WHAT IS A HERO?

What is a hero? BRAINSTORM HERO ATTRIBUTES

Heroes!

GROUP ACTIVITY “My Hero” website ( “Medal of Honor” website ( Each group will read about several different contemporary heroes and choose one to present to the class. Presentation: (Time: 1 minute) give a summary of your hero and a statement on why you chose this hero.

My Hero.com

Medal of Honor Society

Audie Leon Murphy The Most Decorated American Hero

The seventh of twelve children born to a poor sharecropper in Texas, his family lived for a while in a converted rail road box car on the edge of town. He worked so hard to help support his large family that by age 15 he had only completed the fifth grade. In 1940 his father deserted the family and the following year his mother died. To provide for his brothers and sisters, he tried to enter the military to serve in World War II. The Marines turned him down, then the Navy also rejected him. At age 17 he was 5'5" tall and only 110 pounds..."too small to be a fighter." Finally accepted by the Army, he became a "one-man-army" in Europe earning the distinguished Service Cross in August, 1944 and six weeks later earning TWO Silver Stars in three days. Three months later he jumped on a burning tank to man a machinegun and cover the withdrawal of his men. As the Americans dropped artillery around him, someone asked over the radio, "How close (to you) is the enemy." He replied, "Just hold the phone and I'll let you talk to one!"

“A HERO IS” SOMEONE WHO HAS GIVEN HIS OR HER LIFE TO SOMETHING BIGGER THAN ONESELF” Joseph Campbell

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It was Joseph Campbell who, in the 1940's, first brought to the public's attention the Mythic and Archetypal principles embedded in the structure of stories.

The Hero With A Thousand Faces Joseph Campbell was an expert on mythology. He did a program on public television called The Power of Myth and he wrote a famous book called “The Hero With a Thousand Faces.” Campbell said all myths had the same journey more or less.

In his book "The Hero with a Thousand Faces", Campbell identified the underlying patterns in myths, stories, and the spiritual traditions. In so doing, Campbell created a standardized language which made it possible to uncover and communicate the underlying archetypal structure of these narrative traditions."The Hero with a Thousand Faces"

The Seven Archetypes: HERO 2 MENTOR 3. THRESHOLD GUARDIAN 4. HERALD 5 SHAPESHIFTER 6. SHADOW 7. TRICKSTER

Vogler's Map of the Journey

The Hero’s Journey Christopher Vogler Christopher Vogler is a veteran story consultant for major Hollywood film companies (including Disney) and a respected teacher of filmmakers and writers around the globe.

Later, in the book "The Writer's Journey", Christopher Vogler took Campbell's work to the next step. Vogler expanded on the language of the Hero's Journey, developing it into a detailed framework for analyzing both plot and character development in fiction, and into a guideline for developing satisfying and successful stories."The Writer's Journey"

12 STAGES OF THE JOURNEY 1. ORDINARY WORLD 2. CALL TO ADVENTURE 3. REFUSAL OF THE CALL 4. MEETING WITH THE MENTOR 5. CROSSING THE THRESHOLD 6. TESTS, ALLIES, ENEMIES 7. APPROACH TO THE INMOST CAVE

12 STAGES OF THE JOURNEY cont. 8. ORDEAL 9. REWARD 10. THE ROAD BACK 11. RESURRECTION 12. RETURN WITH ELIXER

To recap the Hero's journey 2 : 2 Heroes are introduced in the ORDINARY WORLD, where they receive the CALL TO ADVENTURE. They are RELUCTANT at first or REFUSE THE CALL, but are encouraged by a MENTOR to CROSS THE FIRST THRESHOLD and enter the Special World, where they encounter TESTS, ALLIES, AND ENEMIES. They APPROACH THE INMOST CAVE, crossing a second threshold where they endure the ORDEAL. They take possession of their REWARD and are pursued on THE ROAD BACK to the Ordinary World. They cross the third threshold, experience a RESURRECTION, and are transformed by the experience. They RETURN WITH THE ELIXIR, a boon or treasure to benefit the Ordinary World.

References: 1: Excerpts from MYTH AND THE MOVIES ISBN Reprinted with permission by Michael Wiese Productions ( or ) Copyright 1999 Stuart Voytillawww.mwp.com 2: Excerpts from THE WRITER'S JOURNEY ISBN Reprinted with permission by Michael Wiese Productions ( or ) Copyright 1998 Christopher Voglerwww.mwp.com