Source Code Archetype Analysis

Though the trailer for The Source Code is a mere 2 minutes long, it is packed with archetypes and previews of what looks like an epic hero's journey. The trailer begins with split-second flashes of images and clips of speech, leading into the confusion that the main character, Captain Stevens (apocalyptic-type hero), is feeling in the first part of his journey, The Departure. Captain Stevens' Call to Adventure, the first stage of departure, begins when he finds himself on a train across from a woman, who knows him as "Sean", and he has no recollection whatsoever of who she is or how he came to be there. At this point, Captain Stevens is very confused and frustrated with the situation that he has been placed in, and becomes even more so when the train spontaneously explodes, and he finds himself, once again in his own body, in an unfamiliar dark room. The room itself is an archetypal symbol in that the blackness is representative of the unknown and death, both of which Captain Stevens is dealing with throughout the film. Mentors are introduced at this point, those being a very official-looking man and woman in a separate, equally dark, room filled with computer monitors and flashing buttons. This technology is their advantage, making them Captain Stevens' Supernatural Aid. After explaining the "Source Code" and Captain Stevens' mission, which is to find the bomber on the train to prevent another incident (Quest to Rid the Land of Danger), the man and the woman (who we can assume are government special agents) send Captain Stevens back into the Source Code for another 8 minutes in the life of Sean Fentress. This moment is both the Refusal of the Call and the Initiation because Captain Stevens doesn't want to go back into the Source Code, as you can see when he tries to stop it, but he has no choice, and he crosses the threshold to the alternate universe against his will. After this, one can infer that he enters and exits this universe many times, after realizing the severity and urgency of the task before him. This is the Road of Trials in Captain Stevens' journey, as he edures tests of strength, resourcefulness and endurance in order to find the bomber. Over the duration of the road of trials, it can be inferred that Captain Stevens goes through a series of changes, and ends up realizing that saving the future isn't enough, for he appears to have fallen for Christina (the Damsel in Distress). The viewer of this trailer is left with the knowledge that Captain Stevens is going to risk everything to go back for Christina, and the suspense as to whether or not he manages to leaves the viewer wanting to see the entire film. Captain Stevens' decision to go beyond his task against the wishes of his mentors is The Innermost Cave, as doing this will take all his strength and perserverance.

An archetypal theme that is predominantly visible in the Source Code trailer is that of Death and Rebirth. Captain Stevens must die 7 or 8 times in the movie and, even though he didn't physically die, he definitely went through many internal transformations each time he died and was "reborn", causing his change of heart and impacting his decision making later on in the film.

The Source Code is definitely a very good example of how archetypes, however molded to fit modern expectations, are still a large contributing factor in new texts and films and how they will continue to be a big part of media in the future. After viewing and analyzing this trailer, I definintely want to see what will happen next and if my assumptions about the gaps in the film not shown by the trailer are correct. If I get the chance to see the film, I will most certainly finish talking about Captain Stevens' journey.

Cinderella ~ A Classic Story Gone Pop Culture

When you think of Cinderella, what comes to mind? The most popular and classic tale written by Charles Perrault? The Disney version in which mice and birds sing and dance, and the Cinderella that has become an icon for Disney and an idol for young girls everywhere? Or the more modern twists like A Cinderella Story or Another Cinderella Story featuring well known actresses and actors like Hillary Duff, Chad Michael Murray, and Selena Gomez? There are over 45 different film adaptations and many more novels, short stories, plays, songs and poems all revolving around that idea of unlikely romance between people from different worlds. All of this leads to the question - why is Cinderella's story so popular in pop culture?

My opinion on this question is that Cinderella, like so many other classic stories that end in true love and perfect happiness, is inspiring to people of all ages, for it is an archetype that encourages one to follow their dreams and take risks. Young children (especially girls) make a role model of Cinderella because she is a strong, beautiful, young woman who finds her prince charming and lives "happily ever after"; the dream of almost all little girls. Tweens and teens also are inspired by Cinderella's sense of knowing who she is and what she wants in life, and her strength in pursuing those dreams even with the risk of her life crashing down on her once again. Adults, young and old, see Cinderella as someone they once were: lost without direction and confused about life in general. This older audience appreciates her struggle and finally her success, because even if they have or haven't found their "prince charming" (symbolizes not just true love, but also success and goals achieved), they know that they will and when they do, it will be every bit as perfect as it is in the story. Cinderella, in this way, truly makes life a little more hopeful and a little more romantic, because even though it is slightly unrealistic (the magic and singing mice and such) the story really portrays a happiness that everyone dreams of. This is why, I believe, Cinderella is such a big pop culture phenomenon: people want to believe the happiness and true love in the story, and everyone loves a happy ending - and big media companies love it when people love things because those things sell well!

Stardust and the Human Condition

Stardust, as my dad said, "is the perfect movie. A bit of drama, a lot of action, a good amount of humour, some mystery, some magic and some romance.". It is one of those movies that you can watch over and over and over again without ever getting tired of it. Stardust (surprise, surprise!) is also a very good example of the hero's journey and transformation. It begins with a quote that really gets me thinking though, and this quote is truly the essence of what I am getting at on this blog : "Are we human because we gaze at the stars or do we gaze at the stars because we are human?". In all of the archetypes that I am exploring, I ask the question: is this idea formed by human nature or is it an idea that has just been taken and re-modeled again and again? After watching this movie (again), I realized that perhaps this question, too, is unanswerable because there is too much evidence on both sides. I mean, on one hand, many great writers have had ideas come to them in dreams or spontaneously, but that general idea, whether they know it or not, may have been explored thousands of years prior to their existance. The argument for this is that sometimes humans absorb things without knowing that they are doing so, and therefore an idea in a dream may have come from something present in the world already, being passed down this way throughout time. It almost hurts your head to think about, doesn't it? Anyways, I certainly will continue to explore this idea of the human condition impacting ideas and stories, but perhaps not as narrowmindedly as previous.

What are your thoughts on the question "Are we human because we gaze at the stars or do we gaze at the stars because we are human?"? What makes us human? Is it what we do and how we think, or is it simply a scientific classification based on physical things? Is there a difference between belonging to the homo sapien species and belonging to the human race?

Hawaiian Creation Story ~ More Mythology in Other Cultures

When I was in Hawaii, I went on a dolphin adventure boat tour to a little island just East of Maui, and on the way over, as the informational part of the tour, one of the guides told us a Hawaiian creation legend. I found that there are many parallels in terms of mythological content to that of the Ancient Greeks or Romans, simply in the sense that there are gods/godesses who control a certain aspect/element of the world and who aided in the creation of the world as we know it today.

The myth itself is explaining how the Hawaiian islands came to exist even though, as science has proved, it is known that the moving of tectonic plates and underwater lava flows created the land. It begins with Pele (Pronounced pay-lay), the Hawaiian godess of lava. Pele was born into what was, at her time, a relatively large family, consisting of 6-7 hundred brothers and sisters. As a young woman, Pele fell in love with the same man as one of her sisters, Akua (pronounced ah-cooh-ah), the Hawaiian godess of the ocean. Pele ended up winning the man's affections, which angered Akua to the point of flooding Pele's home. Pele fled, creating a new land with her magic lava stick, Paoa (pronounced pay-oh-ah), which later became known as the first and most Northeastern of the hawaiian islands, Ni'ihau. Akua came to Pele's new home very shortly after and flooded it as well, leaving only a small island in its place. Once again, Pele fled and created a new home for herself, and once again Akua destroyed it. This occured many more times until Pele reached the big island of Hawaii, where she currently resides. Legend is that she will once again be flooded out and create a new land to call her home (explains why there are still active volcanoes on Hawaii and why they become dormant or extinct like the other islands as well as the new Hawaiian island currently forming from a lava flow that will surface in a few million years)

As you can see, many cultures have their own legends and mythology explaining how everything came to exist, but many of those legends and myths follow a similar pattern in various cultures alike. For example, there are good gods and godesses and bad gods and godesses, gods and godesses who are in control of a specific element or force, and sacred items, lands and people in all cultural archetypes. In a way, I believe, these stories were a way for ancient people to make sense of the world and its happenings, and many of these myths are actually on the right track - just like the Hawaiian creation story which explains everything that science proves at a later date. Maybe the explainations are not as realistic as the science that  humans are now capable of, but they certainly are much simpler to understand and remember.

What do you think is significant about these stories and legends other than cultural meaning? Are there others that you have heard/seen that really make sense and have parallels to other legends in different cultures? Is it human nature to come up with a semi-logical explaination when there seems to be no answer?

Classic Story or Classic Idea?

Everyone knows the story of Romeo and Juliet: a classic tale about forbidden love and mixed messages leading to the death of the star-crossed lovers. This very plotline has lead to innumerable novels, short stories and films all on that same basic idea of the power of love. But was William Shakespear the first to think of this? Many would be surprised to hear that the answer is, in fact, no. In Edith Hamilton's MYTHOLOGY, I came across a section called Eight Brief Tales of Lovers (sounds slightly cheesy, I know). The very first tale in this section is called Pyramus and Thisbe (pg. 101). This story follows an identical plotline to that of Shakespear's classic Romeo and Juliet:

1. Pyramus and Thisbe notice each other after living beside each other all their lives
    - Romeo and Juliet meet after living in the same city as members of the two most prestigious families
2. Pyramus and Thisbe, after being forbade to see each other as their families hated each other, find a chink in the wall between their properties and through it, they whispered to each other without their families' knowledge
   - Romeo and Juliet, after being torn apart by feuding families, talk in the seclusion of Juliet's balcony (very famous and influential scene)
3. Pyramus and Thisbe plan to escape the confines of their restrictive families after growing tired of yearning to do more than simply talk
  - Romeo and Juliet, too, plan their escape and part ways
4. Thisbe shows up at the clearing that was to be their meeting place, and waits for Pyramus to come. A lioness stalks into the clearing after making a kill, with blood in its teeth. Thisbe flees, but not before dropping her cloak, which the lioness "mouths" and tears, leaving a bloody torn mess.
  - Juliet is set to be married, so she arranges a plan, and with the help of Friar Laurence, she fakes her own death using a sleeping solution
5. Pyramus comes to the clearing and finds Thisbe's cloak bloody and torn and, under the assumption that she is dead, takes a sword and plunges it through his own heart
  - Romeo sees Juliet "dead" and after visiting her tomb, drinks a poision, also killing himself
6. Thisbe comes back to the clearing to find Pyramus dead and his blood shed everywhere, so she too takes his sword and kills herself with it
  - Juliet wakes to find Romeo dead next to her and, finding the loss of love unbearable, she takes a dagger and plunges it into her own chest
7. The gods and Thisbe and Pyramus's families were pitiful in the end, finally seeing what could have prevented such a tragedy in the first place
  -The Montagues and Capulets begin to mend their differences after the deaths of Romeo and Juliet

After seeing this nearly identical story of star-crossed lovers, it is very difficult to see if one influenced the other. Do you think that Shakespear heard of this tale before composing his own play, or is it simply because he was human that he came up with his own story based on the same idea? Are there other ancient tales that bring upon an idea that is fundamental in more modern literature? What ideas can be seen throughout many authors' work because of this idea that humans have similar ideas because they are human? Do you think that this idea is possible?

Introduction to Mythology and Archetypes

What is mythology exactly? This is a question that I plan to answer over the next 8 weeks or so through the exploration of various archetypes. This said, I want to begin with a bit of a brief introduction to the world of archetypes, and how mythology comes into play where you would least expect it.

Everyone knows mythology, but does everyone see mythology in everyday novels, films, comic books, etc.? To start off with, here's an example that most people should be able to relate to: Harry Potter. A worldwide phenomenon about a young wizard and his journeys through a series of seven novels, and a story that I, personally, have been fascinated with since the age of 11. Whether you have read the books an insane amount of times (I went through a phase from about grade 5 to 7 where I read the entire series about 9 times), or you wait patiently for the movies to come out; you know the story...or do you? While the whole story of an orphan boy discovering that he is much more than ordinary is a captivating one, it is also a very typical archetype with many references to mythology. 

Harry's departure begins the moment that his parents are murdered by the evil Lord Voldemort, beginning the 17-year journey to finish what was started. This is the Call to Adventure part of his departure. This, as in most archetypes is followed by the Refusal of the Call, but interestingly enough, this choice is not made by Harry, but rather by his Aunt and Uncle who want to "stamp the magic out of him" and who abuse him and show him nothing but resentment in the 11 years that follow. It is on the night of his 11th birthday that his Supernatural Aid, in the form of Hagrid, the friendly half-giant, comes and shows him who he truly is ("You're a wizard, Harry"). Then comes the Crossing of the First Threshold, when Harry finally steps into the world he never knew he belonged to (Trip to Diagon Alley). He finally enters the last stage of departure, The Belly of the Whale, when he climbs aboard the Hogwarts Express, unknowing that he will never be the same when he returns.

Harry's introduction to the magical world of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is his Initiation. Over Harry's next six years at the school, he endures the Road of Trials (at this point, it is impossible for me to explain 6 books worth of trials, so you may just have to read them) and nearing the end of his sixth year, he meets The Goddess (who happens to be his best friend's sister - awkward!). After the Atonement with the Father (Dumbledore) Harry realizes what he must do and the severity of the situation he must take on, and throughout the seventh book, he starts a journey (journey in a journey) to finally complete his quest of defeating Voldemort. Nearing the end of the seventh book is Harry's Apotheosis and the Ultimate Boon, which, to avoid ruining the book or movie for those who are unfamiliar, I will not explain in detail, but if you have read the seventh book, these details are quite easy to pick out.

Harry's Return is not explained in detail, but the final part of it is in the epilogue, that being Freedom to Live.

As you can see, the basic plotline of Harry Potter is very connected to mythology, and I can tell you in all honesty, that this is just the begining of the similarities and I will most certainly continue on with those on a later date. Now, although I may have ranted for a while, the whole point that I was trying to get across is that once you are able to identify the basic qualities of archetypes, you will be able to see them in almost all literature (even the ones that you enjoy). It really shows you a whole new level to the things you love to read and watch.