Analyzing Mythical Narrative in Fiction Film, Through Studying " The Searchers"

Narratives -especially the fictional narratives- of any kind which are narrated through any medium often introduce the assumptions about the world and the ways it is perceived. Since the conceptualization is considered as one of the fundamental objectives as well as functions of the narratives, the study, taking the conceptual approach, analyzes the origins of the cinematic mythical narrative. To this end, arguing the concept of Origin (Arche) and its relation to Religion and Myth through analyzing the pattern of the Hero’s Journey of the mythical narratives, we show the mentioned archetype as a form of an anagogical process and essentially the process of the spiritual evolution and return to the original values in the religious thought. From mythological perspective, Hero Myth is considered as one of the most prevalent and familiar myths in the contemporary world. So, due to the hero character’s mythical as well as structural functions at forming the dramatic pattern, the hero myth can be taken as an effective pattern in the dramatic structures. One of the most appropriate approaches to read, perceive and criticize a text either in the realm of fictional narrative or other narrative media such as film is Mythological Criticism. Recognizing the concept of Origin in the mythological studies through the visual and narrative analysis of the first and last shots of The Searches as the case study, the study shows that the pattern of the hero’s journey in the fiction film originates from the primordial and eternal concepts and in particular the beginning as well as the end of the Creation. The perception refers to that authentic eternal story, the original myth of the Creation and Return of Man. This journey is considered as the fundamental or basic pattern of Man life. The pattern of Man’s Creation ends with an ontological turn, getting him to the starting point. Hence, it can be claimed that the archetype of hero’s journey roots in the prominent archetype of Creation. Therefore, the authentic samples of the narrative arts refer to and are enforced by the pattern of the hero’s journey and in other words the mythical narratives’ structure, the narratives organized in the form of the authentic mythical patterns and emanated from the depth of unconscious psyche; although, it does not mean that one fictional structure is applied or repeated in all the fictional narratives or in other words, all the fictional narratives follow the same fictional or dramatic structure. In fact, the myths not only narrate a story, but also create the patterns for the representation of the principle concepts or themes of the human mind. The study’s theoretical framework include Carl Gustavo Jung’s Archetype and Collective Unconscious theories in the realm of the analytical psychology, Joseph Campbell’s Monomyth theory in the realm of mythological studies, and Mircea Eliade’s Origin Myth in the realm of religious and mythological Studies.