Monomyths [Tuesday, January 5, Period 3]

[steel-not-glass.livejournal.com]

The good thing about being a spy for over two hundred years was that you learned to fake things really well. Benefits to on-the-job seductions aside, it meant that right now, Cindy appeared to be a confident and relaxed veteran teacher of hundreds of classes.

Although those classes were clearly taught at roughly the same time as Cindy looked far too young to teach a hundred anything back-to-back.

She smiled at her class as they filed in and then rose to lean against the front of her desk to begin the lecture. “I’m Cindy Perrault--” ha ha, Bigby was so funny “--and welcome to Monomyths,” she said, giving the class a smile. “We’ll be discussing the masculine and feminine heroic journeys. Now, some of you may have heard of Joseph Campbell and his Hero’s Journey. This class is not about him and his ideas, unless I suddenly have a lot more time than I expect to. So those of you who have heard of Campbell, forget him and those of you who haven’t—-be grateful.”



“Now, the two types of heroic journeys we’ll be looking at come from the ancient epics meta for The Epic of Gilgamesh and meta for The Descent of Inanna. Don’t worry, we’ll be going over those epics as we discuss the journeys, so don’t stress if you’re not familiar with either. At your age, I’d be amazed if any of you were.” Still, Cindy paused to glance around the room to search for any signs of recognition from the students. This high school was different enough from anywhere else she’d heard of (which was a feat in and among itself) that she didn’t feel she could just assume.

“In the future, we’ll be reading books and watching movie clips to help illustrate the concepts covered in class. If, as the semester goes on and you feel you have a better grasp on the materia, feel free to suggest different clips to show to the class. Be prepared to back it up with a better reason than just ‘it’s my favorite movie.’ Specific scenes you want to show make it that much more likely I’ll say yes.”

“We’re not getting into much today. I’ve been told that this week is usually for introductions. In fact, I may be in breach of contract if I don’t participate and some of you end up introducing yourself less than four times this week.” And with that pajama-wearing Vice Principal around, that might even be true, for all they knew. “So: name, class, and a bit about your favorite character from a work of fiction. Books, comics, movies, TV shows; they all count.”

Cindy leaned over her desk to grab the syllabi and began to hand them out. “Also, I’ll be looking for one or two TAs for this class, so if you’re interested, please stay after class a moment and talk to me.”

[TAs have already been chosen, FYI. OCD on its way up!]

Comments

Class Discussion: Favorite Characters

[steel-not-glass.livejournal.com]

Or, how meta can we get?

[Name, Class, and take your pick from any and all of the following questions. Also, feel free to ping into anyone else's thread and respond. It's more fun that way]

"Who is your favorite character? Why? Does that character exhibit any kind of growth or development throughout the course of the narrative? What were some influencing factors in the change? Were they believable? Is there a character you despise? Why?"

Re: Class Discussion: Favorite Characters

[kestrelswolf.livejournal.com]

"Am Blysse," she introduced herself. "He is Blind Seer," she nodded to the wolf at her side. "Sophomore. And... I do not think I know enough stories to have a favorite character," she shrugged. Wolves weren't really into fiction, so her only exposure had been through human cultures, and that had been sort of, well... limited.

Re: Class Discussion: Favorite Characters

[steel-not-glass.livejournal.com]

Oookay. There was a wolf in class. Easily large enough to be Bigby's cousin. And with enough intelligence in his eyes to be his twin.

...Somehow, even to maintain character, Cindy couldn't bring herself to ask if he were a pet. Hopefully her confusion and surprise were enough to make up for it.

"I see..." she said slowly. "Can you tell me about a character from your favorite story?"

If she'd heard some, she had to have a favorite, right?

Right?

Re: Class Discussion: Favorite Characters

[notmyownage]

Claudia wasn't a huge fan of forced introductions, which probably showed in her slightly weary smirk as she spoke. "I'm Claudia. Sophomore. I haven't really been much for fiction lately, but, uh." She paused for a few moments as she thought over the stories Joshua read to her after their parents died, trying to pick a good one. "When I was little I always loved Frankenstein's monster. Dr. Frank totally screwed that guy over, but he still came out smarter and more compassionate and way more in tune with the reality of the world than his whacked out creator."

Yeah, Claudia's older brother had totally read Frankenstein to her as a bed time story. Which probably explained a lot.

Re: Class Discussion: Favorite Characters

[thatsamilkshake]

"Um, hi. I'm Francine Peters, and I'm a senior. I don't know if I have a favorite character but I like Buttercup from The Princess Bride a lot because my player will never stop being amused by the lack of need for meta. She's kind of, um. Bitchy at the start, but once she realizes she cares about people, she's incredibly loyal."

Re: Class Discussion: Favorite Characters

[cataclysmicluck.livejournal.com]

"I'm Zayne and I'm a senior. My favorite character is probably the police chief from Jaws Teeth. He confronted one of the worst monsters he could have and managed to win against all odds," Zayne said. "Also, it's one of the few movies I've seen."

Re: Class Discussion: Favorite Characters

[steel-not-glass.livejournal.com]

"And would you say the police chief changed over the course of the movie?" Cindy asked with a smile. "Is he the same man at the end as he is in the beginning?"

Re: Class Discussion: Favorite Characters

[life_inshadow]

"Tara Maclay," Tara said, quite softly. (She'd learned that if she spoke softly in front of a group, she didn't stutter so badly.) "I guess my favorite character is Wendy, from Wendy the Werewolf Stalker? She starts off as just this spoiled girl but she, um, she has to be a hero."

Tara brushes her hair out of her face tentatively, as if hoping for confirmation she'd given the right answer.

Re: Class Discussion: Favorite Characters

[steel-not-glass.livejournal.com]

Cindy nodded encouragingly, more than happy to supply that confirmation. Of course, it also meant she had more questions for the girl. "Do you feel like her growth is believable? When do you like her the most?"

Re: Class Discussion: Favorite Characters

[ancientbschamp.livejournal.com]

"Gabrielle, and a sophomore," she began, all grins and eagerness because this class sounded like it was going to be fun. "I'd have to say my favorite character is the king's niece from King of the Bracelets who goes off to fight even though women weren't supposed to. As an Amazon princess, I can't help but feel a certain bond with her for that."

Also, everything in the King of the Bracelets movies looked just like home, and Gabrielle liked that. Even if the king's nephew looked like a long-haired version of a power-hungry manipulative guy who'd drugged his father and tried to convince him their god wanted him to sacrifice his younger son to prove his loyalty.

Re: Class Discussion: Favorite Characters

[steel-not-glass.livejournal.com]

"An Amazon princess?" Cindy asked, eyebrow raised. "Is that some kind of nickname or something?"

Between her and Bigby's research and what little Cindy had seen of the island so far, she was betting the answer was 'no.'

Re: Class Discussion: Favorite Characters

[robinthefrog.livejournal.com]

"I'm Robin, and I'm a junior. I guess if I had to pick a favorite character it'd be Robin Hood. And no, not because we have the same name. I just really like adventure stories."

I didn't meta his name because there's those that think he may actually have existed.

Re: Class Discussion: Favorite Characters

[steel-not-glass.livejournal.com]

"Very good...err, Robin," Cindy said. Which was better than her first instinct, which was to ask 'Flycatcher?!' and her second which was 'Are you an enchanted prince, too?'

Ziva could have warned her about this. Or Max.

"Are you a fan of Robin because of his character or because of his adventures? And do you have a particular version of Robin Hood in mind?"

After this class, she was going back to that bar and getting a drink.

Re: Class Discussion: Favorite Characters

[weldedtomyspine]

Jaime was tapping his chin thoughtfully and not really paying attention to everyone else's introductions while he thought about what he'd say when it was his turn. Which meant he was distracted and almost missed his turn.

"Oh," he sat up suddenly. "Um, I'm Jaime Reyes. I'm a Junior. As for favorite character... I guess I sort of always liked Odysseus because he solved all his problems by thinking around them. Even if he was sort of a jerk. I guess I'd like to be more like that."

"Except for the jerk part."

Re: Class Discussion: Favorite Characters

[steel-not-glass.livejournal.com]

"Well, Odysseus was a Trickster figure," Cindy said with a smile. "Being a jerk is part of the package. Though, I will grant you, he took it to extremes."

It was probably unsurprising that Prince Charming had listed Odysseus among his heroes. They both had a similar track record with women, after all.

"Do you think that Odysseus had changed by the end?" she asked. "Or did Poseidon just decide that killing off his entire crew was punishment enough?"

Re: Class Discussion: Favorite Characters

[officetightass]

"My name is Angela Martin, and I'm a junior," she said. "And while he's not a character, my favorite person from a book is Jesus. He always tried to do the right thing, and I think there's something to be said that they keep trying to base characters off of him." Which was vaguely sacrilegeous. Unless it was meant as some sort of hero worship. Then it was probably okay.

Re: Class Discussion: Favorite Characters

[steel-not-glass.livejournal.com]

Cindy...had no immediate answer to that. Partially because she thought most Mundy religions were foolish. "Do you have a favorite Christ-figure character?" she asked, mostly to buy some time.

Re: Class Discussion: Favorite Characters

[wantstocheer.livejournal.com]

"I'm Claire Bennet, a junior and, uh, I guess my favorite character is that general guy on Wormhole X-Treme."

Yes, Claire thought she was funny.

Re: Class Discussion: Favorite Characters

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

"Liir," he offered, "Junior, madly enough. And the only character I suppose I know well would be from the Oziad. There aren't many, though, so... I suppose Lurline wouldn't be bad. She did help Oz, supposedly."

Re: Class Discussion: Favorite Characters

[death-of-hope.livejournal.com]

"Anemone, senior, and I like the Scarecrow from meta for Wizard of Oz best," she said. "Mostly because he discovers that you can be more than you were created to be."

Re: Class Discussion: Favorite Characters

[svetocha-blooms.livejournal.com]

"Probably Reilly from the movie Space Creature and Space Creatures," Dru said. As far as she was concerned there were no other movies in the franchise. "She was just an ordinary woman put into an extraordinary situation and she kicks ass."

Re: Class Discussion: Favorite Characters

[harper-journeys.livejournal.com]

So much being unsure here. "I'm Menolly," she said softly. "I'm a sophomore?" That had been memorized quickly. "Lessa is my favorite hero." Even if her ballad was very new still. "She risked her and her queen's life to save everyone from Thread."

Re: Class Discussion: Favorite Characters

[nodaintyflower.livejournal.com]

"I'm Mulan," she said in introduction. "I am a sophomore. One of my favorite characters is Nü Wa. It is believed that she mended the sky."

Re: Class Discussion: Favorite Characters

[justwantsquiet.livejournal.com]

"I'm Sookie," she said, giving a shy little wave, "and I'm a junior. Um, my favorite character, I guess, is meta for Jane Eyre. She's so strong, and she's smart, and she doesn't care what anyone thinks. Or, at least she acts like it. I wish I could be more like that, sometimes. But I love how she always does what's best and what's moral, even when that's a really hard choice. Though, personally, if my boyfriend had a crazy wife living in his attic, I might break things off then. But that's her choice."

Re: Class Discussion: Favorite Characters

[nevertobequeen.livejournal.com]

"I am Morgana, and I am a senior," she said, growing quiet as she tried to come up with a suitable answer to the rest of the question. "I have not seen many movies, but I enjoyed meta for Gone With the Wind, and had a great appreciation for the main character. She refused to let tragedy defeat her for good, and I like the message that gives." Plus, she had the most amazing dresses ever, but Morgana didn't think that would be a valuable addition to the conversation.