Captin America Archetype analysis

The film "Captin America"  has many archetypes embedded with in it, but before my analysis I read the title and it makes me think of a super hero. Luckly I was right, and the trailer seems to be the classic "good vs evil",but it doesn't seem to give you an ideia of who the enimey is. The trailer begins with a scrawny man who seems to have had a bad past, but he's given a second chance as he is morphed  into a super hero through a machine.One archetype I noticed is "the task", and usally when somone has a task it referes to people who are speacial or have super abilities (EX-Superhuman). When looking at the main hero, the color of his clothes represent the American flag, and if we know anything about the American flag the red stands for hardiness and valor, white is innocence and purity, and blue is vigilance, justice, and perseverance. So I am guessing the colors would represent his characteristics and morals. One strange thing about the movie I found out is in the beginning he is using a garbage can lid as a shield from the guy because he doesn't seem to have selfconfedence in protecting himself, and though out the movie he uses a shield. Could this mean inside he still thinks he's weak, that he's hiding behind the shield ignoring what he really is?

Note: This character has been reborn many times in movies, comics, and books. This is not the first time this character has been released. 

Midnight?

I watch a lot of movies and, I mean A LOT! But one thing I noticed in the traditional archetype is that most wishes end at midnight. You know, the really miserable people who are happy till midnight.

One thing I don't get is fairies or magical things are there to help you, not to embarrass you. For example in the tale of Cinderella when she was told she couldn't go to dance by her step mother but, at later on she meets a fairy who told her that she will grant her wishes if she breaks the rules just to go to the dance. So the story goes she accepts the wish and has fun time dancing it off but, as soon as midnight strikes all the enchanted stuff she has disappears into thin air and, embarrassed herself in front of everyone. MAN THATS MEAN! The fairy should have at least gave her till 3 o'clock or 4.

With all the movies there seems to be a common difference with all the wishes ending in midnight. Some characters used the wish to permanently affect their life (EX-Cinderella wishes fancy clothes and gets prince) and, some realize in the end that their lives are perfect just the way it is (EX Shriek finds out that ogres can achieve love not, just humans). So here are some thoughts I have why wishes may end at midnight.
- Maybe a test to see how responsible you are with the wish to see if you still have your morals.
- Or its could be the start of the day. kind of like a cycle because no two days are the same.

So tell me do wishes have anything to do with Roman or Greek mythology? And give me a reason why you think wishes in fairy tales end at midnight.

Opposite of Our Regular Hero

Batman's a character that interests me. He doesn't seem to fall in the super hero archetype because of his lack of supernatural powers, but he does have a unique fighting style. Villains and heroes are affected by their past, but batman has kind of a twisted past. His parents were killed by a criminal after a movie they saw in the cinema, and from then he trained in China or India (seems to be an argument where he learned to fight so I put in both) to make Gotham City safer, so others don't suffer the same faith he did when he was little. Here's the twist tho; Think of a little kid who has no parents growing up, and we all know parents symbolize safety and guidance, so wouldn't he be growing up adopting the ideas of a criminal mind?

Fame, attention, and popularity is what the regular super hero gets, but Batman surprises me as he seems to avoid those things unlike his friend superman who's always in the media. Any ideas why? We all heard the old saying "brains beats brawns", and our regular hero uses brawn vs brawn, but Batman uses brain vs brain as all his enemies he faces are all highly intelligent such as Joker, Bane, and David. Any suggestions why other heros use their strenght and batman uses his mind?

Could batman or Bruce Wayne be a villain in disguise of a hero because Out of all the batman series I saw our hero seems to have have a mind of a criminal, and knows accurately what his enemy is doing. Is that why he runs away from the cops all the time? or the media so people don't find out his horrible truth about him.Is that why he doesn't fit in our regular heroic archetype?

What are you suggestions to these questions I have.

Clash of the Fairy Tales!!!!!!!

Have you ever sat there, and thought about a movie that doesn't follow the traditional archetype. Well I have, and found out that the movie Shrek and its chapters seems to be deifying the "rules". When we watch a movie the main character is usually a human or some creature that isn't feared or frowned upon, but in Shrek its an ogre, a creature in our story books that is feared because of his hunger for human flesh, and his savage behavior. An other thing is that is views fairies as "bad people", and considers them as human dealers (only helps humans). Do you thinks fairies only help humans, if so why, and give me an example? Last but not least why our character Shrek doesn't fit in the regular fairy tale is that, his damsel in distress is UGLY. Usually aren't they suppose to be elegant instead of an ogre? Don't fairy tales end cheerful breaking the curse with "true love". What makes shreks destiny different from other heroes in other fairy tales?

Sidekicks

Sidekicks are important in the heroes journey. This archetype is the protagonists best friends, he's always ready to devote his time and energy to whatever tasks is asked of him. And in return, he expects to be viewed lower, clumsy, and kidnapped repeatedly. But its all in a days work. There never seems to be a boundary of who your sidekick can be. It can range from a McDonalds worker to a high school teenager.

Batman would be a great example. With Robin being the sidekick and batman or Bruce Wayne being the master. They journey around Gotham, patrolling to make the streets safer for the civilians to walk. As both of them are expected to watch each others back, its usually the side kick who is being captured or kidnapped, as bait to lure the master in. Could the the way sidekicks mess up and stuff be a test or a challenge for the heroes journey? But there seems to be a confusion, is your sidekick your "friend or your enemy", as through out Lord of the Rings Frodos sidekick Golem uses him and lures him into traps just to get the ring. Does the idea of having a  sidekick make us rethink who we can trust and who we can't? Does this bring up a moral to the real world making us reflect on who is our friend and who isn't? What do you guys think?

Ong-Bak "Headed" your way

Ong-Bak is one of a kind movie. It has the best fight scene out of all the movies you see combined together. Ong-Bak is played by Tony Jaa, and the story goes that the head of a sacred statue is stolen, a young hero is sent out in the big city and takes on the underworld just to retrieve it. He encounters many friends and foes as every day is a struggle for life. What interest me in the movie is the symbolisms it carries, so i will be focusing on it.

So the movie starts off with all the dudes playing capture the flag on a tree (a tree represent life or growth) and, at the end of the game the winner was Ting (who's our hero). So heres where the issues start theres this man who wants to by a precious gem or necklace (i forgot what it was) and, to him money was no problem but, the Buddhist priest refused to sell. So at midnight he stole the head of the Buddhist statue that was sacred  to the people of the land because it was considered luck and gave life to the land.

From then our hero is realised like a mad dog hunting his prey. He enters the capital of the country (Bangkok). He continues his search for ong-bak but, while doing that he has to find his friends son who is corrupt and, only cares about money. While he continues his search for the stolen head he encounters many enemies in the club risking his life where on the other side his friend George only cares about the money he wins. Money seems to be big in the movie because every one he encounters fights for money or kills for money, so basically the money represents the greed of a man as it controls them making them lose their morals.

Ong-Bak(name of the statues head) seems to have its own symbol not, just one but, many. It symbolizes power, trust, sacrifice, and bravery. All these traits that I listed are found in the hero Ting and George. Ong-Bak seems to change people as it changed George from a money addict to a great companion as he helped Ting in his adventure. At the end of the movie I noticed Ting is more than a hero with courage, determination, and humility. He doesn't seem to act like other heroes who call the people helping them their sidekick. He considers George a friend a companion and top of that one of his kind not, just a sidekick.By the way the tree in the beginning of the movie seemed to represent Ting as he grows in every situation and learn and adapts to the environment.

I you seem to catch a really important symbol that is found in other movies that can be related to this or if you can add on to a symbol I already know Please free to post.

Hero or Anti Hero

May,29,2010


Came back from a long day of school, and I really needed a rest. My mom saw how tired I was and she let me go by a game. I was searching for a long time trying to find the perfect game, and I found the GAME INFAMOUS. So i played it for a while and found out some patterns that occur with heroes or villains

 How The Story Goes...
So the story goes a person named Cole (main character) was caught in a blast. Later on he wakes up and finds out he has the ability to use electricity. As a result the city was quarantined and it was considered a health hazard to the country. Guards patrolled the outskirts of the city to make sure no one escapes, but Cole finds a person on the other side who is willing to let him escape if he finds the women's husband. So he does things that make him a hero but also things that make him a villain.

 His Heroes Side....
The city was isolated from civilization and sooner chaos and gangs started to rule the city. The police were getting weaker and they started to run away from criminal activity. So he sets of his journey trying to eradicate the gangs that have taken the city. Some patterns I that Cole has done that other heroes have done is hurt him self to save others such as cleaning the water system from the oil contaminating the people fresh water(He basically feeds on electricity and if he comes in contact with water it hurts him) or taking gun shots from villains just to save a hostage. One of the most old fashion thing a hero can do is save a bunch of people from a train that going to fall off the cliff. SPOILER- At the end of the game when your a hero you abandon the quarantine city and leave all the people, gangs, and friends to rot in the city.

His Bad Side.....
As much as he sounds good, he can be bad guy. You decide what to do in the game, and your decisions affect how good or bad you are. One of the most baddest thing you can do is kill the man who owns the only T.V channel in the quarantine city.( think of it a life with no T.V) The more evil you become in the game you start to look evil to. You grow red veins all over your body and your skin color starts to look like a grayish pale tone. I noticed that one element that a villain has is his desire to destroy a entire civilization or in this case a city because of someone else that has affected him negatively.