The Hero’s Journey was formulated by American scholar Joseph Campbell as a method of analyzing tales, legends, and other forms of storytelling. It consists of various stages that are often present in modern-day media. This popular analytical guide commonly structures many television shows and movies as it provides a linear manner of unfolding a plot in an easy and simple to follow style. Moreover, the hero’s journey supplies the viewing audience a medium and framework of evaluating a narrative through multiple concise phases. According to Campbell these phases are as follow: the ordinary world, the call to adventure, refusal of the call, meeting with the mentor, crossing the threshold, tests, approach, the ordeal, the reward, the road back,
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In most cases this is when the scene and general overview of the story is set. The ordinary world typically introduces the hero in a less than ideal environment, which elicits a sympathetic response from the audience. Harry is adopted into his aunt’s boring family of ordinary individuals, otherwise referred to as muggles. He’s forced to live underneath the stairs in a dingy cupboard. In the opening scene alone, his cousin Dudley repeatedly bullies Harry as he stomps on the stairs to wake him up. In addition, Dudley is treated like a king and is pampered by his parents whereas Harry receives no affection from his adopted family. In The Odyssey, Odysseus’s journey begins in similar fashion but in very different context. The text begins where the Iliad, also by Homer, left off; ten years after the Trojan War, Odysseus is left stranded on an island with Calypso who essentially keeps him prisoner in exchange for her love. At first glance, this may seem like an ideal situation as he gets to have eternal sex with a beautiful goddess; however, in reality he longs to return to his wife Penelope and son Telemachus. In both instances, the hero is presented to the audience in a predicament or not ideal setting. These pieces of evidence highlight the beginning stage of the hero’s journey in both the Harry Potter movie and The …show more content…
Campbell describes the former stage to be the beginning of an altering of the hero’s worlds, either from external pressures or from something rising up from deep within, so the hero must face change. The latter stage is simply the hero’s attempt to avoid the adventure. Harry Potter’s initial call to adventure begins with his Hogwarts letters being sent to his house; on the other hand, his call to adventure is prolonged as Harry’s uncle refuses to allow Harry to read the letters. In this particular situation, the refusal of the call isn’t committed by Harry, rather his uncle attempts to prevent Harry from learning about magic and his wizardry abilities. In Homer’s book, Odysseus’s version of a call to adventure comes in the form of the gods collectively agreeing to set Odysseus free from his captor Calypso. Similarly in this text as in Harry Potter the refusal to the call of adventure isn’t carried out by the hero himself. Instead, Poseidon attempts to prevent Odysseus from continuing on his journey by conjuring a storm that sinks his ship. While neither story clearly follows the conventional structure of the refusal to the call of adventure, it is evident that each plot creates their own unique twist to this phase of the heroes’
In most cases this is when the scene and general overview of the story is set. The ordinary world typically introduces the hero in a less than ideal environment, which elicits a sympathetic response from the audience. Harry is adopted into his aunt’s boring family of ordinary individuals, otherwise referred to as muggles. He’s forced to live underneath the stairs in a dingy cupboard. In the opening scene alone, his cousin Dudley repeatedly bullies Harry as he stomps on the stairs to wake him up. In addition, Dudley is treated like a king and is pampered by his parents whereas Harry receives no affection from his adopted family. In The Odyssey, Odysseus’s journey begins in similar fashion but in very different context. The text begins where the Iliad, also by Homer, left off; ten years after the Trojan War, Odysseus is left stranded on an island with Calypso who essentially keeps him prisoner in exchange for her love. At first glance, this may seem like an ideal situation as he gets to have eternal sex with a beautiful goddess; however, in reality he longs to return to his wife Penelope and son Telemachus. In both instances, the hero is presented to the audience in a predicament or not ideal setting. These pieces of evidence highlight the beginning stage of the hero’s journey in both the Harry Potter movie and The …show more content…
Campbell describes the former stage to be the beginning of an altering of the hero’s worlds, either from external pressures or from something rising up from deep within, so the hero must face change. The latter stage is simply the hero’s attempt to avoid the adventure. Harry Potter’s initial call to adventure begins with his Hogwarts letters being sent to his house; on the other hand, his call to adventure is prolonged as Harry’s uncle refuses to allow Harry to read the letters. In this particular situation, the refusal of the call isn’t committed by Harry, rather his uncle attempts to prevent Harry from learning about magic and his wizardry abilities. In Homer’s book, Odysseus’s version of a call to adventure comes in the form of the gods collectively agreeing to set Odysseus free from his captor Calypso. Similarly in this text as in Harry Potter the refusal to the call of adventure isn’t carried out by the hero himself. Instead, Poseidon attempts to prevent Odysseus from continuing on his journey by conjuring a storm that sinks his ship. While neither story clearly follows the conventional structure of the refusal to the call of adventure, it is evident that each plot creates their own unique twist to this phase of the heroes’