So for homework I'm going to ask you to take one of the stories that we've looked at (The Frog Prince, Prince Five Weapons, etc.), take their heroic struggle, and compare it to another hero story from your life, whether it's a favorite fairy tale from your youth or a movie like Star Trek. Look specifically at one of the trials the heroes go through an compare them in a paragraph or two of about 100-200 words. End the post with your name, so I know who you are!
Thanks,
Jimmy Peterson
So, for the fairy tale, I would choose the tale of Prince Five Weapons. Mainly because I feel that it relates to the story of Luke Sywalker from the Star Wars movies. The prince is supposed to later become the Buddha, an enlightened figure, someone very different from how he was in the beginning. Luke sort of has a similar thing happen to him, he starts off as a farmer and goes on to become a great Jedi Knight and save the world. Admittedly, Prince Five Weapons is a little bit different in that he is a more mental hero than Luke. But Luke’s story takes place in a universe where there are laser guns and giant things blowing up, so he is slightly moved away from the Prince because of his genre. The troll, Sticky-Hair, would sort of be like Darth Vader, in that he stands in Luke’s way and counters most of his attempts to stop him. When they blow up the Death Star, he builds another one, and he ends up running away from him most of the time, such as in Cloud City when Luke finds out that Lando made a deal with Darth Vader. Also, when going up against the emperor, he is pretty much helpless, and only really gets his lightsaber back because the emperor lets him. Though the set of movies overall loosely relates to the story of Prince Five Weapons, I feel Yoda’s advice and most specifically, the whole set of scenes in the last movie with the emperor relate the best. Yoda always tries to get Luke to not rush ahead and finish his training but Luke eventually does, and ends up loosing his hand and getting into a big mess. He wanted Luke to learn about his inner power he would draw from the Force as a Jedi Knight. And he also warns Luke against the dangers of the dark side. He says that if he does not think things through, and just uses his anger, he will become just like Darth Vader. In the cave, this is ultimately revealed to him. This is like how Prince Five Weapons is stripped of his ego as each of his weapons sticks to Sticky-Hair and realizes his dependence upon the physical realm, and uses his sixth weapon, Thunderbolt, in his belly. Luke, in the final scenes with the emperor, realizes how quick he is to anger, and how that is potentially dangerously close to the dark side. He finally manages to save the day and becomes a true Jedi and sort of forgives Darth Vader? I never entirely understood what was going on there. But the point is that he moved on and gained a self control you could compare to enlightenment, but maybe more magical because of the Force. Essentially, both of them have a shift from the physical to the mental by encountering some force they could not overcome and then overcoming it through that shift.
ReplyDeleteI once read a Japanese translated book by the name of Brave Story. It was about a young boy named Wataru who after several strange events, ends up in a mystical land some how created from human’s dreams. This book follows the classic hero’s journey as Wataru trains and travels across a vast land, trying to defeat various challenges before receiving great power. In the beginning when he is still trying to figure out what has happened to him, he is told by an old wizard to enter the cave of trials. Wataru believes he is dreaming, so he enters the cave with courage. This is similar to the Prince Five-Weapons entry to the forest. The prince thinks due to his powerful weapons he is undefeatable. When Wataru passes some of the simpler challenges he finds him self in a large room with four gods guarding the cave attacking him. In the Buddha story the prince must use his knowledge instead of strength to become victorious. Wataru must do so as well, checking the various exits to the room to see which one he can escape from. -Max Schwalbach
ReplyDeleteThe Prince Five-Weapons reminded me a lot of Katniss Everdeen. Now obviously Katniss is no Buddha but they do have many similarities. Five-Weapons had powerful weapons and was a strong fighter but in the end what really made him really powerful was a weapon you couldn't see. In the case of the Buddha was the thunderbolt of knowledge and while Katniss doesn't have that she does have an invisible weapon that is the most powerful. Like Five-Weapons Katniss is a great fighter but what really lets her defeat the entire Capitol is the power of influence, the ability to lead an army of people without really even having to say anything. This invisible weapon is by far her most powerful and is able to defeat a power much greater than her. This is similar to Five-Weapons because the thunderbolt of knowledge allows him to defeat an ogre which is much greater than him. Katniss and Five-weapons turn to a weapon that is not physical but their mere being.
ReplyDeletePercy Jackson and Prince Five Weapons aren’t very similar other than the fact that they are both born into their roles, Percy, the son of Poseidon and, Prince Five Weapons, the son of a king who has recently finished his military training. For the Prince his call to adventure is hearing the people talk about the ogre that kills any man. Despite being told not to go the Prince does anyway because of his ego but also his lack of fear. Percy’s call to adventure is when his math teacher turns into one of the furies and attacks him. Percy is more shocked by this encounter. The road of trails between the two heroes is different in that Percy’s is a series of tasks he must complete to save his mother and retrieve the lightning bolt he was accused of stealing, much like what Hercules had to do. While Prince Five Weapons trails occur when he is fighting Sticky Hair and is in the end stripped of his ego.
ReplyDelete-Abby
I suppose Prince Five Weapons draws parallels with any story in which the main character realizes that force and violence are not the way to succeed. Or perhaps that the only way to succeed in come cases is to surrender control and know that what happens will happen for the best. I’m in John Capute’s Peter Weir film short term class, and we recently watched Master and Commander. Spoiler alert, the captain of the ship (and the main character) spends the whole movie chasing a French war ship that is faster and better equipped for battle. In the end, the captain sees an insect from the Galapagos islands that disguises itself as a twig to confuse predators. This gives him the idea to disguise his war ship as a whaling ship so that the French will come to him and try to capture him. The French get close and then our main character springs his attack. They do end up fighting obviously, but the captain found out that his traditional methods of pursuit and battle would be inadequate against this new more advanced ship. He decides to use intellect to win instead of brute force (this is a big change for this character, he is really the brute force type). In the very last Harry Potter book, Spoiler alert, Harry realizes that he is the last horcrux and the only way to defeat Voldemort is to let Voldemort kill him. He doesn’t defend himself, he lets it happen knowing he is doing what needs to be done to save everyone else. After the curse is performed he is taken to a place that one might think of as a place of knowledge. He talks to the deceased Dumbledore who explains everything, and he becomes enlightened.
ReplyDeleteI found many similarities between the story about ogre in a desert, (I'm blanking on the name right now) And the path of Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars. First of all, Anakin on a planet that's pretty much one big desert; Tatooine, and the desert story, obviously, is set in a desert. Anakin's destiny was originally to become a great Jedi Knight and bring balance to the force. Instead of doing all the great things, many false steps such as falling in love (jedi are encouraged/ not allowed to have relationships) and listening to the advice of Chancellor Palpatine, who is secretly Darth Sidious. Anakin's mistake leads him to become Darth Vader, destroying the Jedi Order and eventually his death. When relating Anakin's life to the desert story, Darth Sidious is the Ogre, and Anakin is the traveler. They both listened to the advice of an evil being, eventually leading to their deaths. -Ollie
ReplyDeleteIt took me awhile to compare these stories with other stories I'm familiar with but when I read them all over again I came to the conclusion that Prince Five Weapons relates with Harry Potter and more specifically the 7th book/movie of the Harry Potter series. The part that I think compares the two stories the most is the theme that the only weapon you need is hidden inside you. In the Prince Five Weapons, the prince attempts to use all his weapons on the ogre with them all sticking to the hairs on the ogre and not giving any affect. In Harry Potter, for most of Harry’s life, he and his friends and mentors have tried to kill Voldemort and the Deatheaters following him. In the 6th book they figure out about Voldemorts soul being split up into seven horcrux’s and spread out around the world. At the very end Harry realizes that he is the last horcrux, therefore the horcrux is really inside him-the most powerful weapon to kill Voldemort with. In Prince Five Weapons, the most powerful weapons were not the physical weapons but the knowledge that was within him.
ReplyDelete-Annice
I found Prince 5 Weapons similar to Kevin McAllister from the Home Alone movies. Prince 5 Weapons is very proud of his skills with his weapons, but when they all fail him he uses his most powerful weapon of all-his knowledge. Kevin McAllister also uses weapons when the burglars break into his house, but they aren't traditional weapons. He turns every day household items into contraptions that end up causing the burglars a lot of pain. Normally these things are considered very harmless, but McAllister uses his knowledge and cleverness to turn them into the weapons that end up saving him. For example, he systematically places sharp Christmas ornaments around the house for the burglars to step on, and he ties a hot iron to the ceiling so that when the burglars step in a certain place it will fall down and burn them. Knowledge and cleverness save the characters in both of these stories.
ReplyDelete-Caroline
The super villains that face off against Superman are like the Buddha in the story about prince five weapons and the ogre. Both have the arrogance to attempt to fight an invincible or undefeated foe and both have some reason for superman not to kill them and/or eat them. The best example of the connection between these stories is the struggle between Metallo. Metallo is a cyborg super villain who is kind of like Iron Man but more ugly with a kryptonite power source/heart. Superman is basically a god and could rip apart Metallo if it weren't for the magical thing inside of him. Somehow, even weakened by the kryptonite, Superman always seems to win, but Metallo always comes back. Lex Luthor, is protected by his fame. If superman were to kill him, Superman would become despised by the people. Maybe this is it or maybe everyone in Superman's mind just has the little lightning on humanity in themselves that keeps them safe from Superman's full wrath. Or maybe super villains have nothing to do with the Buddha. Yeah, that's probably it. -Matthew Mustelier
ReplyDeleteThe story of the Frog has he themes of trust and deception in it. The frog is deceived by the girl and never gets to live in the castle. In the most recent episode of Psych Shawn is deceived by his idol Pierre Desperauex. Both the frog and Shawn are deceived into doing something for the person that tricked them. The frog has to go and get the girls golden ball in exchange for a life in paradise. Shawn is in a similar situation by trying to prove Desperauex didn't murder anyone but instead helps him steal art by being trying to help prove Desperaue didn't murder someone. After they both help the trickster they both are hopeful that something will change for the better but nothing changes for the two heros. The people the deceived them leave forever and leave the heros with nothing.
ReplyDelete-Alex
My favorite story of all of the stories that we read was the one about the young Buddha and Sticky Hair. In this story Buddha is stripped of his ego. This reminds me of a Doctor Who episode in which the Doctor is stripped of his ego. The doctor travels to the first human base on mars, but he does not realize that this is where he is going until after he is basically stuck there. This relates to the Sticky Hair story because the Buddha went into the forest without really being prepared for what he was doing. After the Doctor is trapped on the Mars base he realizes that the base is destroyed on this day in history. He does not want to interfere and alter the course of human history, but is still unable to leave. Eventually he is able to leave, but decides that he will be able to save the astronauts on the mars base because he is an extremely powerful TimeLord. He saves the people on the base and takes them back to earth where they all commit suicide because he has told them what a pivotal role they play in the history of humanity and they do not wish to change the future. This strips the doctor of his ego just as the fight with Sticky Hair strips the Buddha of his.
ReplyDeleteOne of the many stories that I thought connected to the story of Prince Five-weapons and Sticky Hair was The Matrix. In the Matrix, the knowledge of the reality that the world isn't real and humans are all in their own little pods where they are born and grow is very dangerous. As "the one," Neo discovers the truth behind his world and he acquires the ability to use this knowledge against those who hid reality, which in this case was a destroyed world, from humans. Neo and his little band of people (don't know what else to call them...) use their knowledge to take down the evil doers so that the power of knowledge ultimately saves them from deception.
ReplyDeleteOne of the many stories that I thought connected to the story of Prince Five-weapons and Sticky Hair was The Matrix. In the Matrix, the knowledge of the reality that the world isn't real and humans are all in their own little pods where they are born and grow is very dangerous. As "the one," Neo discovers the truth behind his world and he acquires the ability to use this knowledge against those who hid reality, which in this case was a destroyed world, from humans. Neo and his little band of people (don't know what else to call them...) use their knowledge to take down the evil doers so that the power of knowledge ultimately saves them from deception just as Prince Five-weapons defeats Sticky Hair. Also, like Prince Five-weapons becomes Buddha, Neo is "the One," meaning that he is important with hero-like qualities as well.
ReplyDeleteThe first tale of Buddha is a struggle between temporal and spiritual things. The King is tempting him with the best possible life with earthly things, but the visions of a man dying persuade him to want to become Buddha. This is very similar to Batman's struggle to decide between saving Gotham with physical acts, or more as a symbol of justice. When Harvey Dent dies, Batman realizes that he has to transcend to a symbol separated from Gotham so the real hero image of Harvey Dent would remain. In both stories, death is an inspiration to become more than what would have been possible as a physical being. In Batman's case, Harvey dying is incredibly hard to walk away from, because Harvey was a friend that betrayed him, and to walk away would not bring justice to what Harvey had done. The Buddha had everything on Earth because he was the King's son, but he valued life more than riches. Both characters had to desert what they wanted so they could fulfill their ultimate goal. In Batman's case, justice, and in the Buddha's, life.
ReplyDeleteI thought the prince of weapons was like all fairy tales because of the fact that knowledge was used to overcome the obstacle. From old tales like puss and boots to new ones like Spider-Man, a certain level of knowledge is needed in order for the challenge to be dealt with. I believe fairy tales all deliver the message that being able to think and think on your feet are good things to be able to do. Fairy tales glorify intelligence and back then intelligence wasn't valued because most people farmed. Fairy tales brought intelligence into the mainstream
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