Hero Myth Film Analysis

Nathan Graham English W131 9/22/09 Project 1 Linda Seger’s 10-Point “A Hero Myth” Analysis The idea of heroismhas been traced back to centuries of years throughout history. Greek Mythology is the father of this concept of heroism and this concept has continued to grow and develop through stories, writings, and films over the years. Humans have always been intrigued with the idea of heroism which is why many movies, books, and stories are written after this very idea. In Linda Seger’s “Creating the Myth”, she argues there are 10-points into creating every “hero myth”, using Luke Skywalker in Star Wars as her hero myth example; in the film Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Harry follows Seger’s 10-point system of creating a “Hero Myth” very closely. Seger’s first point to creating a hero myth is that the hero should be introduced in “ordinary surrounding, in a mundane world, doing mundane things.” She also goes on to describe the hero starting out as innocent and modest,living a very unexciting life. She uses Luke Skywalker from Star Wars as her example of this point describing him as unhappy with his work on the farm, wanting to go out and have fun and enroll himself in the Academy;which his Uncle does not allow him to do. Harry Potter could not resemble Seger’s first point more accurately when the movie first starts. Both Harry and Luke are alike in that they are living with their aunts and uncles due to the death of their parents, and Harry is defiantly living a tedious and mind-numbing life to say the least. One of the first scenes in the Sorcerer’s Stone is Harry waking up to his bullying cousin jumping up and down on the stairs in order to wake up Harry as well as cover him with dust and dirt. This is able to happen because Harry was made to livein a closet under the stairs. This sceneinstantly lets the viewers see that harry is not living a life of a Hero. The scene continues as Harry is thrown back into his closet by his cousin before being