Blog 9, Heros Quest: The Reaping

Joseph Campbell was born March 26 in 1904. He was a American mythologist and a writer (wiki). Campbell is well known for his designed Monomyth of the Hero's Quest. In the Hero's Quest Campbell discusses how all hero's must complete or go through a series of phases upon their fulfillment of a task. Campbell broke down the Quest into 3 stages. The first stage is the departure, followed by the initiation, and ending with the return of the hero. As the hero goes through each stage, they are tested in character and strength. Campbell believes this is the foundation in which is followed in many myths, stories and movies. An example of Campbell's Hero's Quest in action is the movie "The Reaping," released on April 5th 2007.

In "The Reaping" the main character Katherine Winter (played by Hilary Swank) is a former Christian missionary. With the faith of god Katherine travel abroad to help others in third world countries; during her mission to Sudan Katherine went along with her husband, daughter and Father Michael Costigan. After their arrival an unfortunate drought hit the country that lasted for one whole year. The locals blamed it on the Christian missionary’s presence that caused their land to run dry and believed the only way they could get rain again would be to sacrifice Katherine's family and in exchange, god would bless them with water. Losing her family in Sudan made Katherine turned her back on god and started teaching at a college, lecturing on how behind every "miracle" is a scientific explanation.

The first stage of Campbell's hero's journey, the departure, Campbell says before a hero can begin a journey someone must seek them for help or there has to be a problem that must be solved. In "The Reaping," Katherine is approached after one of her lectures by a man named Doug. Doug tells Katherine that in his little town called Heavan, the river has turned as red as blood. Katherine is quick to brush him off and tells him there could be hundreds of chemical reasons why the river changed colors and states that she research's more religiously spiritual miracles. At that moment that's when Doug tells Katherine the whole story of how the town members believe a little girl named Loren is the one to blame. Doug told Katherine that Loren is being accused of killing her older brother by the lake. After Loren killed her brother the river ran red with blood. Doug also tells Katherine that the town members are very religious causing them to believe the blood in the river is the beginning of the 10 plagues.

Prior to the initial calling by Doug, Father Michael Costigan the priest that Katherine used to be dearly close to in the past has been trying to get in touch with her but because of her drop in faith she has been ignoring his calls. With no escape and being handed the phone she has no choice but to speak to him and that is when he tells her that she is in great danger. The priest call is what Campbell calls the 'refusal of the call' to the duty but Katherine thinks about what he says but still decides to go to Doug's town to investigate. Heading to her destination with her partner Ben from the college, while driving they are surrounded by trees and are in the middle of nowhere. Joking about their surroundings, Katherine's partner Ben turns on the radio and all that is playing is a preacher saying god is everything and everywhere. Even their cell phones don't receive any signal. This scene in the movie is an example of crossing the threshold, meaning that they have now reached the area of the unknown.

The second stage Campbell says the hero goes through a series of test. It is the tests and tasks that lead to the transformation of a regular person to a hero. While there Katherine struggles with more emotional battles then psychical. She is challenged with her past and overcoming the tragic loss of her husband and daughter. Occasionally having flash backs of when her family were killed, feeling as though it was her fault and she could no longer do good. Katherine is forced to continue to get over their death in order to try to solve this mystery. Katherine is going against the race of time and as time goes one, the 10 plagues are going on in the town. First it’s the river, then dead frogs, flies, death of livestock, lice, boils, hail, locus and the death of the first born. Not knowing what will happen after all 10 plagues are complete, Katherine tries her best to find the little girl Loren to try and end what was happening.

The last and final stage is where the hero achieves their task at hand. Overcoming the obstacles that tried to hold them back created a stronger character within them. After this experience, the knowledge they gain is what makes them a true hero. When Katherine finds out what she must do, she is able to defeat what turns out to be a colt that runs in the town. While the town made it seem like Loren was to blame for the plague happening and that she must die. It turns out that the plague happened to protect Loren from the town members. Katherine was sent there to kill the little girl by Doug but because of Father Michael Costigan's help, Katherine was able to see past Doug's lies and did the right thing to save Loren. Katherine ends her journey and shows the hero's return when she drives away with Loren in her arms.

Along the hero's journey Joseph Campbell says films and literature also share the element of archetypes. Archetypes can be defined as the original model of an ideal figure or a symbol that is universally recognized (wiki). In the movie "The Reaping" you see several different archetypes. The main archetype is Katherine. Katherine is an angel that was sent to protect Loren. Katherine also symbolizes the archetype of a mother. Even though Katherine lost her daughter in Sudan, she felt a strong need to protect Loren.

The priest Father Costigan represented the archetype, the old wise man. The priest is the old wise man because he was able to foresee what was going to happen and tried to guide Katherine down the right path. Although he knew his help wasn't wanted, he still stood determined to help Katherine with her task.

Doug plays the role of the devil. He lies to Katherine and Ben about the real reason why he needs Loren dead. Doug is very deceitful and acts as he is trying to help the town. He even charms Katherine so she would trust him and join his side of the darkness.

Joseph Campbell also discussed what he called "Myth to Live By." A myth to live by is what morals or what it is that we take in and use to help us with our lives in a deep spiritual way. Putting this into context with the movie "The Reaping," Katherine saved Loren from being killed, making her a hero. However after her journey Katherine realizes she also saved herself by restoring her faith in god.




Work Cited


"Archetype - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2010. .

"Joseph Campbell - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia."Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2010.ph_Campbell

"Monomyth - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2010.

"The Reaping (2007)."The Internet Movie Database (IMDb). N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2010.


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