Hero's Journey Media Club
Posted by: Willow | From: July 5, 2006
When I was in high school I took a class called "Hero's Journey," based on the work of Joseph Campbell (I went to an alternative school). It was neat- we got handouts on the topic, and then we watched movies like "Star Wars" and "Ferris Beuller's Day Off" to see if they followed the Hero's Journey formula (according to the formula, Cameron was the hero, not Ferris. Say what?). Anyway, the handouts looked a lot like this:
I loved the class and have kept a running checklist in my head as I've gone to the movies in the years since- "Refusal of the call? Check." "Seizing of the sword? Check." I've never read the source material though, The Hero With a Thousand Faces written by Campbell in 1949. I've wanted to, especially since my interest in comic books and superhero movies had evolved into what some might call an obsession.
Well now I'm doing it. I'm just doing it. Grad school is over, I have time to read for pleasure, and I have a bf who nurtures my nerdy side. So I'm starting a Hero's Journey Media club. Not a book club mind you, because though we will begin by reading The Hero With a Thousand Faces, we will also branch out into other mediums- film, comics, music, etc. In fact, our first meeting will be at the Lloyd Center Cinema where we will pump ourselves up with the archtypical American hero... Superman! You know, just to put us in the mood. The Club is open to all appropriately nerdy persons, drop me an email if you're interested- wonderwillow@gmail.com. Of course there is a good chance that this will be a club of two (me + good sport Mike), which is cool. In any event we'll use this blog to post our meeting minutes in order for satellite nerds to follow along.
ps. I wish I lived in Portland. Count me in as a satellite nerd.
Posted by: lucie at July 6, 2006 7:09 AM
Hi Willow,
How's the Hero's Journey bookclub coming along? I'm going to incorporate the monomyth as a critical reading technique in my Humanities Literature course this semester. Just curious if you ever got that Superman archetype chart all worked out.
Best!
Lee Hobbs
http://www.english-blog.com
Posted by: Lee at December 16, 2006 11:36 AM
Hello,
I am looking for some information about Book Clubs and the Hero's Journey format. I am hoping you have some information to pass along to me or that you can point me in the direction where I can find out more about it.
I appreciate any information you are able to share with me. Have a wonderful holiday season and new year.
Posted by: Mary at January 3, 2007 2:40 PM
If you can find a torrent of Joseph Campbell's "Mythos," I so so so highly recommend it. It's a ten-part series that I think think might have originally aired on PBS.
Not to be fanatical or anything, but Joseph Campbell is the pinnacle of human consciousness. There, I don't care how it sounds.
Posted by: lucie at July 6, 2006 1:16 AM