Female Action Heroes in Sci Fi Term Paper

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Sarah Connor as Modern Monomyth

The Greek hero monomyth, as discussed by Joseph Campbell and others, is a concept and storyline that dates back to the tragedies and tales of the Greeks. However, to suggest that these basic storylines and traits are not used today (and used pervasively) would be incorrect to say the least. Indeed, the plots of many movies, plays and stories have some or even all of the traits of the monomyth pattern as described by Campbell. Just one of those, and the films that will be analyzed in this report, are the first two installments of the Terminator movie series. Specifically, the character to be affixed upon is Sarah Connor, the heroine of the movie. While some may not see it, her ascendancy and eventual victory is by no means linear and it follows Campbell's monomyth pattern almost to the letter.

Analysis

As far as what mythology example best parallels Sarah Connor and her plight, there are many examples that could be used. However, perhaps the best one does not center on Sarah Connor specifically but it does center on what leads to the plight placed upon her and her son, John. Greek mythology has the The Creation, a situation where man was created in a new form. Just like in the first two Terminator movies, this creation led to very bad things happening after that. In the case of the Titan, it was things like cruel treatment, ambushes, and infighting amongst the gods. However, there was a final battle where Heracles and Zeus were able to subdue the Giants that had emerged as villains. In the case of the Terminator movies (the first two, anyway), it led to nuclear devastation and a war between men and machines when Skynet and the robots became self-aware and self-acting (Greek Mythology, 2016).

As a brief review of the Terminator timeline, there is a company called Cyberdyne that eventually makes chips and computers that culminate in people-like robots that are then wielded as military weapons and other tools. Things go terribly wrong when Skynet becomes "self-aware" and they turn on their human creators. Since the Skynet systems are so entrenched in everything military and otherwise vital to human survival, Skynet is able to wreak major havoc on the earth with "Judgement Day" being the ultimate salvo. Indeed, Skynet induces all nuclear weapons in the United States to launch. As one might expect, the targets of those missiles follow the principle of "mutually assured destruction" and much of the world is destroyed. What is left is a much smaller amount of people who have taken up armed resistance against the machines. That resistance, at one point, is led by John Connor ... the son of Sarah Connor. In the first Terminator movie, a cyborg (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is sent back in time to kill Sarah Connor. The first movie concludes with the cyborg being unsuccessful and Sarah escapes. In the second movie, much the same plot is hatched, but with a twist. Another cyborg, this one much more advanced than the first, is sent to kill John Connor when he is a teenager. At this point, Sarah Connor is in an insane asylum because people think her observations and opinions about cyborgs and Judgement Day are just signs of mental illness. A second cyborg, the same model as the one from the first movie and also portrayed by Arnold, is sent to protect John. Ultimately, John and Sarah both survive in the second movie and both of the Terminators are destroyed (Changing Minds) (Vogler) (IMDb).

To answer the basic and most important question that is part of this assignment, Sarah Connor is absolutely an example of the monomyth as laid forth in Greek mythology. The timeline of The Creation as well as the general pattern laid forth by Campbell is followed very closely. For example, one of the main three parts of Campbell's vision of the monomyth is the separation/departure aspect. The "sub-parts" of this are the call to adventure, the refusal of the call at first, the acceptance of the call, supernatural aid, crossing of the first threshold and entering the belly of the whale. In the second movie, many of these facets are present. When Sarah Connor is first broken out of the asylum with the help of John and the Terminator, their first step is to run for the border so as to be safe from the T-1000. This is at the behest of the Terminator himself. Prior, John Connor had to coerce the Terminator into getting Sarah out of the asylum (which one could call "supernatural aid") because the Terminator figured that the T-1000 would go after John's adoptive parents and his mother.

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He was right on both counts but things ended up working out during the rescue. However, Sarah knows that this is not the ultimate solution to the problem. Indeed, she is sitting at a picnic bench and she dozes off. She visualizes what is to come (Judgement Day has not happened yet at this point ... but it is coming) and she snaps awake and suddenly departs. John comes to the bench and sees that Sarah has etched the words "No Fate" in the wood of the picnic table she was sitting at. John knows right away that this is short for "No Fate but what we make" and instantly figures out (at the same time as the Terminator) that Sarah is going back to her hometown to kill the people most responsible for Skynet and destroy the equipment. In short, she resisted the call by allowing the Terminator to help her flee. Indeed, this was his directive as he was to protect John (first) and then Sarah after she was freed. However, her move to go back to her hometown and stop the main scientist behind Skynet, that being a man named Dyson, from fulfilling what Sarah knows is coming (Changing Minds) (Vogler).

The Terminator and John catch up to Sarah as she is trying to assassinate Dyson at his home. Dyson survives but his world is rocked when the Terminator and the others make clear what the future holds if the current path is not changed or stopped. The second part of the monomyth starts with the Road of Trials, and this is certainly a huge part of the second movie as well. The group, including Dyson, hatch a plot to go to Cyberdyne and destroy all of the equipment and information by bombing the offices, destroying the cyborg arm and computer chip that were found as part of the first movie's conclusion. This ends up being a rather arduous thing to pull off. First of all, they have to get into the building and that does not go as planned. Next, the police show up and surrounding the building and the Terminator has to fend them off so that they can escape. They get the bombs in place and get the chip and arm but Dyson is shot as he's moving in the office and he stays to detonate the bombs and sacrifice himself. Just as the Connors and the Terminator are leaving, the T-1000 shows up and a car chase ensues that ends up at a metal plant with a molten metal/lava pit. The T-1000 is killed by something similar to "woman as temptress" as discussed in the monomyth. The T-1000 himself actually uses the tactic by mimicking Sarah's voice so as to get John to come to her. This is more "mother" as temptress or, for lack of a better term, bait in this instance. However, it works. However, Sarah uses the ploy against the T-1000 and starts pumping shotgun rounds into the T-1000. She runs out of shells and the T-1000 reforms himself. However, the Terminator reemerges after ostensibly being vanquished earlier and pops a rocket-propelled grenade into the T-1000. He ends up falling off the platform into the molten metal. This is yet another example of divine assistance given the power of the Terminator and his "return to life" in the form of going to his alternate power source (Changing Minds) (Vogler).

However, the movie is not over and we see what is known as apotheosis, another part of the monomyth. Indeed, the Terminator knows that even though the T-1000 and the chip/arm are destroyed (the latter are thrown into the pit as well), the job is not done. The Terminator imparts that he has to be destroyed as well for the ending of the Skynet timeline to be complete. He then voluntarily lowers himself into the lava and destroys himself. Both John and Sarah (John in particular) react rather poorly to this turn of events. However, Sarah knows that the Terminator is right. This is a textbook example of a greater level of understanding being achieved. As described in the monomyth, "the hero is resolved and ready for the more difficult part of the adventure" (Changing Minds) (Vogler).

While a lot of the focus in this….....

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