Stranger than Fiction

Summary 
In the movie Stranger than Fiction the main Character Harold Crick, once monotonous, boring, and repetitive, has his life turn upsidedown when he begins to hear an author inside his head narrating his life.
As Harold sees many therapists and psychiatrists in fear that he is going absolutley insane, he recognizes the voice in his head. It's blaring through his televesion set one evening and he discovers the extraordiarily accurate voice narrating his life is an esteemed author on a talk show that reveals to her audience her thoughts on how her character Harold Crick in her next book is going to die.
Harold has to find the narrator of his life and ultimately the author of his death before its too late and his future is published and printed on his grave.

In this film there are many well-defined Character Archetypes


The evil figure with an ultimately good heart: The author; Karen Eiffel, is such an incredible author of her books the characters become real people but sadly all die in the end. Karen does not purposefully TRY to kill the real life version of Harold Crick, but could be characterized as the evil figure because she is the source of conflict in Harold's life. After the unfortunate death of Harold after her book publishing she has a change in heart and from then on, all of her books did not end with a death scene.


The Temptress: is the young girl who works at a bakery that Harold Crick falls in love with. Through her bubbly and happy personality she brings life into Harold and teaches him how to really live, before he died.


The Mentor: Harold's psychiatrist acts as his mentor and gives him the answers to figuring out what is happening to him and how to find the author of his life. When everyone else thinks Harold is going crazy, his psychiatrist believes Harold and helps him change the end of his story.


Lastly


The Hero: Harold Crick is his own hero. Although in the end he decides to let the author publish her story, he became his own hero as he saved his own boring and monotonous lifestyle by making it meaningful before he died.




Many scenes from this film can be characterized into archetypes of Greek mythology.


Harold experiences the Initiation when he meets a beautiful girl in a bakery. For the first time in his life he has found something he is excited to live for. He discovers a life where he can live outside of his 50 brush strokes every morning, that he counts carefully, and the same red tie he wears to the work he takes a bus to, where he sits in the same seat every morning. He discovers the beauty of change and adventure. Harold shows signs of maturity as he begins to open up to these exciting changes in his life.


The Karen Eiffel experiences a moment of Death and Rebirth when Harold tells her to publish her book, meaning he is willing to die, for the life of the book. From then on she uses her literary talents for good and stops the tradition of killing the main character of every book she writes. Through Harold's character and courage she is inspired = death and rebirth of the author.


At the same time Karen is experiencing a rebirth of writing in her life she is also carrying with her an Unhealable Wound; looking back at all the best selling books she has written she also discovers it came with a cost. Not only did she kill Harold Crick, but her writing also put suffering in the lives of many other characters who were killed through the words punched from her typewriter. in the past.




Through colour scheme of each character portrayed a tone and mood set for the film.


Through out the story Harold Crick wears the same clothes every day but a different colored cartigan that is parrallel to the mood and tone of that scene




In one of the first scenes when Harold is counting his brush strokes as he brushes his teeth in the morning he is wearing a white t-shirt symbolizing his purity as he has not yet been exposed to change or tragedy in his life.


When he begins to hear the voice in his head, and become paranoid and depressed he is wearing blue which symbolizes coldness and darkness 


When Harold meets his creator he is dressed in red; symbolizing the compassion Karen has for her characters, for when she saw Harold in person for the first time she recognized every feature of him that was carefully crafted and formed. The colour red was also a foreshadowing of sacrifice that Harold will become for Karen's career.
Red can also imply excitement; this emotion is caused in the excitement at the thought of an author being able to meet their characters in person, and the suspense as you watch Karen and Harold meet each other for the first time.


These are just some examples of Stranger than Fiction that portray aspects of Greek Mythology, and have enhanced the already incredibly original plot written by Zach Helm, and directed by Marc Forster, it is definitely on the list of movies you must see if you haven't already.

Chronicles of Narnia - The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe

SUMMARY:

In the film The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe four ordinary kids; Peter, Susan, Edmond, and Lucy  are sent to their grandfathers house while war is going on at home in London. During their stay in their grandfathers huge mansion the youngest and most curious Lucy finds a magical wardrobe that takes her to a virtual world filled with talking animals, mystical creatures, a White Witch, and a magical lion.

What these four children don't realize is that this adventure was no mistake; the people of Narnia had been waiting for them, to fulfill a long lost prophecy.

"When Adams flesh and Adam's bone

 sits at Care Paravel in throne

 The evil time will be over and done"

When word spreads through the forest that humans were spotted in Narnia, the White Witch does everything in her power to kill them before the long lived prophecy unfolds and destroys the White Witch and her powers over the land of Narnia.

To the utter fear of the White Witch the Majestic and powerful Lion Aslan, who had once ruled over Narnia shows signs of return when the White Witch's land filled with her cold spirit, begins to melt into the season of Spring.

Aslan is coming back, but until then, the four children must keep faith that he will return and hold strong so the legacy can be fulfilled and truth and happiness can be restored to the civilians of Narnia once again.

This story symbolizes many Greek archetypes between the Holy and Majestic Lion vs. The White Witch such as Light vs. Darkness, Water vs. Desert, Heaven vs. Hell, Fire vs. Ice


Light vs. Darkness - Aslan the true King of Narnia that holds the key to happiness through his incredible wisdom and unconditional love for his people; he is the light and truth. This  battles against the darkness and despair that tempts the thoughts of the Narnians, in fear that their king will not return, as well the lies and Darkness the Witch fills their minds with that they have no hope and she is too powerful for light to defeat her.


Water vs. Desert - Aslan is like water in a desert to the Narnian's that have suffered endless barren land without him.


Heaven vs. Hell - Aslan represents a God figure in this story and blesses all those who believe he will be coming back by rewarding them with the beautiful life lived in heaven with him, but for only those who wait, as many Narnians give up hope and join the White Witch's army out of fear in rebelling against her do not receive the rewards of having faith in Aslan that he will return


LASTLY


Fire vs. Ice -This is clearly shown through the seasons both forces represent. The White Witch creating a cold and fierce winter that melts in the light of Aslans return.

On every different angle this film portrays many aspects of Greek mythology

The number 4 in Greek mythology represents mankind - 4 limbs, 4 seasons, therefore in this film the 4 children together represent life. Because of their entrance into Narnia they brought the key to life back by fulfilling the prophecy.

With the White Witch's powers of creating an everlasting season of winter over Narnia, it symbolizes her character of a heart completely barren and cold towards everyone but herself.


Aslan portrays many aspects of Greek mythology in the figure he represents in this story.
He is portrayed as God.
His golden main represents Majesty, sun, wealth, life dependency and truth.
Through this story every character at one point in the film whether they didn't admit to it at first relied on Aslan who held the truth, everything revolved around Aslan and his incredible wisdom, love and majesty.


The color white represents light, purity, peace, innocence, goodness, spirit, morality, and spiritual thought.


Throughout the story while the Witch is still in power and winter is on its everlasting coarse, the sky; although filled with clouds, portray the mystery in the hearts of Narnian's questioning Aslan's return, are completely white. This represents the spirit and hope that Aslan is watching over his people even in their despair and it is foreshadowing his return.


The Greeks also believed the sun symbolized a hero, son of heaven, knowledge, the Divine eye, fire, life force, brightness, splendor, active awakening, healing, resurrection and ultimate wholeness. 


 As the sun melts the snow revealing the beauty of spring it reflects and symbolizes every aspect of the definition of sun in Greek mythology in concordance to the character of Aslan and what he brings with his return


These are only a few examples of the symbolism and Greek Mythology hidden in the inspiring story The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe 


But one of the most crucial, powerful, and defining moments in the film where Greek Mythology did an incredible job in empowering the message was at the end of the film in the bridge scene; it was the final battle against the White Witch and Aslan, standing on either side of a bridge that crossed over a rushing river. It was the beginning of the final battle against good and evil. With fear in the Witch's eyes she began to charge across the bridge towards Aslan when we drew a tear wrenching ear bleeding growl and that alone killed the White Witch.


The River symbolized life force; no matter how big of an army, frightening or powerful, light will always defeat darkness. The life force of the water reinforced that as the Witch charged across it with fear in her eyes as she met her death.


The Bridge symbolized change and transformation; When the witch crossed the bridge, and she made her last attempt to defeat the light that would destroy her, she was killed, and Narnia was changed forever. It also started a transformation in the hearts of the Narnian's as they watched their King defeat their biggest fears, and all doubt of his power has left their thoughts.


In conclusion the Chronicals of Narnia; The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, Greek Mythology exploded in every scene through the color scheme, character traits, setting  and plot making this story incredibly powerful and inspiring to all who had the priveledge of watching it.


C.S. Lewis knows her stuff!

Sucker Punch

In the movie Sucker Punch, Baby Doll, the main character, as well the hero, is on a Warriors journey to save her people. After being sent and locked away in a mental asylum by her evil Stepfather who plays the Devil Figure in this film, Baby Doll has to find a way to escape and save her friends from the asylum. 

Through guidance from mentors she acquaints with in the asylum Baby Doll learns to take control of her thoughts; instead of dwelling on the fear of the unknown and the loneliness inside of her from past circumstance, Baby Doll uses her mind to take her to places in her imagination that enables to fight against all evil and tragedy she is faced with.

Baby Doll encounters an old man in her journey that acts as another mentor for her; He claims to have the ticket to freedom from all of her fears and circumstances. With given instruction on what to find she bands together with 3 of her young friends from the asylum to fight for their lives and for their freedom.

In order for BabyDoll to receive her freedom she needs to find 5 things

1. A Map

2. Fire

3. A knife

4. A Key

5. The fifth is to remain a mystery

Each one of these items Baby Doll and her warriors have to fight to find all symbolize the journey they are going on Mentally and Physically to find true freedom. The Map and Key symbolize the unknown and the journey they are going on to find what they are looking for; following a map brings you to your destination for you are unable to find yourself, and a key that holds the secrecy of what lies on the other side of the door, until you use it to unlock what you are looking to find.

The knife symbolizes the pain the characters have to face in order to over come them. And how much this freedom means to them for it determines how much they are willing to give up.

Lastly the fire; which in Greek mythology symbolizes the ability to transform, love, life, health, control, sun, God, passion, spiritual energy, and regeneration. - portrays how these young girls have to learn not to run away or forget about their haunting pasts and tear wrenching circumstances but in order to find freedom they have to FIGHT and in turn they will receive it. They have to find their freedom in the face of their trials by overcoming them; the fire represents their ongoing transformation.

After watching the trailer, just seeing the tone and mood, as well as color scheme throughout the 3 minutes, I have pretty well understanding as to how this story will end. Through the beginning of the trailer the scene is filled with sorrow and colors are dark and lifeless but as the trailer continues there are many scenes where the protagonist is fighting against fire and the tone and is of intensity, strength and confidence. As previously stated fire can symbolize transformation. This trailer portrays the transformation the main character goes through therefore revealing to the viewer in the end of this film the protagonist will most likely succeed in finding what she is looking for.

My prediction for this film is that it will end with the 4 main characters; Baby Doll, and her 3 accomplices, through the trials they will face the mentor will have revealed to them the freedom they have in themselves. They will see the freedom in their own minds no matter what circumstances they may have been in or will face, they can use just their mind to block out all fears and find freedom.