Step Brothers

Recently, I was watching Step Brothers on my ipod, since I could not fall asleep for the life of me. Thinking about it now, I believe that there were a few archetypical things throughout the movie. Seeing as I do not remember exact objects, I cannot get a lot of symbolism, other than the boat and the drum set;

• Mr. Doback's Bout (The Guilded Lady) --> The boat can symbolize an escape for his new wife and him, but it can also symbolize their want to escape from their loser "children" who will not leave home for whatever reason. It may also symbolize the potention that Dale and Brennan have but refuse to act on.

• Dale's Drum Set --> The drumset symbolizes the shenanigans that the two guys get into. It may all seem out of the ordinary, but it all follows a steady beat, making it seem reletively normal, aside for that fact that they are forty and still live at home.

Each character also plays a role within our heroes' journey of somehow succeeding in life.

• Brennan and Dale --> These two are our heroes. They cause many problems for everyone around them, especially Mr. Doback, but in the end, they save the marriage between their two parents and make the bond between Brennan and his real brother slightly better.

• Derrick Huff --> Brennan's younger brother is clearly a villian. He is completely rude to the two guys for no apparent reason. He likes to brag about how successful he is in life and becomes unliked by many. However, because of his success, Mr. Doback adores him.

• Mr. Doback --> Another villian in the film, Mr. Doback is extremly against having the forty year old sons living in his home with him and his new wife. He forces them to go to job interviews which go less than swimmingly, and ends up leaving his wife because of them.

• Mrs. Doback/Miss Huff --> Brennan's mother is called a Saint by her son. She seems to be merely a pawn in the story as her husband's ways of parenting are more direct than hers.

• Chris Gardoki --> Yet another villian to the step brothers. This boy is about twelve years old, but has the capability of humiliating full grown men by himself or with his playground friends.

• Alice --> This is Derrick's wife, who become obsessed with Dale when she heard that he punched her husband in the face. She cannot stand her life and proclaims love for Dale immediately. She plays the role of a temptress.

Lastly, the film still follows the heroes' journey:

• Brennan departs from his home with his mother and at this moment he knows that everything will be different. This is reinforced when he meets his new step brother, Dale, for the first time. He refuses to call Mr. Doback 'Dad,' but his mother doesn't expect a forty year old man to do so, but it is evident that he does not accept or approve of the marriage, as clearly shown during the wedding scene where he storms out yelling profanities about the salmon and wedding.

• When Brennan enters the new house, he is in a new, different setting. Dale is rude to him. Also, Brennan refuses to share his 'fancy sauce' (ketchup and mayonnaise) with any of his new family members. When Dale shows him the house and warns him against using the drum set, Brennan now has a new perspective on how to get under people's skin, which resulted in a battle outside between the two using weed wackers and bicyles as weapons.

• At first, the two guys are enemies, so they pull various pranks on each other such as taking sharpies to each other's clothing, and painting movie-quality gashes on each other's foreheads while they sleep. Afterwards, when they join forces, they go through many trials, such as stopping Derrick from selling the house and being attacked by sixth graders in order to stay together and start 'Prestige Worldwide,' but first Brennan must get over his fear of singing in public.

• The whole family comes together for Christmas dinner. When Derrick's children leave the room, Mr. and Mrs. Doback break the news of their divorce. Mrs. Doback says it had nothing to do with their sons, however he now ex-husband claims it most definitely was. This is when Dale and Brennan realize that they can no longer mooch off their parents and need to get real jobs and look after themselves.

• Brennan gets a job leasing helicopters with his brother while Dale gets a catering job. Brennan is given the task to plan the Catalina Wine Mixer and hires Dale's catering business. He also invites his mother and Dale's father to the event. They both handle things well until the band leaves due to a dispute. Brennan then gets over his fear of singing in public and does a wonderful rendition of 'Time to Say Goodbye' by Andrea Bocelli accompanied by Dale on the drums. The whole family then gets back together and all is well once again.

Has anyone noticed any direct symbols within the film?

Flight of the Conchords - "Bowie"

While watching an episode of 'New Zealand's fourth most popular band,' Flight of the Conchords, I noticed various archetypes.

The hero's jouney in this episode is quite evident:

• Bret and Jermaine depart from their New York apartment and head to Murray's office, where they are told that their music may be put into a greeting card. Their mission to be collected and look "cool" so that they will actually succeed with the greeting card.

• This episode focuses mostly on Bret and body image. This is initiated while Bret and Jermaine are at a photoshoot for their band. Murray comments on how Bret looks extremely smaller than Jermaine, which makes Bret feel less confident. He has gained a new, negative perspective about himself.

• Bret is given supernatural aid through various dreams that he has. David Bowie from different era's in his life comes into Bret's dreams and gives him different advice, such as wear an eye patch, to boost Bret's self esteem.

• When David Bowie tells Bret to wear makeup and be spontaneous, Bret decides to "show himself" to the meeting director at the greeting card company. He had painted blue lighting bolts to himself a well and climbed onto the desk and danced for him. Our "hero" is reborn and now understands that he should no longer listen to the dream version of David Bowie and simply be himself.

• With this new wisdom, Bret continues living his own life, and because of his dancing, the company decided to make a different card. This card will have less copies made of it, but things worked out for the most part.

I also noticed various symboles within this particular episode:

• Bret wears clothing with animals on them. These can be related to "power animals."

• In Bret's first dream, David Bowie appears in blue light to symbolize spirituality.

• The door shown to establish the next day symbolizes new opportunities that "friday" or "thursday" will hold.

• Murray wears tan/brown to show that he is neutral about both of the guys' problems.

• The yellow pad of paper Jermaine has symbolizes the good nature towards Bret, even if his compliments on the paper are a little off and disturbing.

• Bowie appears again in orange light to show his egotistical nature and how Bret should be the same.

• The array of colours on the card forshadow chaos (Bret pulling his pants down and dancing on the table).

• Bowie appears once again in a green light to symbolize the hope and growth that he has for Bret.

• Space symbolizes the endless opportunity that Bret and Jermaine have.

Lastly, each character follows the achetypes:

• Bret and Jermaine --> These are our heroes. In this episode in particular, Bret would be our main hero.

• Murray, Bowie --> These two characters would be our mentors. Murray., the band manager, always tries to do what's right for the guys and helps them out of trouble. Bowie appeared in this episode only to provide spiritual support. Jermaine can also count as a mentor who tried to boost Bret's self esteem through compliment and song.

• Bowie --> He could be considered our villain for this episode. Bret's internal aid tended to lead Bret into some hot water throughout the episode (loss of depth perception with the eye patch as well as the shenanigans at the greeting card meeting).

If you have seen this episode, how did you feel about David Bowie being a spiritual aid to Bret? Do you think that the Conchords version of Bowie was over-played for a reason or do you think it just happened? Do you feel as though this spiritual mentor helped Bret or only made things worse? Why?

Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure

The story of Bill & Ted is one of most excellence, so I feel as though since this is an older movie, some background information must be given:

Bill and Ted are two wannabe rockers living in San Dimas, California. They have spent some much time working on their band, The Wyld Stallyns, that they're both flunking history class. Bill's father doesn't seem to care much; however, Ted's father on the other hand is extremely angry by the fact. He threatens to send Ted away to military school in Alaska. He is so sure that his son will fail the term that he signed him up early.

Meanwhile, in a strange future where Bill and Ted are rulers, panic is arising. If Ted is sent to Alaska, people would not "Be excellent to each other" and "party on." Thus, Rufus goes back in time with a phone booth and gives them the phone booth in order to help them with their history project, which ultimately will decide whether or not the future will proceed as planned.

While watching the classic 80's film, I noticed that it too follows the criteria for a "Hero's Journey" as well as containing various archetypes.

Bill and Ted's journey followed the "Hero's Journey" criteria:

• The Departure is one aspect I have a little trouble understanding. I believe that the departure is more on a theoretical level. Ted, in theory, must leave the band, his best friend, and San Dimas behind. This departure is something he is reluctant to accept. The Departure could also be when Bill and Ted leave on their journey through time and space in order to stop Ted from being sent away, which connects with the previous idea

• When Rufus arrives in the phone booth, the two boys are "initiated" into working for their successful history report marks. Rufus tells them that they can use the booth however they please, as long as they pass their report in the end, implying that they must use the time machine in order to speak to historical figures.

• During the Road of Trials, Bill and Ted meet many historical figures, including Billy the Kid, Socrates, Ludwig von Beethoven, Dr. Sigmund Freud, Joan of Arc, Genghis Khan, Napoleon, and Abraham Lincoln. These historical figures give the boys a better understanding of history, as well as teaching the boys to be responsible as they cause havoc through "present day" California (1980's being the present).

• The Innermost Cave poses a problem. I personally feel as though the boys enter this state when a majority of their historical figures are in jail (thanks to Ted's chief of police father) and Napoleon was lost at the Waterloo water park (hinting to the Battle of Waterloo, if you didn't catch that). This really gets the boys in gear and forces them to act quickly as they would miss their presentation time and evidently fail the class. You could say that they were reborn mentally in a sense that they were pushed against time, making time the Innermost Cave.
• Finally, Bill and Ted, as well as their acquired friends/historical figures, present a most excellent educational show for the student body. They use wisdom learned from the figures, as well as their own in order to pass the class with flying colours. This "defeats" Ted's father's wishes of sending his son to Alaska, as well as keeps the ideal future in balance, thus saving everybody one way or another.

Various archetypes appear as well (I am doing this from memory, however):

• While in the time machine, the fabrics of time are red and blue, mostly. This symbolizes disorder as well as height and devotion.

• The lightning seen from the sky when Rufus arrives symbolizes intuition and the inspiration to act.

• Bill and Ted sit outside a convenient store, The Circle K, while thinking about their project. 'Circle' in the name can represent though and the unity of the two boys.

• The phone booth is a rectangular prism, which can be used to represent rationality and security. It does break at one point, but that is simply the antenna, rather than the secure box itself.

Once again, all characters have an archetypical role:

• Bill and Ted --> They can be classified as apocalyptic heroes. It may sound strange, given the nature of the film, however if they did not succeed, society in the future would suffer greatly and collapse.

• Rufus and the historical figures --> These are all mentors to Bill and Ted and help them stay together, saving society later on.

• Captain Logan --> Ted's father is simply the enemy of the boys who threatens them as well as the future by separating his son from his best friend.

• The Princesses --> The princesses are a stereotypical form of Damsels in Distress. Met in the Medieval Ages, they are supposed to be married off later during the day. Bill and Ted promise to come back for them, but do not have time. Rufus does bring the girls to them in the end, so all is good. They are not the main issue, however.

I have found it almost humorus that even a silly plot like Bill and Ted can be connected back to Greek Mythology and archetypes. Are there any more stupidly-funny plots that follow the criteria that you know of?

The Matrix

Over the spring break, I watched The Matrix. I've seen this movie more times than I can count, but never really gave any attention to the archetypes and connection to Greek mythology. I was aware of the symbolism of various colours and the connections to religion.I've now noticed that the Path of Neo is a Hero's journey:

• He departs from the Matrix on a journey to the Real World.
  Neo wakes up in the Real World, where he realizes that he can no longer be 'invisible' to society and now needs to take some leadership to survive (Initiation).
  
• During the Road of Trials, Neo is plugged into the Construct, where he learns various combat skills to aid him to defeat the machines.
  
• Within the first film, when Neo enters the "Innermost Cave," which happens to be a subway station, he must battle his enemy (Agent Smith), where he gains a new sense of focus within the false reality and grows physically as well as mentally where he can bend the rules of the system.
  
• Neo does not restore fertility and order in the first film but towards the end of the trilogy, he manages to establish peace between humans and machines.
  

I've also noticed various objects and colours used as examples of archetypes:

• Agents dress in black to symbolize darkness and evil. The Rebels also wear black, but this can be connected to mystery.
  
• All scenes within the Matrix are tinted green to establish an almost fake and virtual world, which is exactly what it is, and also to establish a sense of death, as "The purpose of life is to end." -Agent Smith
  
• Scenes in the Real World are blue tinted in order to show the devotion of the humans, truth of the world we live in, and for the most part, peaceful.

• The white light that surrounds Trinity is one of purity and almost angelic.
  The three main characters (Neo, Morpheus, and Trinity) actually fit within a group of three/Trinity.

It is also established that various characters have very different archetypical roles:

• Neo --> The hero of the story who phases challenged from Machines and Agents. He is also a Hero scapegoat, towards the end of the trilogy.
  
• Morpheus --> He is a mentor to Neo, who provides words of wisdom.
  
• The Oracle --> Also a mentor, but she provides more of a clearer thought understanding of what Neo must need to do.
  
• Agent Smith --> The Devil Figure of the story who opposes Neo. Cypher and the Machines also do this.
  
• Trinity --> She can be classified as a temptress because Neo falls in love with her and does literally *anything* to protect her, which eventually leads to his demise.
  

I've personally always wondered if the Wachowski Brothers (the directors of the film) really realized what they were doing when they came up with the story line. I do know that a lot of research went into the film and the symbolism, but did they really realize that the Matrix can connect to Mythology and religion at the same time?
Have you noticed other forms of archetypes in the film and have you seen any films similar? How?