What wWhat characteristics do 20th or 21st century heroes share in common?ould you like to ask?

Question

What characteristics do they share in common with their mythical predecessors?

Name the mythical predecessors and show how they share these characteristics with more modern-day heroes.

Answer 1

Joseph Campbell did a lot of work in this area and developed the theory often refered to as monomyth:

As used within the field of comparative mythology, the term monomyth (often referred to as the hero's journey) refers to a basic pattern supposedly found in many narratives about heros from around the world. This widely-distributed pattern was described by Joseph Campbell in his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949).[1] An enthusiast of novelist James Joyce,[2] Campbell borrowed the term monomyth from Joyce's Finnegans Wake.[3]

Campbell held that numerous myths from disparate times and regions seem to share a fundamental structure. This fundamental structure contains a number of stages, which include:

A call to adventure,

A road of trials,

Achieving the goal or "boon",

A return to the ordinary world,

Applying the boon,

In the monomyth, the hero begins in the ordinary world, and receives a call to enter an unknown world of strange powers and events. If the hero accepts the call to enter this strange world, the hero must face tasks and trials, either alone or with assistance. At its most intense, the hero must survive a severe challenge, often with help earned along the journey. If the hero survives, the hero may achieve a great gift or "boon." The hero must then decide whether to return to the ordinary world with this boon. If the hero does decide to return, the hero often faces challenges on the return journey. If the hero is successful in returning, the boon or gift may be used to improve the world. The stories of Osiris, Prometheus, Moses, Buddha, and Christ, for example, follow this structure very closely.[2]

The monomyth structure can be found in many popular books and films, such as the Star Wars and The Matrix movie series, and the Harry Potter series of novels.