(via cameronchristopher)
This literary archetype is known as the Hero’s Journey. It was written about in great detail by Joseph Campbell in the book Hero Of A Thousand Faces and studied by English majors like me for a minimum of four years. Other characters who follow the circular journey include Jesus, Superman, Mohammad, Gilgamesh, Spiderman, Frodo etc.
I’m serious about studying it for at least four years. EVERYTIME we read a new book, we’d have to go over the plot, filling in the steps of the circular journey. I know it inside and out, forwards and backwards. I am no longer able to watch a movie, or read a story without commenting on the goddamn journey!
I’ve made the point befoe that there are basicly seven movies (35 if you want to cheat and do combo/variation). It’s just how they are handled and creative storytelling. What you do with one of those seven stories. Everytime someone says “Hollywood has ran out of idaas” I think about this. They’ve been retelling the stories over and over for almost a century now.
