Hero's Journey Learning Applications
When to apply this structure:
A strong signal that a storyline matches the Hero's Journey narrative structure is a sense of the heroic. The story often includes risking something vital, especially the main character's life, for a worthy and often impossible-seeming goal. The journey motif is a critical component and may be a journey in the "real" world; in the mind, heart, and soul; or symbolic.
Instructional applications:
Hero’s Journey can promote student discussions about:
- Nature of heroism
- Role models, mentors, and friendship
- Ethics and morality
- Individualism and community
- Cross-cultural similarities and differences
- Symbolism and allegory
Stages
Hero’s Journey may apply to a narrative even if not all of Campbell’s Hero's Journey stages are included. Hero’s Journey may describe the development of a story that is also described by a different narrative structure. Usually presented as a circle, these six significant stages are useful in...
| Example
In the film Clash of the Titans (1981, 2010), a retelling of a Greek myth, Perseus leaves his adopted home of Joppa to prove himself worthy and to find out how to save the woman he loves and Joppa from the Kraken, a sea monster. His mentor Ammon gives him guidance. He faces many obstacles...
| Learning Applications
When to apply this structure:
A strong signal that a storyline matches the Hero's Journey narrative structure is a sense of the heroic. The story often includes risking something vital, especially the main character's life, for a worthy and often impossible-seeming goal. The journey...
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