A Hero in the Cosmos and His Own Labors
Disney's Hercules is a quintessential example of a hero's journey that reflects the culture and beliefs of different groups of people in the world. The movie tells the story of a well-known character in Greek mythology named Hercules. This important protagonist, the son of Zeus, was deprived of his right to live in his own family and to know his real parents because of his own uncle who is threatened in the oracle that he will be conquered by his own nephew in the future. Because of that, he temporarily lived in the mortal world where despise and discrimination are thrown at him for the reason that he has qualities unique to his own self. That being said, Hercules is a metaphor of my own self living in this world that is surrounded with difficult obstacles that I need to surpass to reach my own acme of success.
In mythology, we have these so-called stages of a hero's journey wherein the hero will have to pass different levels of challenges to get his or her reward. The concept and term "hero's journey" or "monomyth" is originally introduced by an American psychologist and mythological researcher Joseph Campbell, who is known for his work on "The Hero with a Thousand faces" (Campbell, 1949). Heroes in the books that we have read and movies that we have watched able to succeed in their destined journeys and transformed to become the best version of themselves. Thus, as a reader and viewer, we frequently ask questions especially when we were still young if they do really exist in the real world. Throughout my experiences in life, I believe that heroes do exist not only in a fantasy world but also in our physical world.
Before going deeper, it is vital that I will briefly discuss the greatness of the hero Hercules who stood straight despite the adversaries he faced in the mortal world. He is a courageous demigod by birth who accepted his own punishment after he killed his family due to the inducement of Hera. He became a slave of King Eurystheus of Mycenae. There were twelve most difficult tests that were given to him which include beating the Nemean lion, eliminating the Stymphalian birds, capturing the wild mares of Diomedes, fetching the golden apple of Hesperides, and many more. For him, nothing is impossible in his own hands. Based on his actions, I would say that he is sagacious, persistent, optimistic, loving, and goal-driven. For me these are the qualities that I need to acquire especially that the world is full of uncertainty and complexities which are hard to turn down.
Along the way, I also learned values from my experiences and my mother. However, for me, my experiences serve as my best mentors. Albeit doubts and problems throughout the process had certainly tested my own abilities and attitude, like Hercules, I also did not surrender easily to hard challenges in my studies and my situation. In our journey, failures are inevitable that could destroy our hearts and impact our motivation to continue. Facing it with all our might and by never stop fighting for our desires in life eventually we can put all of them down.
In the movie, the adventure of a hero ends after he or she conquered all the enemies and then salvaged the world. That is far from reality because adventures in the world are limitless, but we have sea of opportunities that we can explore ourselves. Whatever big or small obstacles that will come in our own everyday lives, as a hero, we should face it with a positive attitude. With that, I am thankful to my own self for being a strong fighter since the day I decided to chase my dreams.
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