Dream of a Thousand Heroes: the Archetypal Hero in Contemporary Mythology, with Reference to the Sandman by Neil Gaiman
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DREAM OF A THOUSAND HEROES: THE ARCHETYPAL HERO IN CONTEMPORARY MYTHOLOGY, WITH REFERENCE TO THE SANDMAN BY NEIL GAIMAN by MARIO LANDMAN submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS in the subject THEORY OF LITERATURE at the UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA SUPERVISOR: PROF A W OLIPHANT JOINT SUPERVISOR: PROF R C GRÄBE JUNE 2006 DECLARATION “I declare that DREAM OF A THOUSAND HEROES: THE ARCHETYPAL HERO IN CONTEMPORARY MYTHOLOGY, WITH REFERENCE TO THE SANDMAN BY NEIL GAIMAN is my own work and that all the sources that I have used or quoted have been indicated and acknowledged by means of complete reference.” 2 ABSTRACT DREAM OF A THOUSAND HEROES: THE ARCHETYPAL HERO IN CONTEMPORARY MYTHOLOGY, WITH REFERENCE TO THE SANDMAN BY NEIL GAIMAN by Mario Landman Twentieth century American fiction assimilates archetypes of traditional mythologies, in particular the hero archetype, to create a contemporary mythology which relays social issues relevant to its age. This is first approached by creating a theoretical framework, which primarily consists of both Jungian theories of the collective unconscious and the model on which Joseph Campbell based his conception of the archetype in what is known as myth criticism. The theoretical framework also introduces and describes the graphic novel and its use of characterisation distinctive to post-modern fiction. The Sandman, which is the subject of this study, is then contextualised against the backdrop of the evolution of the American comic book, with its influence of folklore, mythology and visual presentation. Through an overview and analysis of The Sandman series as a whole, as well as a reading of its pivotal narrative, The Kindly Ones, this thesis explores the way in which The Sandman fulfils its purpose of integrating an archetypal hero into contemporary mythology. This is achieved by validating claims proposing the existence of a contemporary mythology through an analysis of Morpheus, The Sandman’s protagonist and his unique heroic journey. The conclusion reached is that The Sandman indeed represents a contemporary mythology that contains a new form of social commentary, incorporating archetypes from traditional mythology and re-evaluating the role of the hero in this day and age. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My Parents and family – Thank you for all your tireless support, both emotional and financial. Above all, however, thank you for believing in me more than I could possibly believe in myself. Miss Nadia Hartman – Without your patient and kind assistance, your love and your great big forgiving heart, this research project would literally not have materialised. Thank you for sacrificing your weekends and evenings and for contributing your superior MS Word skills to this project. Your belief in this study is what kept me going. A thousand times, thank you. Miss Riana Greef, the personnel and students of Alma Mater Akademie – Thank you kindly for your boundless patience and support. I am eternally grateful for your love and understanding. Prof Ina Gräbe and Prof Andries Oliphant – I realise this was a somewhat unorthodox project, so I would firstly like to thank you for your open-mindedness. That said, without you this wild fantasy of mine would have never have taken the shape of a valid, structured study – so I also thank you for not being too open-minded. I feel truly honoured to have had such esteemed persons as yourselves lending your expertise to this work. 2 CONTENTS CONTENTS________________________________________________________________________ 1 List Of Figures ______________________________________________________________________ 4 Chapter 1 ___________________________________________________________________________ 5 COLLECTING THE UNCONSCIOUS_______________________________________________ 5 1.1 Introduction ____________________________________________________________ 5 1.2 Carl Gustav Jung and Psychoanalysis__________________________________________ 6 1.2.1 Jung as reaction to Freud _______________________________________________________ 7 1.2.2 The Archetype________________________________________________________________ 7 1.2.3 Jungian Heroes ______________________________________________________________ 11 1.2.4 Joseph Campbell and Archetype / Myth Criticism _________________________________ 13 1.2.5 The Contemporary Mythological Hero __________________________________________ 21 1.3 Graphic Novels as Literary Works___________________________________________ 26 1.3.1 On the Graphic Novel ________________________________________________________ 30 1.3.2 A note on post-modern literature _______________________________________________ 30 1.3.3 An approach to characters in The Sandman ________________________________________ 33 1.3.4 ‘Round’ and ‘Flat’ Characters___________________________________________________ 35 Chapter 2 __________________________________________________________________________ 39 CONTEXTUALISING THE SANDMAN ____________________________________________ 39 2.1 Historical Development of the American Comic Book ___________________________ 39 2.1.1 The Golden Age _____________________________________________________________ 39 2.1.2 The Silver Age_______________________________________________________________ 42 2.1.3 The Bronze Age _____________________________________________________________ 42 2.1.4 The Modern Age_____________________________________________________________ 43 2.2 Following in the steps of the Dream King_____________________________________ 44 2.2.1 Introduction ________________________________________________________________ 44 2.2.2 The Sandman of popular folklore _______________________________________________ 45 2.2.3 The Sandman of DC’s Golden Age: 1939 – 1944 __________________________________ 45 2.2.4 Silver Age Sandman: 1974 – 1983_______________________________________________ 49 2.2.5 Modern Age Sandman: 1988 – 1996_____________________________________________ 50 2.3 Hellblazer, Swamp Thing and The Sandman – The unique voice of Vertigo_______________ 52 2.4 Traditional infused with the popular: Vertigo and mythology ______________________ 53 2.5 The Sandman and Visual Representation __________________________________________ 58 2.6 Laura Mulvey and Reading the Visual Language of The Sandman _____________________ 62 2.6.1 Introduction ________________________________________________________________ 62 2.6.2 Scopophilic Narcissism in The Sandman __________________________________________ 64 2.6.3 Framing in The Sandman_______________________________________________________ 70 Chapter 3 __________________________________________________________________________ 74 AT A GLANCE: AN OVERVIEW OF THE SANDMAN _______________________________ 74 3.1 Overview _____________________________________________________________ 74 3.1.1 Tip-toeing through the Dreaming: a synopsis _____________________________________ 88 3.1.2 Pausing at The Kindly Ones_____________________________________________________ 104 3.2 The Characters of The Sandman ____________________________________________ 117 2 Chapter 4 _________________________________________________________________________ 129 CONTEMPORARY MYTHOLOGY AND ITS HEROES _____________________________ 129 4.1 Introduction ____________________________________________________________ 129 4.2 Re-animating Mythology___________________________________________________ 130 4.3 Correlations between the Old and the New_____________________________________ 132 4.4 Drawing lines of comparison_______________________________________________ 135 4.5 The Value of Myth _______________________________________________________ 139 4.6 Contemporary Infused With the Classic: The Sandman as Contemporary Mythology_______ 140 Chapter 5 _________________________________________________________________________ 153 MYTHOLOGY, THE SANDMAN AND THE HERO’S JOURNEY ____________________ 153 5.1 The Function and Legacy of Mythology _______________________________________ 153 5.2 Step by Step - The Sandman and the Hero’s Journey _______________________________ 157 5.3 The Role of Humanity in the Contemporary Myth_______________________________ 175 5.4 Jungian Archetypes in The Sandman__________________________________________ 176 5.5 Morpheus' Hero's Tale____________________________________________________ 179 Chapter 6 _________________________________________________________________________ 187 CONCLUSION _________________________________________________________________ 187 3 List Of Figures Fig.2.1 Dave McKean’s Mult-media cover art.................................................................................................58 Fig.2.2 Dream.........................................................................................................................................................60 Fig.2.3 More Dave McKean covers...................................................................................................................62 Fig.2.4 The Fathers of Goth – Bowie, Murphy and Smith...........................................................................65 Fig. 2.5 The distinctive Gothic influence in The Sandman............................................................................66 Fig.2.6 Morpheus makes his entrance ...............................................................................................................68 Fig.2.7 Morpheus’ point of view. .......................................................................................................................69 Fig. 3.1 The Endless...............................................................................................................................................75