Cycle of the Hero's Journey Project Reflection

               During the hero poster assignment I found out a lot about the cycle of the heroes journey and how the cycle can be found everywhere. After analyzing the movie Hercules, I now further understand the series of events a hero must take in order to be a “true hero”. I’m really glad my group chose to explore Hercules because it was a perfect example of the cycle of a hero’s journey in my opinion. The movie was inspiring and did a great job at portraying what a true hero is. When looking at our movie and Joseph Campbell’s diagram of the cycle, we filled in the steps with scenes of the film after putting some thought into it. I am super pleased with the outcome of our assignment. The finished poster looked fantastic and everyone pitched in. Our central image, being the medallion of the gods, was really cool and was probably my favorite part of our poster. Each of the members in my group did a really good job of writing solid and thorough paragraphs for each of their assigned steps in the cycle. Our presentation in class went smoothly and everyone definitely knew what they were talking about.

                I am not only pleased with our poster assignment outcome but many other groups in our class. I think everyone did an amazing job on their posters and developed a lot more knowledge about the cycle of the hero’s journey than before this assignment. One of the posters I loved in particular was the group that did the movie Pocahontas. Their poster was my favorite out of my class because their poster was very clean cut and I loved the leaf cutouts in the background. They added the fun aspect into the poster and gave it an overall “whimsical” feel.  The compass used as the central image looked really pretty and precise. Their presentation was good and I thought everyone was well educated with what they were explaining. I also really liked the central image of the Back to the Future poster. The time machine looked almost identical to the one in the movie and tied their poster together well.

Reading and Writing in my Life

Ever since I was in about fourth grade, I have considered myself a writer. I have always loved creating new stories and reading them to my friends and family. When I was little, my friend Courtney and I would sit in my room and we would write all different kinds of stories.  I’d like to think I am a good writer, and on most writing assignments I do really well. Last year in Language Arts, my teacher picked my writing piece out of everyone else’s in my period because she thought it was so good. My favorite kinds of stories to write are dramas and suspenseful ones, but I also like to write music. Being a writer in the first place, writing lyrics comes easily to me. One of my songs was really good, so my guitar teacher signed me up for session with a recording studio! The song I'm most proud of is named “The Last Goodbye.” I wrote it for my best friend Courtney when she was sad. That is me as a writer; this is me as a reader. I love reading a lot. Ever since my dad would read to me as a kid, I have always loved to read. When I was a kid, my favorite books were the “Junie B. Jones” book series. I always thought me and her were twins. As I time flew by, and many books were read, my interests changed, and I become absolutely obsessed with the Twilight series. I could read about Edward Cullen and Bella Swan’s relationship for hours. I have read Twilight five times, New Moon twice, Eclipse three times and Breaking Dawn twice as well. And a couple years later, “The Hunger Games” happened. I went through the first book in one day. I loved the book so much, I went to the midnight premier of The Hunger Games, and made a t-shirt with my favorite quote on it said by Peeta Mellark, “I just keep wishing I could think of a way to show them that they don't own me. If I'm gonna die, I wanna still be me.” The Hunger Games is the most addicting book series I have ever read. I read every night before I go to bed, and whenever I can squeeze more time in. As you can tell, I really love to read.  Some people don’t really like to read, and they would just prefer to watch TV or see the movie, but for me, reading is sort of like watching TV in your head, but more descriptive and enjoyable. So as you can see, I like both reading and writing very much, and I have enjoyed both since I was at a very young age.

A True Hero

My hero has struggled and undergone many hardships, but her heart has never given up. Courageous; a hero will run into any situation head on. My hero is the bravest person I know. She will face any circumstance without backing down. Compassionate; a hero has a huge heart filled with kindness. My hero cares for everyone in her life and is the most sympathetic person I know. My hero is my mother. When Joseph Campbell talks about the mothers of the world being an example of a true hero it made me think about what someone does that makes them a hero. A hero is someone who gives their life to something bigger than themselves. Giving birth requires courage, emotional and physical strength, and determination.  As Campbell says on page 123, “One is the physical deed, in which the hero performs a courageous act in battle or saves a life.” Mother all over the world lose their lives from preforming the brave act of giving birth.

Pieces of Me

I have been a movie fanatic ever since I was little. An obsession with film is something I have dealt with my whole life. My all time favorite movie is How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days. It is a romantic comedy, my favorite genre, and stars my favorite actor, Matthew McConaughey. I reason I love this movie so much is because it shows what real love is. Even though both Andy was in a way "playing" Ben, true love overcame all of Andy's ways to lose a guy in the end. On top of the over all message of love, this movie is undoubtedly hilarious. I can't watch this movie without laughing out loud in tears. No matter how many times I watch How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days it never gets old.

I love this scene in the movie because after all of Andy's tricks to lose Ben in 10 days and their "break up", they both realize they are actually in love and are meant to be together even though they deceived each other. This photo means a lot to me because it shows that true love will conquer any obstacles in the end.

My favorite song is Stars by Grace Potter and the Nocturnals. Grace Potter wrote this song about a close friend of hers that passed away. I can relate to the song because I felt the same way as her when I lost my grandfather whom I was very close with. I love that this song can connect with people and is there to service the people who are hurting. Everybody has or will lose somebody dear to them and this song can help them with their grieving process. Apart from the fact it can help people going through loss, it is just a great song overall and can be listened to even when they're not grieving. 

The simplicity of the Stars music video shows the feeling behind the song and Grace Potter's true emotion. The love fact that she starts in a\the dark room where you can see all of her passion and then by the end she is out under the stars singing to her friend that is now a "star". I could connect to the way she felt because of how I felt when I lost someone dear to my heart.

In my life so far I have gotten the opportunity of experiencing many amazing things. The best experience I have ever had was going on a cruise to the Caribbean. The reason the trip was the best experience of my life isn't because of the way I got to live while I was on the ship, but because I got to explore five different island and learn about their culture and people. I got to eat their food, dress the way they dress and live the way they live. Traveling is one of the things I love to do most because I love experiencing other people's worlds. I met so many amazing people while I was visiting those islands that have made an impact on my life to a great extent. 

The beautiful island of Curacao was my favorite place I visited. The buildings were so colorful and unique. The atmosphere of this island was so happy and alive. I loved getting to experience the culture of the people in Curacao.