OPENING QUOTE: “I think that we all do heroic things, but ‘hero’ is not a noun, it’s a verb.” Robert Downey, Jr.
BOOKS, FILMS, AND STORIES:
The Hero With a Thousand Faces (Joseph Campbell)
The Heroine’s Journey (Maureen Murdock)
The Writer’s Journey (Christopher Vogler)
The Virgin’s Promise (Kim Hudson)
Vladimir Propp (esp. Morphology of the Folktale)
Star Wars, The Matrix, Harry Potter, Lion King, Lord of the Rings
The Wizard of Oz, Wonder Woman, Hunger Games
Haroun and the Sea of Stories (Salman Rushdie)
A Wrinkle in Time (Madeleine L’Engle)
Alien
Princess Bride
Romancing the Stone
Spirited Away
Princess Mononoke
Not One Damsel in Distress (Jane Yolen)
The Fifth Season (N.K. Jemisin)
Shades of Magic (V. E. Schwab)
Penelope (Odyssey)
Brave
Inside Out
Migrations (Charlotte McConaghy)
Zuko’s arc in Avatar: The Last Airbender
My Name is Asher Lev (Chaim Potok)
Captain America: Winter Soldier
Kali
Rocky
Angels in the Outfield
Wedding Crashers
Strictly Ballroom
Moana
The Shape of Water
The Sea Beast
Psyche, Sleeping Beauty, Inanna
Superman
Stranger Things
The Expanse
The Overstory (Richard Powers)
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (Alan Moore)
The Bone Maker (Sarah Beth Durst)
Everything Everywhere All At Once
Grishaverse (Leigh Bardugo)
