Katabasis in Myth and Film

The are many similarities and differences between Neo’s journey from The Matrix and Aeneas’s story from the Aeneid. Both heroes are told to them by an outside force that they are an important asset to the future. For example, Neo is told by Morpheus he is “the one” who can save them all while Aeneas is given the responsibility of bearing the child who will become the ruler of Rome. Another similarity the two heroes have is that they both deviate from their destined path. Aeneas is distracted from his fate when he meets Dido in Carthage and stays with her when he is supposed to be out fulfilling his journey. Neo, on the other hand, does not physically deviate from his fate but instead does not believe that he is “the one” that everyone else believes for him to be. A difference in the two heroes, however, is that Aeneas, although he will become an important in the future, is not the person who will find glory but the man who will help give birth to the son who will find it while Neo is given the task of being the actual hero who must gain glory with his task.

http://blip.tv/file/get/Afunkyhello91-katabasisMovie826.m4v

here is my final project. it is a comical look at the characteristics that denote a hero or antiheroine from the Odyssey and Homeric Hymn to Demeter. Instead of reenacting scenes from the  texts, I decided to place this film in present day. So this movie depicts how the main characters would act, if in modern day america.

Modern day Odysseus and Demeter final project

http://www.youtube.com/user/SuperBlackjackk

New version (thanks, Sam!):

Fata Deum by Becky Brown

Mater Dolorosa 2

By Eva Ng and Sarah Alberastine

my final project is a piece of pottery that I painted to represent my interpretation of a mater dolorosa, Demeter, and her katabatic journey.

http://www.youtube.com/user/OZYMANDIAS110011?feature=mhum