Storytelling in destination brands’ promotional videos

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Heroes in the Midst of Gods: A Narratological Study of Heroes and the Divine in Mesopotamian, Greco-Roman, and Abrahamic Otherworldly Journeys

Joseph Campbell’s proposal that the lives of human beings might be seen as variations on a single unifying grand narrative, provides the energy for this article. From a therapeutic perspective, Cam...

The Hero-Journey, Hamlet and Positive Psychological Transformation:

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The Write moves: An autoethnographic examination of the media industry

4 Chapter I: Introduction 5 Chapter II: Departure 12 Chapter III: Initiation 33 Chapter IV: Return 55 Chapter V: Where is Wonder Woman? 60 Chapter VI: Conclusion 62 Works Cited Abstract Heroes have been with us since the beginning of time with some becoming more well known than others. Each and every culture seems to have their own type of hero that embodies their ideals, values and beliefs. It is this truth that Joseph Campbell, author of the 1949 book The Hero with a Thousand Faces, uses as a foundation to discuss his take on why heroes have had and will always have a place within the human fabric regardless of geographical location, religious affiliation or cultural idiosyncrasies. This thesis will apply Campbell’s monomyth theory to literary classics such as Beowulf, Homer’s The Odyssey and Malamud’s The Natural. These diverse pieces will test Campbell’s theory and will reveal if the Hero’s Journey can withstand the test of not only time but space as well.Heroes have been with us since the beginning of time with some becoming more well known than others. Each and every culture seems to have their own type of hero that embodies their ideals, values and beliefs. It is this truth that Joseph Campbell, author of the 1949 book The Hero with a Thousand Faces, uses as a foundation to discuss his take on why heroes have had and will always have a place within the human fabric regardless of geographical location, religious affiliation or cultural idiosyncrasies. This thesis will apply Campbell’s monomyth theory to literary classics such as Beowulf, Homer’s The Odyssey and Malamud’s The Natural. These diverse pieces will test Campbell’s theory and will reveal if the Hero’s Journey can withstand the test of not only time but space as well. Chapter I: Introduction The Man of Steel as we know him today was not born of this world. He came from outer space, an alien if you will, a previous resident of the intergalactic planet Krypton. Despite this fact, Superman is strikingly similar to the human beings he so heroically saves from the runaway trains, falling buildings and evil villains that plague Metropolis. His exterior is that of the homo sapien as is his speech and mannerisms (even though he is a bit on the boring side as Clark Kent). He even falls in love with a mere mortal woman. We as a culture have accepted him outright and choose to overlook his foreign alien past. Why? Because he is Superman, that’s why. He saves cats from tall oak trees, children from burning high rises and can even reverse the rotation of the Earth. He has superhuman strength, laser x-ray vision and can fly. He also gives us hope that good will always prevail when evil is present and may even help inspire some to be better citizens, friends, co-workers and spouses. It is his ability to connect to our inner desires and dreams that made kids purchase his comics in the 1940’s and filled and continue to fill movie theater seats with the latest Superman blockbuster. Superman, and heroes in general, embody traits and characteristics we as human beings value and long to possess. These desires lie within our subconscious and have for centuries. Superman is our modern day hero who has a long line of ancestral history that spans the globe. Prior to his arrival, countless heroes have come and gone yet all still survive in the fabric of the cultures in which they originated. From Moses to Luke Skywalker, heroes have influenced, educated and inspired all the world’s people since the

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Superman's Ancestors - Beowulf, Odysseus and Roy Hobbs: Application and Analysis of Joseph Campbell's Monomyth Theory

The composite hero of the monomyth is a personage of exceptional gifts. Frequently he is honored [sic] by society, frequently unrecognized [sic] or disdained. He and/or the world in which he finds himself suffers from a symbolical deficiency. (Campbell 37) In creative or dramatic terms, Joseph Campbell's "monomyth" conceptualizes the heroic prominence of the protagonist in a given fiction. Although most of Campbell's research is based on theological mythologies, his concepts are steeped in twentieth-century psychoanalytical theories (4-19). Campbell focuses on the initiatory paradigms of universal myths and formulates the hero's rite of passage into three major stages: "separation [departure]-initiation [action]-return [reflection]" (Campbell 30). Campbell's book on the subject, The Hem with a Thousand Faces, has consciously been appropriated by the writer and film-critic Christopher Vogler who applies Campbell's theories, "The Adventure of the Hero," to protagonists of several modern films ranging from Pulp Fiction to Star Wars. Similarly the tragedy of Hamlet focuses on an exceptionally gifted central character who, once the "symbolic deficiency" of his world has been identified, "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark" (1.5.90),1 vows to purge his world from that "deficiency," "time is out of joint. O cursed spite, / That ever I was born to set it right" ( 1.5.196-97). By aspiring to guide his society to safety (Campbell 391), Hamlet qualifies as a mono-mythical hero since he too desires to "set [his world] right." In Hamlet, heroic intentions are often embedded in soliloquies. Soliloquies, claims Mary Maher, are the hallmark of Hamlet's persona (Modem Hamlets xi, xv-xvi); indeed the role of Hamlet is often defined by and depends upon his soliloquies for completion. 'To be or not to be" is unique of all of Hamlet's soliloquies: on stage it is "an overheard soliloquy" (Charney 123; Orange 62,65) but on screen it is a pivotal point in the hero's journey. In his celebrated paper, "The Meaning of Hamlet's Soliloquy," Irving Richards ascertains that Hamlet's "To be or not to be" is "the crux of the drama, the point at which Hamlet takes the audience into his confidence and reveals the secret of his complex soul" (745). Conversely, Maher argues, audiences of screened Hamlet intimately connect with him and feel obliged to identify with his dilemmas ("Hamlet's BBC" 426). Therefore, "To be or not to be" remains central to Hamlet's character textually, theatrically, and cinematically. The textual positioning of Hamlet's "To be or not to be" was thoroughly assessed by Lewis Mott in 1904 (26-32). One hundred years on, I would like to examine the positioning and setting of the soliloquy in recent Hamlet films. I will examine four Hamlet films, Laurence Olivier ( 1948), Franco Zeffirelli (1990), Kenneth Branagh (1996), plus Michael Almereyda (2000), and apply Campbell's hypothesis as demonstrated in "The Adventure of the Hero" to ascertain the position of "To be or not to be" in the protagonist's journey in each of these films. The placement of "To be or not to be" within the hero's rite of passage framework set out by Campbell depends on its positioning within the individual film's structure, which can easily alter from one step of the hero's journey to another, indeed from one stage to another. I will demonstrate that, regardless of each film's mise en scene, "To be or not to be" is placed in the Separation/Departure stage of the hero's journey, which takes place inside "The Belly of the Whale" in three of the above mentioned Hamlet films, Olivier, Zeffirelli, and Almereyda, (whereas Branagh's soliloquy takes place in the Initiation stage). "The Belly of the Whale," according to Campbell, is a metamorphic step when "The hero, instead of conquering or conciliating the power of the threshold, is swallowed into the unknown, [where he] goes inward to be born again" (90-92); it is a nightmarish sentiment with ancient resonance; it is the last moment of decision-making before the hero has to take action. …

"To be or not to be" in "The Belly of the Whale": a reading of Joseph Campbell's "Modern Hero" hypothesis in Hamlet on Film

The Egyptian film industry has produced five features based on The Taming of the Shrew - al-Zawjat al-Sabia (The Seventh Wife, 1950), BanatHawwa (Daughters of Eve, 1954), Ah Min Hawwa (Beware of Eve, 1962), al-Mutamarrida (The Unruly Female, 1963), and Istakoza (1996),2 - out of which Fatin Abdel Wahab's 1962 Hawwa seems most captivating.3 As a researcher in Arabic Shakespeare my initial reaction upon seeing Ah Min Hawwa was to question why this film should have escaped critical attention. We cannot, with all honesty, claim that this black-and-white film is a great piece of art. Indeed, the cinematography and mise-en-scene are nothing to boast about: the majority of the action is taken in mid-to-wide shots, crosscuts are kept to a minimum, and the camera movement is largely static. On the surface, then, Abdel Wahab's film, which has suffered from forty odd years of neglect, seems to have little to offer. However, despite its shortcomings, the film is an important link in the history of filming the Shrew and wider Arabic Shakespeare studies. The imaginative setting, the manipulation of Shakespeare's plot, the acting, and the use of musical score are not only superlative but they are also informative about re-framing Shakespeare into Arabic. I intend, therefore, to relate Ah Min Hawwa to Shakespeare's comedy and demonstrate how this Shrew validates aspects of the socio-political environment of 1960s Egypt. I will examine how Shakespeare's plot is made to "fit" Arab-Islamic social culture and argue that 'Abdel Wahab's portrayal of the Shrew highlights some of the class and sexual tensions between Amira Amin (Katherine) of the Egyptian elite and Dr. Hasan Shukri (Petruchio), an upper-middle-class veterinarian specialist. I will describe sections of the film in some detail to help demonstrate how Abdel Wahab establishes Amira's unruly nature.4 I hope this close reading will capture the film's tempo and illuminate the readers understanding of what makes Shakespeare's comedy "speak" to post-revolution Egyptian authences.5 Ah Min Hawwa is what Kenneth Rothwell categorizes as a "Shakespearean derivative" (192-218), meaning it is a metaphoric (indirectly related) Shrew. Unlike other metonymie (directly sourced) Shrew features that tend to imitate Shakespeare's structure and language, such as Sam Taylor's (1929) or Franco Zeffirelli's (1967) productions,^ Min Hawwa resembles films like McLintock (Andrew V. McLaglen, 1963), Ten Things I Hate About You (Gil Junger, 1999), Deliver us from Eva (Gary Hardwick, 2003), and the BBC's Shrew in the Shakespeare Retold series (David Richards, 2005), all of which are inventive and modern (dress and language)6 "derivatives" of the Shrew. As a Shakespearean derivative, the plot of Ah Min Hawwa is considerably slimmer. Almost the entire subplot of Biancas suitors is omitted; this includes Lucentio's disguise, Tranio's impersonation of Lucentio and all that entails. In addition, the characters' names are altered: some are Arabicized - Amira (Katherine), Nadya (Bianca), Lam'i (Lucentio); while others are Islamized - Hasan Shukri (Petruchio) and Sayyid Amin.7 Moreover, the sisters' patriarchal authoritative figure is not their father (Baptista) but their grandfather Sayyid Amin, nicknamed ghiddu 'granddaddy.' Of all Shakespeare's comedies,8 The Taming of the Shrew seems to resonate most with the domesticity of Arab-Islamic patriarchal societies.9 Abdel Hakim Caracalla, who adapted three Shakespearean plays for the Middle Eastern stage, claims that "the subjugation of women to men as in The Taming of the Shrew is a phenomenon which is more oriental in spirit than western" (qtd. in Kanaan 19O).10 Indeed, a sexist reading of the play would surely seem appropriate to any patriarchal society, but what makes Ah Min Hawwa unique is its 1960s Egyptian setting; a time, I suggest, when intra-ArabIslamic social values were being redefined and when East and West material cultures were almost indistinguishable. …

Yvette K. Khoury

Papers

"To be or not to be" in "The Belly of the Whale": a reading of Joseph Campbell's "Modern Hero" hypothesis in Hamlet on Film

The Taming of the (Arab-Islamic) Shrew: Fatin 'Abdel Wahab Re-Frames Shakespeare's Comedy for the Egyptian Screen1