THE HERO’S JOURNEY ON RETIREMENT--REVIEWING CULTURAL VALUE AND COMMUNICATION IMPLICATIONS FROM LIFE STORY

Storytelling is an important way for individuals to establish complete and connected relationships to ones’ society. Through stories, people have different ways to find meaning in life and to understand the world. In particular, many of the thoughts and wisdom that are not learned in real life can be passed down by fictional stories.

In the teaching of storytelling, it is previously assumed that the various story elements such as marriage, war, revenge, death, etc. in our life have been fully inherited and mimicked by stories in myths, legends, novels, movies and animations. The fact remains to be verified. This article argues that the number of the elderly people has soared in reality and the research on retirement should attract attentions in our current society. Communication studies in conjunction with social and humanity fields are to explore interactive issues related to retirement in order to raise awareness of such unfamiliar social interaction. Full understanding on the mental impact and social adaptation upon retirement waits to be explored.

Current drama are extremely lacking in taking the issue of retirement as the core event in the plotting of a story. How retirement serves as an important experience in our life? Is the real course of retirement in line with the twelve-stage processes of the "Hero’s Journey" as proposed by Christopher Vogler? If narratives were designed to portray and mimic life and our stories reflect life events, can the process of retirement in real life meet the three-act-plot in the storytelling?

By in depth life story interviewing, this paper reports findings on the above questions. Stories from five retirees are to help us to learn modern recognition on one of the important transitions upon later life. Research results provide teachers to weigh the teaching material on the “Hero’s Journey” proposed by Christopher Vogler. And such real twist and turns in life are to provide different elements and new prospects for future stories to tell in different cultures.