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Teaching the Hero's Journey, or the Monomyth, as Joseph Campbell called it, is probably one of the best things we can do to help our students identify common story structures. Not only do you set the stage for their analysis of high school reading (think Homer, Shakespeare, etc.), but also you give them tools to understand the storytelling structure they're accustomed to seeing in movies. It is scaffolding they can apply to analyzing most forms of fiction.
In this awesome Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey/ Monomyth graphic, you can clearly see the classic, three-part story structure. This is one of the best graphic illustrations of it that I've seen.
Too complicated? This condensed, 12-stage version, and how 6 movies fit the journey, are shown here in an equally awesome info graphic. I've turned it into a pdf for printing out as a poster. It's sure to capture students' attention!
Interestingly enough, Star Wars is a bit of a forced fit into a three-part story structure. It better fits a five act Shakespearean play. Ian Doescher rocks it - every time! Just wish he would could get contracts to write the Rogue One and the Han Solo movies, too.
