The Hero’s Journey in Bran Nue Dae
The students were interested to the idea of Grand Narratives. We
discussed that even though they had never heard of these or
metanarratives or mythemes etc, that they could probably come up
with a few. They identified the Cinderella story readily.
I then explained that the Hero’s Journey is one of the most poplular
of these (particularly with Disney). Before explaining the elements
of the HJ, students shared their own stories of a time they did
something heroic (most seemed to revolve around a sporting field).
The students had fun with these stories, and fell into the habit of
weaving a dramatic yarn for their audience. We used their stories as
a way of charting the progress of the HJ as charted by Joseph
Campbell. This became one of our key learning maps
The students were all issued with the unit outline. They then had to
turn this into their own visual learning map. They all drew pictures of
an old television to symbolise watching the movie and particularly
enjoyed working out how to represent the concept of ‘Conflict
between two worlds’ (mostly two globes boxing).
After watching the film, the students were giving a series of images
representing the journey undertaken by Willie. The students,
working in pairs, had to decide what each image represented and
then place them in correct chronological order.
Whilst there is only one correct plot order, it was explained to
students that, depending what they decided each image symbolised,
there could well be several correct answers. Different students
shared their interpretations and MS Jose, who created the original,
then explained her thinking.
Students held onto the maps to help them with their later work.
Throughout the analysis of the film we wove core concepts with the
study of film techniques. This Youtube clip was essential:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1japIhKU9I
Core concepts included:
Conflict between two worlds
This looked at how Willie was torn between life in Perth (an
education and career in the priesthood) with life in Broome (his
mother, his girl, the beach and fishing). It also discussed the conflict
he felt as a teenager between living the life he wanted and the life
his mother wanted for him
Privileging the other
Explored the way in which the typical stereotypes of Aboriginal and
white people where both reinforced and refuted.
Film techniques explored included:
Music: the important contribution of sound as anon-verbal form of
communication.
Flashback: considered this a typical non-linear method of
communication
Setting: the lustful shots of Broome symbolising the powerful hold
that his own country has over Willie contrasted with the urban
landscape of Perth and the gothic school setting
Symbols: the power of symbols as shorthand in film. We had one of
our student filmmakers come in and speak to the class about how he
uses symbols in films as well.
The main assessment task for the unit involved each individual
student creating a webpage, exploring the use of the Hero’s Journey
in Bran Nue Dae. The pages had to include a summary of the stages
of the HJ in Bran Nue Dae, an analysis of a text of their own choosing
in retion to the HJ and close anaylsis of film techniques in the movie.
A model website was developed and we used this as the whole to
deconstruct before the student shad to reconstruct their own
website.