Harry Potter: Hero worship
Harry Potter is our hero. Of course he is. He’s right there in the title of each of the films (and the books in J.K. Rowling’s series). He's also part of the venerable tradition of stories about the journey of heroes. George Lucas famously leaned on the mythology theories of writer Joseph Campbell when he created the original Star Wars trilogy, and Luke Skywalker’s journey from bored farm boy to savior of the universe (and vanquisher of evil Darth Vader) follows all the elements of Campbell’s philosophy. Frodo’s adventures in The Lord of the Rings trilogy hews closely to a similar trajectory. 
In each of these mini-epics, we meet an unlikely hero – typically a boy or person of diminutive stature and seeming powerlessness – and then follow his education under the tutelage of a wise elder (think Dumbledore or Hagrid). The hero discovers obstacles in his path that he must overcome (the Triwizard tournament, puberty) in preparation for a final confrontation with a figure of evil that he alone seems equipped to defeat. (Other common features of the quest – trips to the underworld, fighting or tricking the guardians of the threshold, and the necessary and often equally challenging return journey to the ordinary world — also figure into Harry’s narrative in some form.) Even the Transformers films fall into the rubric: Shia LeBeouf’s Sam Witwicky is just another average Joe who — against all outward appearance of his ordinariness — is marked for greatness, educated in the ways to achieve greatness, and then primed for battle against the dastardly Decepticons. (Never mind that his role in the final showdowns is largely that of a bystander.)
While all these fantasy blockbusters are heavily dependent on special effects, the heroic quest is not exclusive to the studio tentpole. Samurai films and Westerns also follow the pattern, and suggest two different approaches to the rise-of-the-hero arc. Films like Akira Kirosawa’s Yojimbo or the Dollars trilogy of Clint Eastwood-Sergio Leone Westerns boast a lone gunman hero who rides into town to bring peace to quarreling factions, often with significant loss of life. On the other hand, Kirosawa’s The Seven Samurai (and later films like The Dirty Dozen, The Magnificent Seven, and even Ocean’s Eleven) focus on the recruiting of a gang of good guys and a more collaborative approach to the heroic endeavor. The Harry Potter films borrow from both traditions: Harry is clearly established as “the Chosen One” who alone can kill Voldemort, but he is also seen in The Order of the Phoenix rounding up Dumbledore’s Army, an elite group that can help him take on Voldemort and the dark lord's minions. Early on, the series establishes Harry’s need for collaboration with allies. Without Hermione’s bookish knowledge and Ron’s chess-playing skills, Harry would not be able to confront Voldemort ally Professor Quirrell in The Sorcerer's Stone. (All three get bonus points from Dumbledore for their school house, Gryffindor.)
In that sense, the adventures of Harry and friends also resemble the X-Men movie trilogy, which like the Potter films, uses a school setting to show the education and training of a cast of superpowered heroes who contribute roughly equally to the vanquishing of bad guys. (2005’s Sky High provides another gloss on the concept of a high school for superheroes.) But since Harry is clearly the supreme hero, the analogy does not entirely fit. Though Ron, Hermione, and the assembled allies in Dumbledore's Army play significant roles in the final battle of the forthcoming Deathly Hallows, Harry alone is destined for the spotlight confrontation with the arch-enemy, like Frodo and Luke Skywalker before him (and like solo superheroes Superman and Spider-Man). Harry is, as Joseph Campbell put it a half century ago, the Hero With a Thousand Faces.
Extra credit viewing: Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings, Yojimbo, Transformers
Extra credit reading: The Hero With a Thousand Faces (1949) by Joseph Campbell, The Odyssey by Homer
For discussion: What explains the continuing appeal of stories about a lone hero from a seemingly ordinary background? To what extent do Rowling's books and the Potter movies depart from the familiar hero quest story? Would they have been improved if Harry wasn't the Chosen One and if conquering Voldemort required even more of a partnership with Ron and Hermione? Please discuss in the comments section below.
For more Harry Potter EW U:
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'Harry Potter': A high-school movie at heart
'HarryPotter': 10 Teen-Movie Parallels
EW's'Harry Potter' Trivia Challenge (Pt. 1)
EW's'Harry Potter' Trivia Challenge (Pt. 2)
SPOILER ALERT IF YOU HAVEN’T READ THE BOOK: I think you’re forgetting that the only way Harry conquers Voldemort is to sacrifice himself. He doesn’t go in with guns blazing; he willingly goes to (what he thinks is) his death in order to make Voldemort mortal, so that someone else can kill Voldemort. And Ron and Hermione (and even Neville with the snake) play a huge part in that, killing parts of Voldemort (the Horcruxes) so that Voldemort becomes mortal. There’s no way Harry could have done it own his own.
And of course, Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a text-book example from television-land, right down to her explicit visit to and fight to return from the underworld.
i DON’T KNOW YOU PRETY MUCH HAVE SUMMED IT UP. I HAVE NOT READ THE BOOKS SO MY MEDIA DATA BASE WOULD BE LACKING.
Then there’s the classic tale of the little boy from Hawaii whose mom and dad were from Africa and, gulp, Kansas. Hey, he became the leader of the “free” world and began a quest for freedom, fairness, and equality for everyone on Earth. Naw, nobody’d believe that one . . . .
Hero with a Thousand Faces is an EXCELLENT book!! All Potter fans should read it! (Heck, everyone should read it!)
Luke didn’t vanquish Darth Vader. He saved him. Huge difference. Harry vanquished Voldemort, but certainly not as a lone hero. Where would he have been if Neville hadn’t slain Nagini?
I thought the new harry potter movie was nasty, go vote in the official poll!! tinyurl.com/pottervote
Also the father figure has to die for the boy hero to head out alone. Obi Wan, Dumbledore, Gandalf, Optimus Prime etc. It’s symbolic for how in our lives we have to leave the nest, face world without mom and dad.
Don’t forget The Legend of Zelda and The Matrix
Oh, please. It’s simple story mechanics. Each and every memorable story with a single protagonist follows this mold (although it could be argued that the mentor figure is optional). Overcoming obstacles? Anything with a plot, really.
The Odyssey by Homer is a pile of elitest crap. I do not think Odysseus grows at all throughout that book. He continually makes horrible choices, sacrificing everyone that is around him and purely survives on luck and the fact that he is high profile, which is enough to maintain the interest of the “gods”. It is a horrible example.
Good article. I also recommend the book (and PBS series) The Power of Myth.
yes, I knew both Sirius and Dumbledore would have to move out of Harry’s way before he could take on Voldemort…the Power of the Myth taught me that…so I wasn’t surprised when the books killed both of those characters…its a good coming-of-age format…
The continuing appeal of stories about a lone hero is that it inspires people and readers can identify with characters because they’re just like everyday people. Rowlings books depart from the familiar story because they’re set in a more realistic time period and world. While most of the events take place in the fictional magical world, that world is still very much connected to the “muggle” aka non-magical world. The experiences the characters face are also realistic. Harry faces bullying from peers, he has homework, he has to face the challenge of asking out the girl he likes, and various other real life experiences. But at the same time he faces extreme fiction experiences that makes him unique. In the Potter books Harry really isnt the lone hero because he has friends who work almost as hard as him to fight for what they know is right. The characters in Harry Potter are also not just good. They all have faults. Harry is a consistent rule breaker and not the best student. Hermione is a perfectionist and a work-a-holic. Ron is immature. The books are excellent because even though Harry IS the Chosen One. He can’t defeat Voldemort on his own and he doesn’t. His friends help the whole way and in the end Voldemort destroys himself. Harry gives him the chance to recognize his sins and feel remorse, but Voldemort chooses to ignore it. Harry would never have gotten to that point without Ron, Hermione, and all the others who helped him destory the horcruxes and rescued him when he was in trouble. The whole journey was a partnership.