2012

I was at my good friends house and we watched an apocalyptic movie, end of the world, crush-kill-destroy movie, and cheesy movie, 2012. 2012 is about the end of the world, and when doomsday myths come true of total world chaos, it makes for a good movie. The movie involves a lot of mythology due to the high amount of mythological feel to the movie while following a 'hero' on a journey. I say it has a high amount of mythological feel because the movie features unrealistic situations being portrayed. Such as the Earth's tectonic plates suddenly shifting at such a pace that the world is consumed into chaos. This is first not very plausible due to the fact that the world's plates suddenly don't shift at such a fast pace and if they were about to shift the world's scientists would know, thus leading me to believe within this movie there is a little fiction and myth.

Within the movie we follow Jackson Curtis a limo driver trying to write books and balance his life as a family man at the same time. He is the hero portrayed in the movie and I would classify Jackson under the Apocalyptic Hero for Heroic Archetypes. I portrayed Jackson as this specific heroic archetype because he faces unbeatable odds of surviving the destruction of his society and the world around him. Jackson Curtis is on a journey to find the arcs, huge boats constructed to save the people of earth from these cataclysmic events taking place on Earth. Also Jackson is on the journey to save his family, Jackson plans on finding these arcs to save himself and the people he loves while evading the destruction of the world.

The film follows a very high intensity Hero's journey starting with the...

• Departure: Jackson Curtis is living his quiet life being a taxi driver, and on the side being an author. Until his life is turned upside down when he realizes that when he sees a big earthquake rip open his entire city Los Angeles and narrowly escapes to the airport.


• Initiation: With California barely falling into the ocean Jackson Curtis can see that something is not right. While at the airport his ex-wife's boyfriend takes an airplane and flys it to Yellowstone National Park where he believes there to be a map to a place safe from the current catastrophe taking place globally. While taking a nice visit to Yellowstone National Park Jackson Curtis finds the map but narrowly escapes from a super-heated explosion from the nearby volcano that had just exploded. Destination China.


• The Road of Trials: Unable to make it to China in the flimsy plane Jackson Curtis and his companions poses they need to stop in Las Vegas where they meet up with Jackson's client Yuri. Yuri is also trying to get to China to get on the only hope humanity has for survival, the arcs. The group of dreamers run to a nearby plane on route to China,. Unfortunately the plane needs to re-fuel and the airplane must stop in Hawaii to their dismay they find Hawaii under flames, they must now fly directly towards China for as long as they can. The airplane eventually runs out of fuel and crash lands China.


• The Innermost Cave: As new people to a far and distant land Jackson Curtis reaches the arcs with the help of the locals. Trouble arises when a cord gets tangled in the boats gears and Jackson must try and untangle the cord for if he doesn't the arc will sink killing everyone on it. Almost drowning himself Jackson Curtis is able to untangle the rope and save the day.


• Return and Reintegration with Society: Jackson Curtis is hailed as a hero for what he has done and is able to save so many people. With Jackson Curtis and his family safe, him and his family await the new trials of a new world.
  

Within 2012 Jackson Curtis faces many challenges and within the movie there is 1 prominent symbolic archetypes Haven vs Wilderness. Jackson is constantly on the run because of the destruction of earth and is constantly on the move trying to find somewhere safe. Within this movie there are also many symbols involving nature and objects such as...

Rivers/Streams: Within the movie there are is a lot of water, constantly changing and shaping the newly re-modeled Earth. I believe the rivers and streams symbolize the life cycle, the cycle of a constantly changing Earth.

Boats: Within the movie the boats symbolize safe passage from the ever existent presence of the destruction of the world.

2012 brings around a whole bushel of characters such as the

The Hero: Jackson Curtis is on a journey trying to save himself from the destruction of the Earth while trying to save his family as well and running from the elements as Earth is being re-modeled.

Hunting Group of Companions: This includes Jackson Curtis's family and his Russian posse while following him to freedom away from the harsh elements.

2012 brings about some questions though for me. Do you think the Earth will have some cataclysmic event happen on 2012? Do you think it would look anything like what it was portrayed in the movie? And when you take the main characters initials J.C do you think these initials have any relevance to Jesus Christ the Saviour?

Shrek

I recently watched the hilarious and unforgettable story of an ogre and a talking donkey, Shrek. I watched it with my family and it is always a classic and always bring a good laugh to me, the story follows Shrek and his journey to get his swamp back, but mistakenly falls in love with the very thing that enables him to allow him to be able to get his swamp back. Shrek is also based in a fairytale world leading this movie to be based on archetypes and Greek mythology.

Within Shrek we have the generic Stages of a Hero's Journey in a very humorous manner.

Stage 1: Departure: The start of Shrek's long journey is when he bumps into Donkey, one of the only creatures that thinks as Shrek as a person with feelings rather than a evil, human hungry monster. Donkey tells Shrek that all the fairy tale creatures are getting rounded up. Later that night all the fairy tale creatures that have been rounded up, have been relocated to Shrek's swamp. Shrek learns that a man going by the name of Lord Farquaad has relocated these fairy tale creatures to his own swamp, and must see this Farquaad character and get his swamp back.

Stage 2: Initiation: Shrek confronts Farquaad about the re-location of all the fairy tale creatures and strikes a deal with him. Get Princess Fiona to Lord Farquaad and Shrek will get his swamp back to its normal, quiet self.

Stage 3: The Road of Trials: Shrek leaves his world behind travelling with his new found accomplice Donkey. Donkey and Shrek travel far and wide to the castle, where they find the point of no return. To rescue to Princess they must travel across a rickety old bridge over a lava lake, into a castle guarded by a fire-breathing dragon. Shrek decides he should go to the top tower to find this Princess while Donkey keep a low profile. Being Donkey, Donkey somehow finds the dragon, and wakes it up. While Shrek is able to rescue Princess Fiona and escape with Donkey at hand. Shrek escorts Princess Fiona back to Lord Farquaad only finding out that he loves her. But over hearing a conversation between donkey and Fiona, Shrek hears words that cut deep, leaving Shrek to give up Princess Fiona to Farquaad.

Stage 4: The Innermost Cave: Thanks to Donkey, Shrek realizes that Fiona really loves Shrek not Lord Farquaad and that he needs to stop the wedding between the two. Again, Donkey saves the day by bringing in a dragon, giving a lift to the cathedral. Shrek is able to crash the wedding on time but to his surprise finds out that by day Fiona is human, but by sundown she is also like him a ogre. Shrek tries to and tries to get to Fiona but is battled off by Lord Farquaad's guards.

Stage 5: Return and Reintegration with Society: Passionately, Shrek and Fiona meet lips and forever make themselves husband and wife also transforming Fiona into an ogre. With Lord Farquaad eaten Shrek doesn't have all that much to worry about, and coincidentally they all live happily ever after.

Heroic Archetypes:

I would categorize Shrek under the Unbalanced Hero/The Denied Hero. I would categorize Shrek under these two Archetypes because Shrek is looked at as the underdog, someone who couldn't do what he is expected of while also status wise he is not expected to do anything in life because he is an ogre. Also, Shrek has emotional problems by balancing his love towards Fiona but also trying to balance how people look at him. Shrek is looked at as an ugly ogre, but deep down Shrek actually has feelings and because of this constant judging of people, Shrek has lived his life alone and without anybody and is hard to keep living that way when Donkey is part of this new adventure. Lastly, Shrek has a little bit of Defiant Anti-Hero in him, he fights mainstream society, by living a secluded life, and believes little of Happily Ever After Endings. Such as a Princess being rescued by Prince Charming.

Shrek's Archetypal Journey led him on two different quests, one to search for love (although he didn't know it at the time) and the fool's errand. Shrek was sent on a journey from Lord Farquaad (Fool's errand) in search of Princess Fiona to gain back Shrek's swamp. Although Shrek cared nothing about the princess and just wanted his swamp back, Shrek falls in love with Fiona and later in the movie saves her from marrying Lord Farquaad and being able to live happily ever after.

Symbolic Archetypes

Colors:

Red- In the movie Lord Farquaad is always wearing red symbolizing his violent passion of hurting people like the gingerbread man. Also, red on Lord Farquaad might symbolize the disorder he brings to the land by displacing so many fairy tale creatures.

Green- Probably the most prominent color throughout the movie, green is put on everything from Shrek to the forest he lives in. Green was probably most suitable for Shrek because it symbolizes the growth of Shrek overtime due to the long adventure he had with Donkey.

Nature:

Cave: In the movie Fiona sleeps in a cave which I find quite funny because caves symbolize femininity which perfectly suits Fiona.

Stars: Shrek and Donkey are looking up at the sky and looking at each star for characters portrayed such as Capricorn, but they also look at what these stars did for guidance towards their lifes to come, such as learning about morals of a story.

Mountain: When Shrek and Donkey make it to Fiona's castle they come across a Castle where she is supposed to live, perched on top of a mountain. I believe this mountain symbolizes the goals and the ambitions Donkey and Shrek have to getting Fiona.

If you have seen Shrek how do you feel fairy-tales relate to Greek Mythology and Archetypes? Do you feel that they are very similar or very distant from each other, if you feel they are similar, what are some of the characteristics you might think relate Greek Mythology and Fairy-tales together?

The Blues Brothers

Jake and Elwood Blues, both on a "mission from god". The hilarious couple star in the Blues Brothers about the journey to save the orphanage where they grew up in while battling Illinois Nazis, ex-wives, the Good Ol'boys and the array of police officers trying to chase them down while Jake and Elwood try and raise enough money to save the place they use to call home. It is quite astonishing that without knowing there are some archetypes within this movie without being about mythology. This movie to me followed the journey of a hero and his adventure to full fill his quest.

Within the movie the journey that these two go through is quite widely recognizable.

The Departure-Jake Blues recently released from jail meets up with his old friend and brother Elwood Blues, the two evidently quite the trouble makers are soon given the task of raising $5000 to save the orphanage they grew up in. The nun giving them the soon to be adventure wants the money legitimately knowing that the boys would get the money using ways outside of the laws.

The Initiation-Jake and Elwood on the road go to church where they realize they are on a mission from god. They then decide to get this money legitimately but to do this they would need to get the band back together. Unfortunately, Elwood was supposed to be keeping in touch with his old band mates but it seemed it slipped his mind to actually go through with this job.

The Road of Trials- To get the money the Brothers embark on a journey trying to pick up their old band members from the new jobs they have taken up. Some have still continued to stick to their musical roots while others have ventured off and started a new life. The adventure to pick up all the band mates is a hilarious adventure of the boys bumping into Nazis, many police officers and killer ex-wives. The boys eventually round up all the band members but realize they need a big gig to get back on top. Through the help of Ray Charles for inspiration and an old booker the Blues Brothers are able to book the Paliser hotel and play the gig of of a lifetime. Because of playing at the Paliser Ballroom the boys are able to repay the $5000 dollars the orphanage needs but to do this they need to make a mad dash to Chicago with hundreds of officers on their tail.

The Innermost Cave- The boys with the money are surrounded by the SWAT team, army and a huge number of police officers. But the boys are able to pay the $5000 dollars and save the orphanage, but they will have to pay the consequences of doing the things they did to get where they are.

Reintegration with Society- I wouldn't say this is the best way to get back into society but it would probably be the closest thing to. For the crimes the boys did, Jake and Elwood are thrown into the slammer but the 'heroes' saved their old home from permanent destruction and got the old band together.

Different character archetypes are used such as

• The heroes include the Blues brothers trying to save the orphanage they grew up in as children. To do this the Brothers go on a long journey to save and fix this problematic situation placed upon them.
• Mentors are constantly shown throughout the movie such as Cab Calloway the father figure to the boys as they are growing up, Ray Charles giving the boys inspiration in music, and the band giving the boys hope when they need it the most.
• One of my most favorite is the Unfaithful Wife portrayed in the movie, which composes of Jake Blues's old wife trying to hunt him down for the way he stuck her up at their wedding.

The very prominent symbol shown throughout the movie were the full black outfits the Blues Brothers wore symbolizing the mystery behind who these men are and the chaos these boys leave behind.

The Blues Brothers is a classic and it is great knowing that it relates to archetypes used in mythology. Do you think there are any other comical movies that relate to archetypes and Greek mythology?

V for Vendetta

V for Vendetta is a compelling movie which is based in a totalitarian era Britain in which the people are oppressed, somewhat like what the Soviet Union might look like back in the 1900's. V for Vendetta is based in the not so distant future where famine and disease is scattered across the land. The movies stars a mysterious figure named V on his quest to reform an already destroyed society and stop the corruption and oppression of his government. The movie also follows a girl named Evey who mistakeably comes into trouble. But to her favour, V comes to her aid and saves her, which is the start to a companionship throughout the graphic novel and movie.

Heroic Archetypes

It is in my opinion that V cannot be looked at as one specific archetype but a collection of many different ones. V is like a ogre, made up of many layers just like an onion (quote from Shrek), V cannot be catorgorized as just on archetype. V's most abundant trait would have to be his Gothic Hero side. V is a very dark and mysterious hero who fights for the good of the people but yet is looked at by the people as evil and dark created by the evil regime ruling Britain. V also has the same characteristics as for say the Scapegoat, one who suffers for the good of the people. V constantly risks getting killed so that his people will have a brighter future without a corrupt regime in power. Laslty,with the companionship of Evey, V falls for her, getting emotionally attached at some times making him a very Unbalanced Hero.

Symbolic Archetypes

Throughout the film there are very strong symbols portrayed and shown everywhere, from the back alleys of London, to the memories and flashbacks that Evey has. The most important and strongly shown symbols are the colours. Red, white and black are constantly portrayed throughtout the graphic novel and the movie. V is dressed in black costume with a black hat but to offset the darkness he wears a mask of white. The darkness of V's costume shows how V is a very mysterious individual with the viewer or reader knowing very little about V and who he really is. The black also represents the chaos and hate inside of V which is very well known when V is fighting against the government. But yet out of all the black V wears a white Guy Fawkes mask, which symbloizes his constant devotion to the light and goodness of the people. Although V might be looked upon as an evil figure he stands for peace and what is right.

I also noticed that the symbol that V draws is a V with a circle bordering it, this is quite important due to that the triangle relates to the light and constant battle between good and bad, while the circle portrays heaven.

This is just the start of what is to come for my critical analysis on the film and graphic novel V for Vendetta. I still have alot to write about V and Evey's journey throughout the film and more achetypes shown. I would also like to hear feed back on what I might be able to improve on or fix. And I would like to hear some questions you might have about V for Vendetta.

Zachary Sinclair