never leave her side until they are taken away by the Queen of Hearts.

Throughout the movie “Alice in Wonderland” we see many mythological archetypes being used to portray opposite meanings to what they normally suggest.

This is seen through the use of fire in the movie, suggest hatred and death instead of life and love which fire usually symbolizes.

Another example of this is seen through the use of the heart, being worn by the Queen of Hearts and her minions. The heart, usually symbolizing love, is shown and proven to be used to suggest hatred and evilness.

This movie leads me to think that in some ways, mythological archetypes can be used to try to confuse the viewer, and make them believe something opposite about the characters. Although many symbolic archetypes were used to present opposite ideas with regards to the archetype's original meaning, this could also be a way of showing the viewers what the person thinks of themselves.

For example, the Queen of Hearts does not think she is evil and my have believed, when she burnt the town to the ground in order to gain the crown, she was doing a nice thing for the civilians by taking the crown away from the White Queen and making herself the Queen instead.

Do you think that this idea of using archetypes to convey a different idea, other than what they originally symbolize, was meant to confuse the viewer or portray a character's thoughts about themselves?

In our society today, do you see the opposite meanings of these mythological archetypes being used?

Consider colours, nature, shapes, etc.

For example the other day, I saw one of the sweetest girls I have ever met, dressed in black from head to toe.

Does this mean that she has an evil side to her or do these mythological archetypes not exist in our society at all?

Love vs. Honour in Chinese Culture

A while ago I watched Disney's "Mulan.

The movie "Mulan" is a fictional movie that takes place in China centuries ago.

 

Thinking back to grade six and our China unit as well as the grade eight unit on Japanese culture, I happened to remember that honour was very important to families of oriental decent at this time. Many people were killed, simply because they brought dishonour to their family. In this movie, her father's love for his daughter overpowers any honour she rekindled for her family's dishonerable name.

Movie Summary:

At the start of the movie, a young woman named Mulan is shown getting ready to be matched with a husband. Having ruined her chances of being the “perfect bride” after spilling tea on her matchmaker, Mulan brings a great deal of dishonour to her family's name. Soon after, the Hun's attack Mulan's country and the governor is forced to take a man from a many selected families to battle for their country against the Hun's.

Because Mulan's family was chosen and her father is the only man in the family, he must go forth to battle. Seeing that her father is unfit for battle having served for the country in this way before and is now very old, Mulan decides that she is going to take his place, in order to protect her father, and hoping to bring back honour to her family name. As Mulan's ancestors see what is happening, they choose to send out a protector for Mulan, a friendly dragon.

Being that only men could go to battle, Mulan dresses up as a man named Ping, who is the supposed unknown son of her father. Mulan attends a training camp so she will be fit for war, and narrowly escapes being discovered as a girl.

As the Hun's burn down more cities, the troops set out to war. During a surprise attack by the Hun's, Mulan causes an avalanche which covers all of the Hun army and just narrowly escapes being wiped off the edge of the cliff herself. In the avalanche she saves the leader of the army's life, and also ends up getting hurt. Back at camp, the troops celebrate their victory, while the doctor assesses Mulan's injuries, and also finds out that she is a girl in disguise.

The regular penalty for going against the laws in this way, being a girl disguised as a man in the battle field, is death, however Mulan saved the life of the army leader and in turn he saved her life. After this discovery Mulan was on her way back home when she saw the Hun army climb back out of the snow.

Not wanting to return home without renewing her family's honour, she made her way to the parade being held in the main city, to celebrate for the win against the Hun's, to warn the army of the danger that still exists. Being a woman and not a warrior, the leader did not listen to her, so she resorted to telling her warrior friends instead.

The Hun's attacked the city and took the emperor hostage, but Mulan had already devised a plan to combat their actions. After the battle was over, the emperor offered Mulan a place in his advisory, however Mulan declined and instead decided to go back to her home. The emperor thought it was only fair to give her a token of his gratitude and gave her a necklace with the royal symbol and “ultimate honour” to her family.

Returning home Mulan is greeted by her entire family who are more happy to see her than ever before. The last part of the movie is Mulan talking to her father, who says that his love for her is far more important than any honour her family could ever have.

Throughout “Mulan” a variety of mythological archetypes appear.

Some being:

Heroic Archetypes

Hero as a Warrior: Mulan fights as a warrior in the battle against the Hun's

Proto-Feminist Hero: Mulan is the hero of the movie and is a woman

Archetypal Journeys

Warrior's Quest to Save Her People: Mulan goes to war to fight for her country

This also applies to Mulan saving her father from dieing in battle as she takes his place instead to keep her father healthy and safe

Stages of the Hero's Journey

Departure: Mulan's family must send on man from their family to go to battle against the Hun's. She realizes her father is unfit to go to battle and decides she must go to battle for her family

Initiation: Mulan joins the army, thrusting her into a world of weapons and brutality

The Road of Trials: Mulan attends a training camp where she must reach an arrow at the top of a pole, when carrying an extra twenty or so pounds.

Mulan “defeats” the Hun warriors in an avalanche taking both mental and physical strength

The Innermost Cave: Mulan is found to be a woman after obtaining an injury from the previous battle against the Hun's and is no longer allowed to be a warrior.

After having seen the Hun's are not dead, she continues to break the rules and follow the other warriors

Return and reintegration with Society: Mulan cones up with a brilliant idea to save the emperor and defeats the Hun's

Characteristics of the Hero's Journey

The hero is naive and inexperienced: Mulan has never been in war before and has no training

The hero meets monsters or monstrous men: Mulan meets and fights against monstrous men in the Hun's army

The hero has a strange wise mentor: Mulan has the friendly ancestor dragon who gives her advise

Another of Mulan's mentors is her grandmother, although she sometimes gives Mulan advise tho do things that could end up getting her in trouble

The Hero is one of a kind or special: Mulan is the only girl in the army

The hero has guides: The friendly dragon ancestor who is brought back to life to help and guide Mulan

Situational Archetypes

The Initiation: Mulan realizes her father is unfit to go to battle when she finds him fall trying to wield his old sword. At this point she realizes she must go to fight in the war to protect her father from getting hurt further and she must obey the law that her family must send someone to war.

Symbolic Archetypes

Supernatural Intervention: Mulan's ancestors bring the friendly dragon back to life to help and protect her

Colour:

Gold- This colour is seen in the palace of the emperor, suggesting that this is the place of majesty, and also suggests that the emperor is truthful and wealthy as the colour gold represents majesty, truth and wealth.

Blue- Mulan's grandmother is seen wearing blue clothing throughout the movie, suggesting that she is innocent and truthful. This idea of the grandmother being innocent is contrasted by her telling Mulan to do things that could result in trouble

Another character seen in blue throughout the movie is the emperor's assistant. This choice in clothing suggests that he is also innocent and truthful

Throughout the movie, Mulan herself is seen in many blues, which suggest that she is innocent and truthful as well

Green- The warriors fighting against the Hun's in battle are all seen in green, suggesting that they have hope and value growth. This is supported in the movie as they are hopeful to defeat the Hun army and they are fighting to allow for the city to continue growing, instead of being burnt to the ground by the Hun army

Being that Mulan was a warrior in the army at one point as well, she is also implied to be very hopeful. The movie backs this up by showing her continuing to help the country by returning to the town and warning the warriors about the living Hun army, even though she could not defeat them her self, she had hope that the warriors would listen and defeat the Hun's on her behalf

Black- The Hun army is seen in black throughout the entire movie, which implies that they are evil and will cause chaos and death

Red- The friendly dragon set down by Mulan's ancestors to protect her is red, suggesting his willingness to make sacrifices for Mulan

White- Mulan is also seen wearing white, along with the other mentioned colours, this colour suggests that she is good and pure and is out to create peace

Shapes:

Circle- Seen on the emperor's hat, which implies that he is a very intellectual, thoughtful person, who values unity. This could mean that he values unity as a nation with other nations, which would explain why, initially, he did not want to fight the Hun's

Triangle- Many of these shapes are found on the emperor's clothing, suggesting that he is a good communicator, as triangles represent communication

Nature:

Clouds- Clouds usually suggest mystery, so in the movie “Mulan”, there are clouds covering the sky right before the Hun's attack, to caution the viewers with this idea of mystery, suggesting that anything could happen.

Snow- Snow normally presents the idea of coldness and bareness. When Mulan's army comes across the burnt down village and they find the general dead it is snowing, which emphasizes the feeling of the members in the army having found their general murdered.

Mountains- Usually suggesting the idea of goals, when Mulan is on the mountain it has the opposite meaning, in that Mulan's goals are shattered on the mountain, when she is found to be a girl and is no longer allowed to be part of the army and advised to return home, having regained no honour for her family's name.

Character Archetypes

Hero: In this movie, Mulan is the hero because she saves her father from begin hurt more and she saves her country

Mentor: Mulan has two main mentors in this movie, her Grandmother and the friendly dragon. The Grandmother gives her advise on what to do to become the “perfect bride” and gives her hints she needs for her journey, when the friendly dragon is with Mulan on the journey and offers help to her with regards to her actual tasks, such as giving her advise on how to be a man.

Loyal Retainers: Mulan's horse, the “lucky” cricket, and the friendly dragon all aid her on her journey.

In a time when honour meant so much to Mulan's family, she was forgiven out of their love for her.

If Mulan had been a man in the army and had brought the same amount of dishonour to the family, do you think the family would have been as forgiving as they were to the female Mulan?

Keep in mind that men were viewed more highly in that society than women were.

Do you think that the gender of Mulan would matter in this society today?

What kind of evidence can you find to support this?

Sucker Punch Archetype Analysis

The movie trailer for Sucker Punch portrays the story of a teenage girl who unfortunately lost her parents at a young age, and rebelled against her parental figure soon after. Her rebellion was seen as a mental breakdown and she was taken off to an all girl insane asylum by her guardian without her knowledge. At the asylum she discovers that she and her companions can potentially escape the asylum by going on a quest within their minds. As the girl travels into the world of her mind, she realizes she has been trusted into a dangerous world  of war and weapons where she meats a man who explains that she needs to find a map, fire, knife, a key and a mystery fifth item.

Having just seen the trailer, many archetypes are portrayed, such as:

Heroic Archetypes: 

Proto-Feminist Hero

This is shown by the girl who gets put in the insane asylum and attempts to free her and her friends and return to society after completing her quest.

Characteristics of the Heroine's Journey: 

The hero is naive and unexperienced:

This is seen when she gets put into the asylum and is seen crying because she might feel as if she does not belong there. Another time in the movie that portrays this idea is when she is learning to enter the world in her mind, which shows that she is unexperienced in her quest.

The hero meets monsters:

The girl has to face a fire breathing dragon on her quest to find the five items.

The heroin looses her parents at a young age and is raised by animals or a wise guardian:

The girl losses her parents when she is little and is raised by an "animal" as in her guardian is not humane because she sends her to an unhealthy place for her to go.

Situational Archetypes: 

The Quest: 

The girl is sent out to find a map, fire, a knife, a key and a mystery item to free herself and her friends from their entrapment.

Symbolic archetypes:

Numbers:

The number 4:

Seen on the key that is used to help the girls escape the asylum. Four normally presents the idea of mankind, which could mean that the girls need it to return to people in society or to be with"mankind" again.

Shapes:

Circle:

The button that falls to the floor from the heroine's shirt before she is taken off to the asylum is a circle. The circle presents the idea of intellect, perfection, and celestial realm which foreshadow the upcoming events in the movie, where the girl goes on a quest in her own realm to free herself and portray the girl as a smart, perfect girl. 

Rain:

Rain is often associated with life and is described as the "life giver". In the trailer it is raining when the girl is crying and appears to be having a major difficulty trying to adjust to the asylum life. The rain in this scene presents the idea that the girl will soon become full of life and be ready to combat her situation which is portrayed later in the trailer.

Character Archetypes:

The Hero:

The young girl who goes on the quest within her mind

The Loyal Retainers:

The girls who accompany the heroine on her quest to free them all

Some possible archetypes that are bought up in the trailer that could be seen in the full length movie are:

Archetypal Journeys: 

The Quest for Vengeance

The girl could possible escape the insane asylum and get revenge on her guardian for putting her in the insane asylum.

This idea comes from the fact that the  girl clearly did not like her guardian, seen when the girl pulls out a gun and attempts to shoot him, and she did not want to be in the asylum, shown by her attempting to pull out of the grasp of the asylum's guards when they take her out of her car.