this is the interblag of ole christian alfheim. he feeds upon the souls of people watching his animations.

”Disney's Tarzan” in relation to the Mythic Circle

Disney's Tarzan describes the adventure of an orphaned infant raised by gorillas. A quite different story than The Lord of The Rings with a much more limited gallery of characters. The real events in the movie are few but major, which makes it hard to separate them into a specific stage in the Mythic Circle.


1. The Ordinary World

”The hero is introduced, the audience is obliged to ask themselves the question - “Who do I identify with?”. The hero is commonly restless and not fitting into the background against which they are placed. ”

Tarzan, still just an infant, gets his parents killed by a leopard and is being saved, adopted and raised by the female gorilla, Kala. Tarzan befriends the other animals, most noteably the gorilla Terk and the elephant Tantor. Tarzan takes a lot of effort in selfimprovement as he struggles to keep up with them.


2. Call to Adventure

”Something big is about to happen, a herald appears to summon our Hero forth. The audience ask themselves - “Who/what is this?” “What will now change?”.”

The life in the jungle is about to change as a group of explorers arrives. Professor Porter and his daughter Jane, is accompanied by the triggerhappy Clayton. Jane gets lost and Tarzan saves her from a gang of baboons. Through her he’s being exposed to the world and existence of humans.


3. Refuse the Call to Adventure

”The audience is given a list of reasons why it’s not possible to follow the call, they signal to the audience that the quest is challenging and may bring fear and danger.”

Kerchak warns Tarzan and tell him to stay away from the humans, as they may be a major threat to the safety of gorillas.


4. Enter the Mentor

”This entity acts as a guide to help the hero through their ordeal.”

Through Jane and Porter, Tarzan learns about world according to the western society as well as how to speak English. But his real guide giving him advise is Kala, his gorilla mother, telling him to follow his heart and is the one to introduce him to his past.


5. Crossing the Threshold

”The crossing may be voluntary or involuntary. Perhaps the mentor provides the impetus, or the villain pushes the hero into action with another dastardly act. The hero up until now may have resisted, but this is the final straw.”

When the ship arrives to pick up Jane, Porter and Clayton, bringing them back to England, Clayton (villain) convinces Tarzan (hero) that if he leads them to the gorillas, Jane will stay with him. Tarzan agrees and lead the humans to the gorillas. Meanwhile, Tarzan’s animal friends is tricking Kerchak (threshold) away from the other gorillas.


6. Tests/Allies/Enemies + 7. The Approach

” In giving a brief glimpse of their colours the audiences is able to fleetingly see what the hero’s capabilities are. Now that we’re in the New World we see its different values, currency, locations, rules and characters. The audience (and the hero) have to determine who can be trusted/not trusted.”
”The hero approaches the central ordeal, and the flow of the story pauses. The hero (and the audience) are asked - “Are we really committed, do we really want to go on with the journey?” This is the planning and reconaissance stage where bonding/intimacy/humor may occur. The masks characters have been wearing will shift or change and the audience is able to appreciate other aspects ?deeper character attributes.”


As the humans mingle with the gorillas, a furrious Kerchak returns. This event tests the alliance and personality of both Tarzan and Kerchak. Tarzan uses force to hold down Kerchak to protect the humans while they are running of. This action alienates Tarzan from the rest of the gorillas, as he is using offensive force against their previously common leader. Having nothing to lose, Kala shows Tarzan the house where his parents lived, and as a mentor encourage him to leave with Jane and Porter.


8. Death and Rebirth

”The hero (usually goes somewhere) and confronts death, and may appear to die. • Others of the hero’s team/band lament thinking that the hero is now lost to the. ”

Arriving at the ship, the humans led by Tarzan is ambushed and captured by Clayton and his pirates, who plans to capture and sell the gorillas. His animal friends hear Tarzan’s cries for help, but Turk still upset about Tarzan’s interaction with the humans is about to leave Tarzan trapped, when Tantor pushes them both in the water to break Tarzan, Jane and Porter free.


9. Reward/Payoff for having survived death

”The cause for celebration, a chance for ego inflation and to assume “immortality status”. The hero gains more power, there is the opportunity for intimacy/comedy - a reaction or contrast to stage 8.”

Tarzan and the others all rush back into the jungle, back to the gorillas. Kerchak and Tarzan for the first time join forces and together battle Clayton.


10. The Road Back

”Reassertion of why the journey was undertaken, which may come from whatever force was stirred up initially. The opportunity for a counter-punch. Typically this stage involves chase scenes.”


Clayton shoots Kerchak and chases Tarzan into a dense part of the jungle, where Clayton accidently gets a vine wrapped around his neck and hangs himself. Rushing back, Kerchak announces Tarzan as the new leader for the gorillas before he dies.


11. Resurrection

”The “Going out from the Hunt and Returning Stage”. Typically the hero(s) are set apart and may then go through another death and rebirth ordeal which further reinforces their separateness. There is commonly an element of judgement at this stage.”

As Jane and her father is preparing to leave the jungle on the ship, Tarzan tells them he will be staying in the jungle with the gorillas. But as the ship leaves Jane and Porter jumps overboard and swim back to land.


12. Return with the Elixir

”Will typically involve - a reward for the ordeal, distribution of gifts/prizes, returning something unselfishly to the group, a time for farewells and perhaps reacquaintance with the trajic hero who is doomed to repeat the adventure, if for instance they refused the initial call. It is also a chance for the audience and the hero to take stock, to say “we’ve been somewhere and we can compare our world to there”.”

The two new humans are accepted among the gorillas and Tarzan gets his girl and his new role as king of the jungle.


A little experiment

What happens to the story of Tarzan if we remove a character from the plot? If we remove the antagonist, Clayton, Tarzan would than not end up as the leader of the group of gorillas as Kerchak would still be alive. Without Clayton convincing Tarzan, Jane and the professor would not have the chance to be introduced to them either. So they would head back to London instead of be staying in the jungle. As he would already be alienated from the gorillas by his recent actions, Tarzan would be likely to follow Jane back to civilisation.

No comments: