The Heroic Initiation Paradigm in Wendy Wu: The Homecoming Warrior :)

So I'm de-cluttering my computer coz the memory's at capacity and found this paper I wrote for my Greek Myth class back in Fall of 2012. Check it out! It's based on the Disney movie: Wendy Wu- Homecoming Warrior: "A Californian teenager learns that she is the reincarnation of a legendary female warrior destined to protect the world."- IMBd. "Wu is the reincarnation of a powerful female warrior and the only person who can prevent an ancient evil spirit from destroying the world."-Wikipedia. (You might be able to more clips on youtube or the movie on netflix if you're interested. Oh yeah, and it was my lil sis Olivia who told me to watch this movie and it ended up blending well with what I was learning in the class and what God was teaching me. Plus I got an A on the paper! It's not that great but I think I was one of the few people who answered the question. Either way I'm Grateful! =)

"You don't wanna mess with me."- Homecoming Warrior :-)

In the movie, “Wendy Wu: The Homecoming Warrior”, Wendy is a high school student and her main focus of the year is becoming the homecoming queen. However, a mysterious young Chinese monk named Shen appears and he insists that Wendy is the reincarnation of an ancient powerful female warrior and the only person who can defeat Yao Lo, an evil spirit, and prevent him from destroying the world. This paper will demonstrate that in the movie, Wendy Wu undergoes the different stages of heroic initiation because it shows her call to adventure, refusal, supernatural aid, crossing the first threshold, road of trials, temptress figure, her ultimate boon and her return to normality but it does not totally conform to the mythological paradigm since she does not go through atonement with her father nor apothiosis (no one in the film becomes a god). 


To begin with, Wendy receives her first call to adventure when Shen the Chinese monk appears at her door and tells her real identity and destiny but she refuses it. She kept receiving the call since Shen would not give up but she would turn him down each time. Finally Shen pointed out that she had skills that she could not explain. She knew this to be true but she made up excuses demonstrating a lack of confidence in her identity and calling. According to lecture she is acting like a “whinner kid” since she is doubting her qualifications for the task she is called to achieve which is one of the characteristics of the first stage in heroic initiation. But Wendy finally accepts the call to adventure after she learnt what the consequence of her refusal would be (various disasters falling upon the earth). This aspect is similar to Odysseus’ call to adventure in The Odyssey in that, though he did not want to leave behind his mother, wife and new born son, he felt that it was his duty to leave with his men to fight against Troy. (Erickson, 11/16/12)


However, a major difference between the separation stage in the movie and that of The Odyssey is the fact that Odysseus becomes physically separated from his loved ones and his land after he accepts the call to adventure (he journeys through the sea to different places) while Wendy does not move away from her family. She still lives in her parents’ house and goes to the same high school after she accepts the call. So her separation stage entails having a secret life (she does not inform her friends and family about her adventure only her grandmother knows and she does her training at the park and not at home) as well as separating herself from her former lifestyle (for example, she chooses to sit by herself and meditate instead of having lunch with her friends or watching television with her family).


Wendy needs really needs supernatuaral aid coz she's
 fighting not just one evil-possed person but a whole army!!

Moreover, another feature evident in the separation stage of heroic initiation is supernatural aid. Apart from her duty to save humanity, another main reason why Wendy accepted her call to adventure is the fact the Shen assured her that he would help her. She knew nothing about being a warrior but Shen offered to train her in kung fu and meditation which would not only mold her into a powerful warrior but also help her in school work. Wendy also receives a medallion which she is to wear at all times since it protects her from the evil spirit which is after her soul. Shen also provides for her five other mentors who assist Wendy in preparation for her day of battle and Wendy’s grandma also helps and encourages her. Similarly, in The Odyssey Odysseus gets help from Aeolus who bags up all the winds except the westward winds which would lead him to Ithica, Hermes who gives him the plant to eat which is the antidote for the portion that the witch would give him thus it prevents him from turning into an animal. (Erickson, 11/16/12) It was also Hermes, sent by Zeus, that enabled Odysseus to be set free from Calypso’s island so that he could return to his journey back to Ithica. Additionally, Athena helps him at the end by giving him the disguise of a beggar (Erickson, 11/21/12).


Although Shen serves as one of Wendy’s supernatural aids, he also has a side-kick relationship to her. When Shen first appears to Wendy she rejected the call to adventure and they fought each other. Wendy won and kicks him out of the house but he still decides to follow her around at school to protect her. This is similar to the instance in The Epic of Gilgamesh when Gilgamesh traps Endiku, a wild man, with a harlot then fights him. Gilgamesh wins the fight hence Endiku gets established as the side-kick. In the Gilgamesh heroic myth, Endiku dies and Gilgamesh mourns his death. Likewise in the movie, Shen is also destined to die in the battle that he fights together with Wendy against Yao Lo, the evil spirit. Towards the end of the battle, Yao Lo kills Shen as was expected, Wendy mourns but she manages to give him back his life thus changes his destiny. 


In the liminality stage of the paradigm, Wendy has received some of her training but she makes the mistake of taking off her medallion. This leads her to cross the first threshold since she had a confrontation with the evil spirit while she was unprotected (without her medallion). Her soul would have been taken away at this point if it wasn’t for Shen’s help. Shen gave her warning just in time for her to fight back and save her soul.

The next level she undergoes is the road of trials. Shen introduces Wendy to her four new mentors who are meant to train her and test her strength. She passes the test when she gets to fight the mentor and wins or performs a certain task successfully and it is only then that she can move on to the next lesson and test. She starts off her training (“road of trials”) with the snake to gain flexibility then the leopard to gain speed, the crane for balance, the dragon for invisibility, the tiger for aggression then she gets to face all of them at the same time. When she successfully passed those 5 tests she became the warrior she was destined to be and she was ready for her day of battle against Yao Lo. This is similar to Hercules and the twelve labors he has to do to atone for the crime of murdering his wife of children and for the prize of immortality. In his labors he also had to deal with animals (mostly). He had to either kill or capture the following and in this order: the Nemean lion, the Lernaean hydra, the Ceryneian deer, the Erymanthian boar, the Augean stables, the Stymphalian birds, the Cretan bull, the horses of Diomedes, the girdle of Hippolyta, the cattle of Geryon, the apples of Hersperides and lastly Cerberus (Powell, 385-399) Both Wendy and Heracles were successful but an obvious difference is the fact that Heracles had to travel to different places to find his assigned tasks while Wendy did not have to since Shen brought all of them to her.

Ephesians 6: 10-13

There are no goddesses in the movie but there are many temptress figures who try to distract Wendy from her path to becoming a warrior. They include Jessica her homecoming revile who competes with her for votes and her best friends who always interrupt her conversations with Shen and distract her training by calling her cell phone to gossip or to invite her for different events like shopping. Shen helped her conquer this temptation by taking away her cell phone and she also conquered it by choosing to separate herself from them and meditate to improve her skills. In addition, Austin her boyfriend is a temptress figure since he wants her to focus her time and energy in campaigning to be the homecoming queen. She later eliminates this temptation by dumping him. Then throughout the movie, Yao Lo possesses different people around her such as her brother, the dog and her teachers, to try and steal her soul. But she gets protected by her medallion if she’s wearing it or by Shen when she is not wearing it. So Wendy manages to resist the temptations and remained on track to fight on the day of battle. In The Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh encounters Ishtar when he went to Uruk and she wants to sleep with him in exchange for rich rewards but Gilgamesh resists the goddess and abuses her (Powell, 341).

In the movie there is no atonement with her father, contrary to the paradigm, as Wendy does not kill anyone. She destroyed the evil spirit but he is not a father figure to her. So the next stage is reintegration. The ultimate boon is apparent towards the end of the movie when Wendy learnt that there were more important things in life to obsess over than homecoming and she decides to give up her crown to her revile Jessica thus making peace with her. Wendy also learns true sacrifice when she risked her life to save the world and her friend Shen. The return to normality is clear at the very end of the movie, at the end of the battle when Jessica and Shen go get cappacino. Another instance where the movie does not conform to the mythological paradigm is the fact that no one becomes a god. This ending can be compared to that of The Odyssey whereby Odysseus has to fight the suitors to return to normality by trying to regain his world back. (Erickson, 11/21/12)

Bibliography
Powell, Barry B. Classical Myth 7th ed. New York: Pearson, 2012.
Erickson, Brice. “Greek Mythology.” UC Santa Barbara. 5 November 2012.
Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior, DVD. Directed by John Laing. 2006; USA: Buena Vista Home Entertainment
Erickson, Brice. “Greek Mythology.” UC Santa Barbara. 16 November 2012.
Erickson, Brice. “Greek Mythology.” UC Santa Barbara. 21 November 2012.
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I had blogged more stuff I learnt (God taught me) through my Greek Myth class especially( "The Odyssey"-didn't do much of the reading though :P so mostly through the movie and class lectures) relating to my life in this post: Journey. Other related posts include: What's your name? and the more recent Destination SB post (though I still need to update it). There is Purpose even in the Process. Peace! =)

Another thing, I really love how some movies like those two make it easier to understand spiritual warfare. I'm reminded of this Scripture:  "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand." (Ephesians 6: 10-13. Read more in this post: FULL Armor of God)

Check out this song! ♫ You just don't know who you're messing with, I'm a Warrior! ♫

Through all I have been through, Lord it was You! Pulling me through!


Restore me! Definitely Need Supernatual Aid!!