Notion Mythes and Heroes Anglais

Sujet du devoir

Bonsoir, l'oral des langues approche bientôt et j'aimerais savoir si le travail que j'ai fait sur ma notion est correct et cohérent ! Je bloque sur ma conclusion...

Où j'en suis dans mon devoir

I am going to talk about the notion of Myths and Heroes.

First of all, I would like to give a definition of this notion : A myth is a story that may or may not be true. Mythology includes the legends of our history, our religions, stories of how the world was created. These stories have great symbolic power.

A hero is a person who is admired for their courage, outstanding, achievements or noble qualities.

Now, let’s examine how legends and myths inspire our current culture.

The current culture abounds with myths and legends. The influence of myth on modern culture like The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell (published in 1949), this is my first document, is a work of comparative mythology, in this book, Campbell discusses his theory of the journey of the archetypal hero found in world mythologies.

Since publication of the Hero with a Thousand Faces, Campbell’s theory has been consciously applied by a wide variety of modern writers and artists. The best known is perhaps George Lucas who has asknowledged Campbell’s influence on the Star Wars films.

Campbell explores the theory that important myths from around the world which have survived for thousands of years all share a fundamental structure, which Campbell called the « monomyth »

The hero follows a pattern used in many stories for example ;

- he is abandonned, given way

- rescue and adoption by surrogate parents

- the call to adventure/ meeting a mentor or teacher

- supernatural aid (meeting new friends)

- the road of trials, mistakes, fights and wisdom

- the hero claims his royal birthright and is awarded with honor

The myth of Theseus and the Minotaur inspired The Maze Runner, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the Hunger Games and the film Inception.

The movie « Inception » realised by Christopher Nolan takes up the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur.

In this film, Dom and his team are able to infiltrate people’s mind and dreams. But the problem is that, if you use it too much, it is getting very difficult to know what’s real and what isn’t. Dom’s wife Mal got confused and killed herself because she didn’t think she was in the « real » world. Dom feels very guilty because he is the one who convinced her to plunge into her dreams.

The production is a maze. In the dream, Dom’s wife stabs Ariadne. She is the danger, she is the minotaure. Her name is Mal.

In the movie, the city looks like also a maze. The villains are chasing Dom in the narrow streets, he must overcome obstacles in order to escape. Dom stands for Theseus.

My last document, Hunger Games written by Suzanne Collins is also inspired by this myth. The story takes place in a dictatorship called Panem. The dictator decided to punish the citizens because in the past they tried to rise up against him. As a punishment, he created Hunger Games. This punishment is based on the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur because young people are forced to fight and kill in this event. However the games don’t take place in a maze like in the myth, but in an arena that can be a desert, a jungle or a frozen location.It is a horrible spectacle and everybody modal watch it on screens.