The Hero's Journey

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 used the same ideas and the heroes went through adventures that were alike. All myths had the same journey more or less. Christopher Vogler worked on Disney movies and used Joseph Campbell's ideas to help create stories. He called this The Hero's Journey.
Joseph Campbell Chris Vogler

The Hero's Journey has 12 stages. They are:

1.Ordinary World - The hero's normal world before the story begins

2.Call to Adventure - The hero is presented with a problem, challenge or adventure

3.Refusal of the Call - The hero refuses the challenge or journey, usually because he's scared

4. Meeting with the Mentor - The hero meets a mentor to gain advice or training for the adventure

5. Crossing the First Threshold - The hero crosses leaves the ordinary world and goes into the special world

6. Tests, Allies, Enemies - The hero faces tests, meets allies, confronts enemies & learn the rules of the Special World.

7. Approach - The hero has hit setbacks during tests & may need to try a new idea

8. Ordeal - The biggest life or death crisis

9. Reward - The hero has survived death, overcomes his fear and now earns the reward

10. The Road Back - The hero must return to the Ordinary World.

11. Resurrection Hero - another test where the hero faces death – he has to use everything he's learned

12. Return with Elixir - The hero returns from the journey with the “elixir”, and uses it to help everyone in the Ordinary World

We looked at cartoons using The Hero's Journey.
We listened to a CD about the Hero's Journey, called The Hero's Two Journeys.
Then our ThinkQuest coach created a worksheet that used the Hero's Journey.
Here is our worksheet, if you want to analyze some movies.

sources:
power of myth picture: http://www.jcf.org/works.php?id=237
Joseph Campbell picture: http://www.jcf.org/about_jc.php
book pictures: http://www.thewritersjourney.com/generic.html?pid=2
The Hero's Two Journeys, Michael Hauge and Christopher Vogler, CDs, Writers Audio Shop,