The Hero's Journey: Avatar the Last Airbender

One very interesting aspect of the human experience is the manner in which certain themes appear again and again over time, in literature, religion, mythology, and culture regardless of the geographic location, the economic status, and the time period. Perhaps it is the innate human need to explain and explore the known and unknown, but to have disparate cultures in time and location find ways of explaining certain principles in such similar manner leads one to believe that there is perhaps more to myth and ritual than simple repetition of archetypal themes. In a sense, then, to acculturate the future, we must re-craft the past, and the way that seems to happen is in the synergism of myth and ritual as expressed in a variety of forms (Bittarello)

Myth is a body of story that matters—the patterns present in mythology run deeply in the human psyche

Archetypes are characters, symbols, and situations that represent universal patterns and symbols in human nature. These symbols and patterns appear in countless pieces of literature and media. The 2009 film, Avatar, written and directed by James Cameron, is a modern-day prime example of a hero’s journey also containing many character and symbolic archetypes. Avatar is a science-fiction in which humans have drained all of earth’s natural resources and have been searching exoplanets and their moons for vital materials to sustain the human population. The protagonist and hero, Jake Sully, is sent to a moon of the gigantic exoplanet Polyphemus named Pandora, which has a poisonous atmosphere and hostile native species, but holds a valuable metal, unobtanium. There he has to take his twin brother’s place controlling an avatar in the Avatar Project, a system of mind controlled bodies made up of cross-bred human DNA and the DNA of the natives. In his Avatar form, Jake is accepted into a tribe of the natives known as the Na’vi. Though his mission

“I guess that’s the thing about a hero’s journey. You might not start out as a hero, and you might not even come back that way. But you change, which is the same as everything changing. The journey changes you, whether or not you know it, and whether or not you want it to,” (Kami Garcia). The movie Avatar, released in 2009 and directed by James Cameron, is an example of a main plot and a subplot carried by the hero’s journey and has many examples of other archetypes. Avatar is about Jake Sully, an ex-marine, who takes over his dead brother’s place on a scientific mission to a planet called Pandora. Their goal is to collect a natural resource, Unobtanium, and bring it back to Earth. A clan of Na’vi’, human-like creatures, called the Omaticaya, live in a tree right on top of the main source of the Unobtanium. Jake Sully’s task is to enter an “avatar” body disguised as a Na’vi’ and learn as much as he can about their kind and what the humans have to do to relocate their clan. Eventually, the Omaticaya assimilate Jake into their clan and teach him their ways, not knowing that he is one of the “sky people”, or humans. As the plot of Avatar moves on, Jake begins to change his opinions on the Navi, the idea of nature, and which side he should fight for with help of

Myths were stories that were created and used to teach the nature of the world, and to also explain the importance of practicing certain rituals within their religion. These tales were also used to discuss man’s experience to teach an important

The Power of Myth is both a tribute and an organized book conversation between Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers on the subject of mythical symbology in the world today in addition reformatting ancient stories for our inner life today.

Hearing, seeing and visualizing the future and our present is frustrating. Believing in what is called “reality” and “society” based off decisions that weren’t made by us, but by the past to protect the outcome of what should happen later. People search for clues to help stabilize and move forward in life in myths and many other sources. Myths are traditional stories that deal with a historical explanation of some natural or social event, usually associating with supernatural appearances. The ancient Greeks told their cosmos through teachings and tales concerning their gods and heroes, and the importance of the culture and ritual practices to show their natural state. The myth of the Amazons and the great story of Hercules explain the

The protagonist’s experiences and interactions with the gods open up for a discussion of the influence of sacred myths and the relevance of discarded or forgotten myths in society; and furthermore, whether myths have any importance in secular society. In order to have this discussion, it is necessary to determine what is meant by the word “myth”, since it is a term that is notoriously difficult to confine to a single definition. The Oxford English Dictionary’s definition of the word clearly shows the complication of this seemingly straightforward task: “Myth” is described as a ‘traditional story, typically involving supernatural beings or forces, which embodies and provides an explanation, aetiology, or justification for something such as the early history of a society, a religious belief or ritual, or a natural phenomenon’; but also as a widespread yet untrue story or belief, an exaggerated or idealised popular notion of someone or something, etc. (OED,

In the movie, Avatar, the human plans to invade another planet in which the Navi, the alien, lives. This excerption comes from the beginning of the movie, and it is a part of conversation between an investor, Selfridge, and a scientist, Grace. Although the discourse of “the West and the Rest” is conveyed through the whole movie, this conversation is specifically chosen since the scene seems to foretell the movie will reproduce and challenge the discourse at the same time. The theme of “natives and nature” in the conversation reproduces the discourse by representing comparable appearance, language, and environment between the human and the natives.

The Hero’s Journey can be found in various films including “Big Hero 6”. If you have already seen this movie then you will know how Hiro, our main character, progresses throughout the 12 stages of the hero’s journey. In this movie Big Hero 6, Hiro Hamada shows what it means to be an epic hero throughout his journey with his diverse group of friends to save his world. In Hiro’s ordinary world, Hiro, who graduated from high school at 13 and is very smart, bot fights in a dark alley.

Ancient art and literature and overall life was filled with influence of mythological gods and goddesses. These gods and goddesses were part of everyday life in early history. The citizens would tell stories about the divine to one another and pass them on from generation to generation. A myth, or a traditional story, concerning the early history of a people or explaining natural or social phenomenon typically involving supernatural beings or events, was part of everyday life in the ancient world. The people would pray to the divine for help with all aspects of life from childbirth and farming to war and death. Interaction between mortals and the gods was a very common daily occurrence.

What is a myth? When one thinks of a myth perhaps one thinks about a story being told by the fire, or a dramatic tale about an invincible hero, or perhaps a cosmological occurrence that caused everything to be. Personally, when I think of the word myth, I think of the ancient Greeks or Romans with their many gods and goddesses; however, to most, the story being told by a myth is simply that, just a story. To most the term “myth” has been confused for a legend or folklore. The truth of the matter is however, that to religious scholars, a myth is more than just a story; a myth is how a society’s religion came to explain what seemed the inexplicable. With modern science booming and being capable of explaining the events

I agree that New Worlds need to be strikingly visual in order to make an impact because at the end of the day, any art form or media needs to gain attention and attract viewers. A strikingly visual setting, when done right can tell many stories. New World media involves a lot of fantasy as it is a striking, and an innovate way to view one’s world in the context of another world. Avatar is one example of a New World media that is strikingly visual and has had a huge impact in the movie industry, not only because it grossed over 2 billion dollars worldwide but because of the new age technology needed to create such a masterpiece and the themes involved in the final product. The themes highlighting colonization, and it’s affect on the natives, or in this case, the Na’vi. all very similar to the real life aspects, but done in the form of fantasy so it is taking in a place of fiction. Another example of a strikingly visual form of New World media is photography and Michael Cook’s photography, which incorporates fantasy and reality to bring light to social issues and various injustices that occurred due to colonization.

In many of tradition, a myth carries within it a sense of sacred tradition and primordial relation. These myths are also serving as model for chosen tradition. Myths are extremely complex cultural reality that can be approached and interpreted from various viewpoints. These viewpoints are often related to the whole of

Mythos, the Greek word for myth means story, appertain to colorful tales that enlightens about the origins of humans and the universe. Myths, as amazing as it sounds, is also a cause for birth of new religions, where and how they originated. Many cultures have myths about how the gods and goddesses came to be, even elucidating the origin of humanity and its traditions. Even ideas about how this world of ours came to existence have many myths, creation myths behind it, disparate in every culture and society, which demonstrates a view on its role in the world. Mythology is simply the study of the myth. There are many psychological theories and meanings that explicate mythology. The most recurrent belief about the psychological value of myth is that myths emblematize contrasting elements of our own psyches or souls. The psychoanalytical frames of reference on myths have indisputably been ineluctable. Myths were and still are progressively seen as expressions of desideratum in the human psyche. But the big question is, what is the beneficence of mythology towards the amelioration of society? If there are myths to decipher or exhibit certain things, character or situations, there also are science and technology, which accommodate every explanation needed to understand each of those things. Many go to science for such interpretation, which conveys the impression of taking care of the signification behind all those natural phenomena,