OrdunaDrive
Freshman
- Joined
- Jun 27, 2016
- Messages
- 566
DMoney on the latest podcast (always hilarious) made a comparison between the Canes season and the original Star Wars films. I thought two things: 1 - Pete, you need to watch the **** movies, they are a legitimate masterclass in storytelling, and 2 - There was more meat left on that descriptive bone. Star Wars, much like Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, The Matrix, The Aeneid, The Odyssey, Jesus and the Buddha, is a Hero's Journey. Being the nerd that I am, I decided to consider the further similarities that this Canes squad has various aspects of the classic story pattern.
1) The Call to Adventure: In the Matrix, Neo initially has a desk job and a mundane existence. He feels there is something else out there, but has neither the tools nor the inclination to pursue it. Then he meets Trinity and everything begins to change. The Miami football program had an established normal over the last decade of 7-5/8-4 under Radio and Allentown. Then the Clemson game happened, and showed exactly how pathetic our state really was. This drove the program to hire new leadership, invest more money, and generally aim for the goal of greatness rather than good enough.
2) The Mentor: Frodo has Gandalf, Neo has Morpheus, Luke Skywalker has Obi-Wan, Christ has his father. You need the guy that has been around the block to show you how it's done. The Canes miraculously land Mark Richt after the string of Fate had separated him from Georgia. Him also being a native son and a man steeped in religious narrative perspective are just icing on the cake.
3) Refusal of the Call: In Harry Potter, Harry wants desperately to escape his existence with the Dursleys, and has begun receiving letters from Hogwarts indicating that he has an opportunity to do something different, but the bonds of his current life are tight, and he's afraid of what the unknown might hold, so he doesn't initially pursue the opportunity. This is a little like the Canes season last year. Despite the good vibes around the program that things might be changing, we still lost 4 games, 3 of which we easily could have won. The decade the team had spent being mediocre could not be reversed overnight, we were still stuck in the rut of not being champions.
4) Crossing the Threshold: The is a scene in Lord of the Rings where Frodo and Sam are walking through the Shire at the start of their journey when Sam stops in a field and says something like "If I take one more step, I'll be further from home than I've ever been." It indicates that the hero is leaving his normal, what he knows, in search of greatness. The awesome bowl win over West Virginia is very similar. It wasn't our ultimate goal, but it was something we hadn't done in a long time, and signaled that despite the average season, things were indeed changing.
5) The Road of Trials: A hero always needs to be tested in myriad ways to prove their worth. Odysseus sails all over the Mediterranean, escaping all sorts of bizarre dangers, before he has a chance to get home. This is the 2017 season, where it isn't always pretty, but the Canes ultimately answer all the challenges against teams big and small with their will to win.
6) The Boon: Heroes typically enjoy some sort of magical gift given either by their mentor or someone else along their journey. Harry gets a wand, Luke gets the lightsaber. The Canes get the Cotdang Turnover Chain. This has motivated our team, toyed with our opponents, and captivated the national audience. It is now a merchandising product. Perfect example of the boon.
7) Approach to the Innermost Cave: Just when everything is going right, danger announces itself again in a way that might make the hero lose hope. Neo is told by the Oracle that he is not in fact the One, and that he will die. This information could destroy him, but instead it galvanizes him because he is now willing to sacrifice himself. We lost to Cotdang 4-7 Pitt. Burned our undefeated season. Embarrassed ourselves on national tv just as people were starting to believe. But the journey is not over, we now must face...
8) The Ordeal: Luke has to face Vader. Harry has to face Voldemort. Neo has to face Agent Smith. Jesus has to face the Devil. The Playoff essentially begins with a quarterfinal this week in the conference championship game. Playing Clemson (the ancient nemesis) and two other playoff caliber teams will be an enormous challenge far beyond what the Canes have yet faced. It would be reason to fear if the narrative lines had not already been drawn. Miami has accepted the call, crossed the threshold, gained the mentor and the boon, passed trials and the innermost cave, and will no surely be met with success in their greatest ordeal.
I know Kendrick Norton has never seen any whales, nor does he give a **** about the existence of the formal hero's journey, but I'm willing to believe that he and every other member of the team inherently recognizes the arc of the story they are writing. The hero's journey doesn't show up all the time by accident. It shows up because it is an eternal method of our understanding of our lives. We use science and facts to learn about where we've been and the mistakes that we've made, but narrative or "truths" guide us when we go places we've never been and don't understand. I don't ultimately know what will happen this weekend, but I know that Canes have earned the ability to answer adversity, and they're ready to write their own chapter in the story of the UM program.
1) The Call to Adventure: In the Matrix, Neo initially has a desk job and a mundane existence. He feels there is something else out there, but has neither the tools nor the inclination to pursue it. Then he meets Trinity and everything begins to change. The Miami football program had an established normal over the last decade of 7-5/8-4 under Radio and Allentown. Then the Clemson game happened, and showed exactly how pathetic our state really was. This drove the program to hire new leadership, invest more money, and generally aim for the goal of greatness rather than good enough.
2) The Mentor: Frodo has Gandalf, Neo has Morpheus, Luke Skywalker has Obi-Wan, Christ has his father. You need the guy that has been around the block to show you how it's done. The Canes miraculously land Mark Richt after the string of Fate had separated him from Georgia. Him also being a native son and a man steeped in religious narrative perspective are just icing on the cake.
3) Refusal of the Call: In Harry Potter, Harry wants desperately to escape his existence with the Dursleys, and has begun receiving letters from Hogwarts indicating that he has an opportunity to do something different, but the bonds of his current life are tight, and he's afraid of what the unknown might hold, so he doesn't initially pursue the opportunity. This is a little like the Canes season last year. Despite the good vibes around the program that things might be changing, we still lost 4 games, 3 of which we easily could have won. The decade the team had spent being mediocre could not be reversed overnight, we were still stuck in the rut of not being champions.
4) Crossing the Threshold: The is a scene in Lord of the Rings where Frodo and Sam are walking through the Shire at the start of their journey when Sam stops in a field and says something like "If I take one more step, I'll be further from home than I've ever been." It indicates that the hero is leaving his normal, what he knows, in search of greatness. The awesome bowl win over West Virginia is very similar. It wasn't our ultimate goal, but it was something we hadn't done in a long time, and signaled that despite the average season, things were indeed changing.
5) The Road of Trials: A hero always needs to be tested in myriad ways to prove their worth. Odysseus sails all over the Mediterranean, escaping all sorts of bizarre dangers, before he has a chance to get home. This is the 2017 season, where it isn't always pretty, but the Canes ultimately answer all the challenges against teams big and small with their will to win.
6) The Boon: Heroes typically enjoy some sort of magical gift given either by their mentor or someone else along their journey. Harry gets a wand, Luke gets the lightsaber. The Canes get the Cotdang Turnover Chain. This has motivated our team, toyed with our opponents, and captivated the national audience. It is now a merchandising product. Perfect example of the boon.
7) Approach to the Innermost Cave: Just when everything is going right, danger announces itself again in a way that might make the hero lose hope. Neo is told by the Oracle that he is not in fact the One, and that he will die. This information could destroy him, but instead it galvanizes him because he is now willing to sacrifice himself. We lost to Cotdang 4-7 Pitt. Burned our undefeated season. Embarrassed ourselves on national tv just as people were starting to believe. But the journey is not over, we now must face...
8) The Ordeal: Luke has to face Vader. Harry has to face Voldemort. Neo has to face Agent Smith. Jesus has to face the Devil. The Playoff essentially begins with a quarterfinal this week in the conference championship game. Playing Clemson (the ancient nemesis) and two other playoff caliber teams will be an enormous challenge far beyond what the Canes have yet faced. It would be reason to fear if the narrative lines had not already been drawn. Miami has accepted the call, crossed the threshold, gained the mentor and the boon, passed trials and the innermost cave, and will no surely be met with success in their greatest ordeal.
I know Kendrick Norton has never seen any whales, nor does he give a **** about the existence of the formal hero's journey, but I'm willing to believe that he and every other member of the team inherently recognizes the arc of the story they are writing. The hero's journey doesn't show up all the time by accident. It shows up because it is an eternal method of our understanding of our lives. We use science and facts to learn about where we've been and the mistakes that we've made, but narrative or "truths" guide us when we go places we've never been and don't understand. I don't ultimately know what will happen this weekend, but I know that Canes have earned the ability to answer adversity, and they're ready to write their own chapter in the story of the UM program.
