The Epic

Do this assignment on a Google Doc. Save as "Movie Epic"

Step One: Pick a Movie, name it

Step Two: Identify the "Plot Events of an Epic" for the movie you picked.

Copy / paste the words in bold (12 of them) onto your document
For each of those 12, create a bullet list of five items that describe it

Step Three: Identify the "Conventions of an Epic"

Copy / paste the words in bold (18 of them) onto your document
For each of those 18, give a one-sentence description of how / where it occurs

Due on January 16.

Plot Events of an Epic

Here is home: The hero is introduced in his/her ordinary world. Most stories ultimately take us to a special world, a world that is new and alien to its hero. If you’re going to tell a story about a fish out of his customary element, you first have to create a contrast by showing him in his mundane, ordinary world. In WITNESS you see both the Amish boy and the policeman in their ordinary worlds before they are thrust into alien worlds – the farm boy into the city, and the city cop into the unfamiliar countryside. In STAR WARS you see Luke Skywalker being bored to death as a farm boy before he tackles the universe.
The call to adventure: Something important, rewarding, and dangerous must be done. The hero is presented with a problem, challenge or adventure. Maybe the land is dying, as in the King Arthur stories about the search for the Grail. In STAR WARS, it’s Princess Leia’s holographic message to Obi Wan Kenobi, who then asks Luke to join the quest. In detective stories, it’s the hero being offered a new case. In romantic comedies it could be the first sight of that special but annoying someone the hero or heroine will be pursuing/sparring with.
Refusal by hero to go on adventure: The hero is reluctant at first. Often at this point the hero balks at the threshold of adventure. After all, he or she is facing the greatest of all fears – fear of the unknown. At this point Luke refuses Obi Wan’s call to adventure, and returns to his aunt and uncle’s farmhouse, only to find they have been barbecued by the Emperor’s stormtroopers. Suddenly Luke is no longer reluctant, and is eager to undertake the adventure. He is motivated.
Mentor helps hero: The hero is encouraged by the Wise Old Man or Woman. By this time many stories will have introduced a Merlin-like character who is the hero’s mentor. In JAWS it’s the crusty Robert Shaw character who knows all about sharks; in the mythology of the Mary Tyler Moore Show, it’s Lou Grant. The mentor gives advice and sometimes magical weapons. This is Obi Wan giving Luke his father’s light saber. The mentor can only go so far with the hero. Eventually the hero must face the unknown by himself. Sometimes the Wise Old Man/Woman is required to give the hero a swift kick in the pants to get the adventure going.
Hero leaves home, enters new world: The hero passes the first threshold. The hero fully enters the special world of the story for the first time. This is the moment at which the story takes off and the adventure gets going. The balloon goes up, the romance begins, the spaceship blasts off, the wagon train gets rolling. Dorothy sets out on the Yellow Brick Road. The hero is now committed to his/her journey and there’s no turning back.
Tests, friends, and enemies: The hero encounters tests and helpers. The hero is forced to make allies and enemies in the special world, and to pass certain tests and challenges that are part of his/her training. In STAR WARS the cantina is the setting for the forging of an important alliance with Han Solo and the start of an important enmity with Jabba the Hutt. In CASABLANCA Rick’s Café is the setting for the “alliances and enmities” phase and in many Westerns it’s the saloon where these relationships are tested.
The most dangerous place: The hero reaches the innermost cave. The hero comes at last to a dangerous place, often deep underground, where the object of the quest is hidden. In the Arthurian stories the Chapel Perilous is the dangerous chamber where the seeker finds the Grail. In many myths the hero has to descend into hell to retrieve a loved one, or into a cave to fight a dragon and gain a treasure. It’s Theseus going to the Labyrinth to face the Minotaur. In STAR WARS it’s Luke and company being sucked into the Death Star where they will rescue Princess Leia. Sometimes it’s just the hero going into his/her own dream world to confront fears and overcome them.
Hopelessness in facing the most dangerous thing in the most dangerous place: The hero endures the supreme ordeal. This is the moment at which the hero touches bottom. He/she faces the possibility of death, brought to the brink in a fight with a mythical beast. For us, the audience standing outside the cave waiting for the victor to emerge, it’s a black moment. In STAR WARS, it’s the harrowing moment in the bowels of the Death Star, where Luke, Leia and company are trapped in the giant trash-masher. Luke is pulled under by the tentacled monster that lives in the sewage and is held down so long that the audience begins to wonder if he’s dead. IN E.T., THE EXTRATERRESTRIAL, E. T. momentarily appears to die on the operating table. This is a critical moment in any story, an ordeal in which the hero appears to die and be born again. It’s a major source of the magic of the hero myth. What happens is that the audience has been led to identify with the hero. We are encouraged to experience the brink-of-death feeling with the hero. We are temporarily depressed, and then we are revived by the hero’s return from death. This is the magic of any well-designed amusement park thrill ride. Space Mountain or the Great Whiteknuckler make the passengers feel like they’re going to die, and there’s a great thrill that comes with surviving a moment like that. This is also the trick of rites of passage and rites of initiation into fraternities and secret societies. The initiate is forced to taste death and experience resurrection. You’re never more alive than when you think you’re going to die.
Grab the sword, treasure, reward: The hero seizes victory. Having survived death, beaten the dragon, slain the Minotaur, her hero now takes possession of the treasure he’s come seeking. Sometimes it’s a special weapon like a magic sword or it may be a token like the Grail or some elixir which can heal the wounded land. The hero may settle a conflict with his father or with his shadowy nemesis. In RETURN OF THE JEDI, Luke is reconciled with both, as he discovers that the dying Darth Vader is his father, and not such a bad guy after all. The hero may also be reconciled with a woman. Often she is the treasure he’s come to win or rescue, and there is often a love scene or sacred marriage at this point. Women in these stories (or men if the hero is female) tend to be shape-shifters. They appear to change in form or age, reflecting the confusing and constantly changing aspects of the opposite sex as seen from the hero’s point of view. The hero’s supreme ordeal may grant him a better understanding of women, leading to a reconciliation with the opposite sex.
The road back: Hero returns home, with some minor trouble. The hero’s not out of the woods yet. Some of the best chase scenes come at this point, as the hero is pursued by the vengeful forces from whom he has stolen the elixir or the treasure.. This is the chase as Luke and friends are escaping from the Death Star, with Princess Leia and the plans that will bring down Darth Vader. If the hero has not yet managed to reconcile with his father or the gods, they may come raging after him at this point. This is the moonlight bicycle flight of Elliott and E. T. as they escape from “Keys” (Peter Coyote), a force representing governmental authority. By the end of the movie Keys and Elliott have been reconciled and it even looks like Keys will end up as Elliott’s step-father.
Resurrection: Hero is new, different for the experience. The hero emerges from the special world, transformed by his/her experience. There is often a replay here of the mock death-and-rebirth of Stage 8, as the hero once again faces death and survives. The Star Wars movies play with this theme constantly – all three of the films to date feature a final battle scene in which Luke is almost killed, appears to be dead for a moment, and then miraculously survives. He is transformed into a new being by his experience.
Return with hope: hero brings back an item that can help humanity. The hero comes back to the ordinary world, but the adventure would be meaningless unless he/she brought back the elixir, treasure, or some lesson from the special world. Sometimes it’s just knowledge or experience, but unless he comes back with the elixir or some boon to mankind, he’s doomed to repeat the adventure until he does. Many comedies use this ending, as a foolish character refuses to learn his lesson and embarks on the same folly that got him in trouble in the first place. Sometimes the boon is treasure won on the quest, or love, or just the knowledge that the special world exists and can be survived. Sometimes it’s just coming home with a good story to tell.

Conventions in an Epic

An epic takes a hero and companions on a long, complicated journey that tests their values, intelligence, skill, morals, and strength as they seek to obtain something that is worth having (such as an end to war, peace between kingdoms, the salvation of mankind, a return to home, the safety of an innocent people). Most epics contain most of the following conventions:

Epic Question: A question at the beginning of the story that is not answered until the end of the story; the hero effort to answer this question guides the hero throughout the story
Pray before you go: Epics begin with a prayer, an invocation or a plea to a higher source for help and guidance in what is about to be done
Honesty counts: The narrator of the story is objective. The narrator does not brag about things hero does right, nor cover up things done wrong.
Seriousness: The story is obviously serious and important even though some or much may have humor. Note: When an epic becomes too humorous, it becomes an Adventure story
Start in the middle: The actual plot (the story of our hero) of an epic begins in the middle of an on-going action, called in media res: two sides are fighting in a war and the reader, audience does not know who is fighting or why; all background to the story is told at a later point in the story
Enormous setting: The setting of the story is huge; the hero travels to every place known to the audience, or to everyplace that exists in the fictional world of the hero
Real people and places are met and traveled to in an epic
Fictional people and places are met and traveled to in an epic
Long trip: The journey the hero must go on is long, is complicated, is difficult; the hero encounters multiple detours and obstacles that must be navigated or circumvented
Bad problems happen for a reason: All problems the hero encounters are necessary for the hero's ultimate success; if any obstacle from earlier in the story where removed from the story, then the hero would not have been lead to somewhere, something, or someone that later becomes vital to the hero's success--the only way the hero won was for the hero to encounter all the problems that he/she encountered. Each problem leads to another problem that finally leads to success
Land of the Dead: The hero travels to a place where the dead exist, either literally or metaphorically, or the hero has a near-death experience. This experience with death is a turning point in an epic. Before journeying to the land where the dead exist, the hero is aloof from his destiny. He knows of his destiny but does not seek it. The hero is living for himself, not for others. After the land of the dead, the hero accepts his destiny, works towards it, starts living to help others, and becomes self-sacrificing
Heroes Everywhere: An epic contains at least one moment where other heroes, either alive or from history are described or appear (alive or dead). The purpose is to juxtapose our epic hero's talents with those of other heroes
Divine Intervention: Divine intervention means "a god or goddess" "decides to change reality to help or hurt." The hero would certainly fail where it not for a god or goddess going down to the hero and giving the hero some special token, blessing, weapon, or disguise.
Prophecy: Prophecy is a prediction of a future event. Prophecy is always wrapped in ambiguity, uncertainty or inexactness of meaning, and open to different interpretations. Prophecy involves making a predication about something that is unpredictable; compare with destiny where destiny is something predictable. Destiny: your father was ruler, you will someday be ruler. Prophecy: You shall find what you seek in a place where place is not, the mother of integrity shall endure the mystical sleeping ideas that lead to the colorless blue shadows of sanctuary. Okay, huh?
Fate or Destiny: The hero does have a known destiny that he must one take accept. See prophecy above.
Grand, dramatic speeches: On occasion the hero makes a summative speech that encapsulated all that the hero and everyone on the hero's side is fighting for; think of the speeches given just before the battle begins, of when the hero finishes, everyone cheers wildly and is ready to fight
Universal themes about life: The epic contains themes about life such as: a mother's love is unbreakable, friendship matters, somethings are bigger or more important that your own dreams or safety, bad things happen when good people stand by and do nothing, etc.
Multiple high points: The epic contains multiple places in the story where a climax is reached, rather than one point (near the end of the story) where all the action has cumulated and is released