Crisis In Grey's Anatomy

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In Shonda Rhimes’ medical drama television series Grey’s Anatomy, Rhimes embodies the prototypical story of the Hero with a Thousand Faces manifested through the preeminent character Meredith Grey’s endeavors to overcome her misfortunes; specifically as she is confronting her fears, Rhimes illustrates that one cannot progress to the future unless internalized conflicts are subdued. The first way in which Shonda Rhimes’ Grey’s Anatomy superlatively demonstrates overcoming one’s fears is though Meredith’s friendship with Christina Yang. Joseph Campbell has set the parameters for a classic hero story, known as Hero with a Thousand Faces framework, with every story fitting into his ongoing heroic cycle. One of the principle elements of Joseph …show more content…
“Crisis” is a key element of a Hero with A Thousand Faces story, and in Grey’s Anatomy there are many difficulties the cast, especially Meredith, faced. Specifically, one crisis that exemplifies this point is the instance where Meredith was forced to take control of a patient with a bomb lodged inside his chest cavity. She placed her hand on the bomb inside the patient in order to keep him alive. Even though she was afraid for her own safety, she survived and became more resilient to future hardships and learned how to better handle high stress situations. Another example of a crisis Meredith underwent was a major train crashed that occurred in Seattle. This crash was particularly gruesome with an immense amount of casualties pouring through the doors of Seattle-Grace hospital. Two people came into the hospital, impaled by the same rod, and Meredith had to make the heavy decision of who to save. From this case, Meredith had an epiphany; finally realizing that she could not save every person who came to the hospital. She learned that she could not let her fear of losing someone get in the way of her ability to save countless other lives every day. From that day on, Meredith started living by Dereck Shephard’s words, “It’s a beautiful day to save