Cultures all around the world, some of which never connect with each other, have traditional stories, myths, and legends to explain the nature and way of the world. Theses myths have similar structure to one another including character archetypes, patterns of plot, and universal symbols. The novel Arrow of God by Chinua Achebe and the film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon directed by Ang Lee are two modern representations of myth based in two very different cultures.
Arrow of God follows the Igbo people and centers around the Ulu priest Ezeulu. At the beginning of the story the British colonials enter the area, and their missionaries begin to set up churches and spread the word of Christianity. Ezeulu and the Igbo villagers believe that their
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One of which is the structure of a good mother and a wicked mother (archetypal criticism). In Arrow of God Ezuelus wives represent these mothers, the good mother is represented by Ugoye, who is always kind and just with her children. The wicked mother is Matefi, who exhibits great jealousy for Ugoye. In Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Lien symbolizes the good mother, as she attempts to counsel and guide Jen away from her corruption. Jade Fox is the wicked mother who led Jen towards her corruption. There is also a similarity in all mythological heroes in that they have gifts granted by the gods. When Ezeulu did the ritual to enter his priesthood, he “rose up and was transformed into a spirit” (Achebe, 188), in this way Ezeulu has a spiritual presence to him and is able to perform all the sacred rituals he must. There is godly elements in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon as well, although because it 's a martial arts film the spirituality is in the form of magic. Jen and Bai both have a “magic power” to be able to glide, this is because they have mastered the Wudang way. The sword Green Destiny also has some magic elements to it, it is commonly referred to be extremely hard to wield. But, we see that when Jen wields the sword, she has greater fighting abilities and can even break other weapons with it easily. The use of colors in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was also very interesting in a symbolic manner. Lien wore a red kimono, the color red is a symbol for sacrifice. Lien’s sacrifice was living the warrior way and repressing her feeling for Bai. Jen wore a green kimono, the color green is a symbol for hope and growth. The hope refers to the hope that Jens corruption can be vanquished and she can be the hero that Bai sees in her. Near the end of the film Lien gives her red kimono to Jen, perhaps this is a symbol of Bai’s sacrifice for Jen,
In movies, novels, and life, people are named as heroes. The heroes we establish and the heroes we recognize, however, may not meet the criteria for a mythic hero. A mythic hero ventures forth on his journey, and comes forth from the hero’s path to greatness. Joseph Campbell, a mythologist who studied many of the great human myths and religious tales, realized, in studying these myths and tales, that there were certain steps that every hero went through. Campbell called this “The Hero’s Journey”; it is based on Carl Jung's idea that all human beings have an archetype. After Campbell studied a lot of the great myths and realized this pattern, he published his findings in his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Ever since then, authors have used “The Hero’s Journey” as an outline to tell their stories. “It is important to note that not all of these individual steps are present in every hero’s tale, nor is it important that they be in this exact order” (Vogler 20). The Hero with a Thousand Faces gives a sense of significance as it looks into the inner mind and soul. The author, Joseph Campbell, performs two extraordinary accomplishments: compelling his readers that myth and dream, those are the most effective and everlasting forces in life and a unification of mythology and psychoanalysis with a gripping narrative. One well-known example of “The Hero’s Journey” from popular culture is the Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, by J.K. Rowling. In the novel, Harry Potter, the main character, is the chosen one and “The Hero’s Journey” applies to his life from the moment he is attacked by He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named as a baby.
The structure of stories, on which Campbell’s Hero’s Journey and Booker’s Seven Basic Plots elaborated, is actually only a portion of the field of study it is under. Comparative mythology not only studies the structure of hero stories, but also origins, themes, and characteristics of myths from various religions and cultures. They study the language, psychology, history, and anthropology in order to identify a common theme or beginning point. Even without delving into religion, many common elements have come to light. For instance, many cultures have tales of people with strange supernatural abilities, others speak of similar creatures that reside in water, air or land, while still others extol the importance of talisman and religious symbols. Despite cultures existing on different ends of the earth and having little contact for much of their existence, they share these common
Good and Evil is present in many stories, although you may not see it all of the time, it may be represented by symbols. In the story "Young Goodman Brown" by Nathaniel Hawthorne there are many symbols of good and evil. The pink ribbons on Faiths cap are mentioned often in the story and are a major symbol in the story. The "woods" and "the staff" are also mentioned throughout the story, and they also have another meaning. Symbols are a prominent part of nearly every story, they help improve the story by branching out on the main idea with other meanings in the story.
Another prevalent symbol to me is the idea of sin. In The Ministers Black Veil Hooper just suddenly one day shows up to church wearing a veil. At first the people are sort of angered by it. People soon start to flock to his congregation to view the spectacle, and go so far as to test their '"'courage'"' by seeing who will go and talk to him. I think that the veil could represent sin. In The Ministers Black Veil Hooper was either trying to hide his sin from the people so that they could not judge him, which is god"'"s job, or maybe he was trying to protecting his self from the sins of the people. In the end of The Ministers Black Veil Hooper dies, and sees his congregation all wearing black veils, which would probably hint that maybe it represented the sin in all of us. In The Birthmark Georgiana"'"s birthmark could represent, as some religions believe, the original sin which is bestowed on all by the '"'hand'"' of god. But, unlike Hooper, Georgiana could not help her markings.
Arrow of God written by Chinua Achebe is set in the 1920’s located in Nigeria. The book focuses on the main character Ezeulu, the Igbo people’s chief priest. Throughout the text we see Ezeulu have conflicts with other tribes and with Christian missionaries, get sent to prison for denying a position from the British, and Ezeulu having difficulties within his own tribe and their yam harvest (Achebe). All the events that happened in Arrow of God lead to a much deeper meaning. If we take a look at a look at the very complex film District 9 produced by Peter Jackson, we see a very different but similar story. This is a “mockumentary” type film that explores the life of a MNU executive, an alien and his son, the Nigerian gang, and a mercenary soldier employed by MNU (IMDb). In both stories, Arrow of God
Any generic film hero is a model of their community and culture. They help to clearly define and outline the community’s values and cultural conflicts by embodying prime characteristics in their persona. The western hero, like Ethan in The Searchers, is always a figure for civilization amongst the savagery of the wild west. By portraying the roles of a civilization, the hero ...
Being one of the world’s most popular art forms, it was inevitable that these archetypes would find their way into film as well. In this essay I will argue that the films Pulp Fiction, Taxi Driver, Watership Down, and Trainspotting are all versions of The Hero’s Journey, consequently demonstrating just how prevalent these archetypes have become in modern cinema. And that mythology and storytelling are important parts of each culture because they prevent the darkness in our hearts from spreading.
Through studies such as comparative mythology, researchers and philosophers have discover hundreds of parallels between the myths that make up every culture, including their creation myths. As most are deeply rooted in religion, comparisons based on geographic area, themes, and similar story lines emerge as religions form and migrate. Campbell recognized these similarities an...
Myths recur across cultures and times because they are narrative and iconic manifestations of psychological archetypes which are themselves universal across times and cultures. An archetype is a universal symbolic pattern that is a motif, theme or character or image that repeats itself in many different cultures. It can be compared to a blueprint or a prototype that gets re-visited many different times. Some of the most popular examples are stories of great floods, initiation, creation, the underworld and motherhood. Archetypal characters and stories appear consistently in myths across many various cultures. Archetype myths explain the nature and creation of the world how life came about. Humans are very curious when it comes to the topic
From the beginning of time, mythology has appeared to be one key method of understanding life’s confusions and battles. Within these myths lies a hero. From myth to myth and story to story, heroes experience what may be called a struggle or a journey, which lays down their plot line. Bearing tremendous strength, talent, and significant admiration, a hero holds what is precious to their audience, heroism. Over time however, no matter the hero, the hero’s role remains indistinguishable and identical to the position of every other hero.
The epic hero’s journeys hold the hopes for future of ordinary people’s lives. The Epic of Gilgamesh was written in approximately 2000 B.C.E which is highly enriched with Ancient Mesopotamian religions, and The Ramayana was written by ancient Indians in around 1800 B.C.E. The stories were written in two different parts of the world. However, these two stories etched great evidence that show people from generation to generation that different cultures and religions are interconnected; they share ideas with each other. Both Gilgamesh and Rama traveled long journeys in these tales. These epic journeys played a role in the creation of different archetypes. We can clearly see that these two tales share similarities between these archetypes. Although
“A myth is a way of making sense in a senseless world. Myths are narrative patterns that give significance to our existence.” ― Rollo May
Comparative mythology is the correlation of myths from diverse societies trying to distinguish shared topics and characteristics. Comparative mythology has served a variety of academic purposes. For instance, researchers have utilized the connections between distinctive myths to follow the improvement of religions and societies, to propose origin for myths from diverse societies, and to bolster different psychological speculations. Looking into the history of Indian and Greek gods, they have been quite similar. The two civilizations shared numerous characteristics: they were both polytheistic, they supported level headed discussion and contention as a type of learning, and they sustained a rich custom of storytelling.
Arrow of God is set among the Igbo people of southern Nigeria a few years after the First World War. Though the British had claimed colonial rule over the Igbo land in 1885, expeditions to subdue individual Igbo villages were still being undertaken amidst the First World War. The fictional villages of Umuaro in the novel have had little interactions with the colonial power which claims to rule them before the beginning of the novel and although they have been exposed to Christianity and other aspects of European society retain a traditional social, political, and religious structure.
Arrow of God, a novel by Chinua Achebe is a novel that focuses on British colonialism and the struggle the people of the Igbo had adjusting to it. Colonialism is the policy or practice of acquiring full or partial political control over another country, occupying it with settlers, and exploiting it economically. Throughout the story the Igbo people are forced to try to adapt to the ways of the British people. Some problems the Igbo people face throughout the story are things such as road construction, land disagreement, and the killing of the royal python. These happening cause arguments and disagreements between the people of Igbo.