Hero’s journey

“The Hero’s Journey” redirects here. For other uses, see is too broad or general to be of much usefulness in com- The Hero’s Journey (disambiguation). parative mythology. Others say that the hero’s journey is In narratology and comparative mythology, the mono- only a part of the Monomyth. The other part is a sort of different form, or color, of the hero’s journey.

Call to 1 Terminology Adventure Supernatural Return aid (Gift of Threshold Campbell borrowed the word monomyth from Joyce’s the Goddess) KNOWN Guardian(s) Threshold Finnegans Wake (1939). Campbell was a notable scholar UNKNOWN (beginning of transformation) of James Joyce's work and with A Skeleton Key to Finnegans Wake (1944) co-authored the seminal anal- The Helper ysis of Joyce’s final novel.[3] Campbell’s singular the Atonement Mentor monomyth implies that the “hero’s journey” is the ul- Hero's timate narrative archetype, but the term monomyth has Journey occasionally been used more generally, as a term for a mythological archetype or a supposed mytheme that re- Transformation occurs throughout the world’s cultures.[4] Omry Ronen Helper Abyss referred to Vyacheslav Ivanov's treatment of Dionysus as death & rebirth an “avatar of Christ” (1904) as “Ivanov’s monomyth”.[5] The phrase “the hero’s journey”, used in reference to Campbell’s monomyth, first entered into popular dis- The twelve stages of the hero’s journey monomyth following the summary by Christopher Vogler (originally compiled in 1985 as course through two documentaries. The first, released in a Disney studio memo): 1. The Ordinary World, 2. The Call to 1987, The Hero’s Journey: The World of Joseph Camp- Adventure, 3. Refusal of the Call, 4. Meeting with the Mentor, 5. bell, was accompanied by a 1990 companion book, The Crossing the Threshold to the “special world”, 6. Tests, Allies and Hero’s Journey: on His Life and Work Enemies, 7. Approach to the Innermost Cave, 8. The Ordeal, 9. (with Phil Cousineau and Stuart Brown, eds.). The sec- Reward, 10. The Road Back, 11. The Resurrection, 12. Return ond was 's series of seminal interviews with with the Elixir. Campbell, released in 1988 as the documentary (and companion book) The Power of . Cousineau in the myth, or the hero’s journey, is the common template of introduction to the revised edition of The Hero’s Journey a broad category of tales that involve a hero who goes on wrote “the monomyth is in effect a metamyth, a philo- an adventure, and in a decisive crisis wins a victory, and sophical reading of the unity of mankind’s spiritual his- then comes home changed or transformed.[1] tory, the Story behind the story”.[6] The concept was introduced by Joseph Campbell in The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949), who described the basic narrative pattern as follows: 2 Summary

A hero ventures forth from the world of Campbell describes 17 stages of the monomyth. Not all common day into a region of supernatural won- monomyths necessarily contain all 17 stages explicitly; der: fabulous forces are there encountered and some may focus on only one of the stages, while a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back others may deal with the stages in a somewhat differ- from this mysterious adventure with the power ent order. In the terminology of Claude Lévi-Strauss, the to bestow boons on his fellow man.[2] stages are the individual mythemes which are “bundled” or assembled into the structure of the monomyth.[7] Campbell and other scholars, such as Erich Neumann, de- The 17 stages may be organized in a number of ways, scribe narratives of Gautama Buddha, Moses, and Christ including division into three “acts” or sections: in terms of the monomyth. Critics argue that the concept I. Departure (also Separation),

1 2 3 CAMPBELL’S SEVENTEEN STAGES

II. Initiation (sometimes subdivided into IIA. Descent and 3.1.1 The Call to Adventure IIB. Initiation) and III. Return. The hero begins in a situation of normality from which some information is received that acts as a call to head In the Departure part of the narrative, the hero or off into the unknown. protagonist lives in the ordinary world and receives a call to go on an adventure. The hero is reluctant to follow the Campbell: "... a forest, a kingdom underground, be- call, but is helped by a mentor figure. neath the waves, or above the sky, a secret island, lofty mountaintop, or profound dream state; but it is al- The Initiation section begins with the hero then traversing ways a place of strangely fluid and polymorphous beings, the threshold to the unknown or “special world”, where he unimaginable torments, super human deeds, and impos- faces tasks or trials, either alone or with the assistance of sible delight. The hero can go forth of his own volition to helpers. accomplish the adventure, as did Theseus when he arrived The hero eventually reaches “the innermost cave” or the in his father’s city, Athens, and heard the horrible history central crisis of his adventure, where he must undergo of the Minotaur; or he may be carried or sent abroad by “the ordeal” where he overcomes the main obstacle or en- some benign or malignant agent as was Odysseus, driven emy, undergoing "apotheosis" and gaining his reward (a about the Mediterranean by the winds of the angered god, treasure or "elixir"). Poseidon. The adventure may begin as a mere blunder... The hero must then return to the ordinary world with his or still again, one may be only casually strolling when reward. He may be pursued by the guardians of the spe- some passing phenomenon catches the wandering eye and cial world, or he may be reluctant to return, and may be lures one away from the frequented paths of man. Exam- rescued or forced to return by intervention from the out- ples might be multiplied, ad infinitum, from every corner side. of the world.” In the Return section, the hero again traverses the thresh- old between the worlds, returning to the ordinary world 3.1.2 Refusal of the Call with the treasure or elixir he gained, which he may now use for the benefit of his fellow man. The hero himself is Often when the call is given, the future hero first refuses transformed by the adventure and gains wisdom or spiri- to heed it. This may be from a sense of duty or obliga- tual power over both worlds. tion, fear, insecurity, a sense of inadequacy, or any of a range of reasons that work to hold the person in his or her Campbell’s approach has been very widely received in current circumstances. narratology, mythography and psychotherapy, especially since the 1980s, and a number of variant summaries of Campbell: “Refusal of the summons converts the ad- the basic structure have been published. The general venture into its negative. Walled in boredom, hard work, structure of Campbell’s exposition has been noted before or 'culture,' the subject loses the power of significant af- and described in similar terms in comparative mythol- firmative action and becomes a victim to be saved. His ogy of the 19th and early 20th century, notably by Rus- flowering world becomes a wasteland of dry stones and sian folkorist Vladimir Propp who divided the structure his life feels meaningless—even though, like King Mi- of Russian folk tales into 31 “functions”.[8] nos, he may through titanic effort succeed in building an empire or renown. Whatever house he builds, it will be The pattern is closely followed in many of the world’s a house of death: a labyrinth of cyclopean walls to hide spiritual narratives, in shamanism, initiation rites, from him his minotaur. All he can do is create new prob- mystery religions (descent to the underworld), and in the lems for himself and await the gradual approach of his mythologies of the world’s major religious or spiritual disintegration.” systems, including the stories of Gautama Buddha, Moses or Jesus. 3.1.3 Supernatural Aid

3 Campbell’s seventeen stages Once the hero has committed to the quest, consciously or unconsciously, his guide and magical helper appears or becomes known. More often than not, this supernatural Main article: The Hero with a Thousand Faces mentor will present the hero with one or more talismans or artifacts that will aid him later in his quest. The following is a more detailed account of Campbell’s Campbell: “For those who have not refused the call, the original 1949 exposition of the monomyth in 17 stages. first encounter of the hero journey is with a protective figure (often a little old crone or old man) who provides the adventurer with amulets against the dragon forces he 3.1 Departure is about to pass. What such a figure represents is the benign, protecting power of destiny. The fantasy is a 3.2 Initiation 3 reassurance—promise that the peace of Paradise, which ward, to be born again. The disappearance corresponds was known first within the mother womb, is not to be lost; to the passing of a worshipper into a temple—where he is that it supports the present and stands in the future as well to be quickened by the recollection of who and what he is, as in the past (is omega as well as alpha); that though om- namely dust and ashes unless immortal. The temple inte- nipotence may seem to be endangered by the threshold rior, the belly of the whale, and the heavenly land beyond, passages and life awakenings, protective power is always above, and below the confines of the world, are one and and ever present within or just behind the unfamiliar fea- the same. That is why the approaches and entrances to tures of the world. One has only to know and trust, and temples are flanked and defended by colossal gargoyles: the ageless guardians will appear. Having responded to dragons, lions, devil-slayers with drawn swords, resent- his own call, and continuing to follow courageously as the ful dwarfs, winged bulls. The devotee at the moment of consequences unfold, the hero finds all the forces of the entry into a temple undergoes a metamorphosis. Once unconscious at his side. Mother Nature herself supports inside he may be said to have died to time and returned the mighty task. And in so far as the hero’s act coincides to the World Womb, the World Navel, the Earthly Par- with that for which his society is ready, he seems to ride adise. Allegorically, then, the passage into a temple and on the great rhythm of the historical process.” the hero-dive through the jaws of the whale are identical adventures, both denoting in picture language, the life- centering, life-renewing act.” 3.1.4 Crossing the Threshold

This is the point where the person actually crosses into 3.2 Initiation the field of adventure, leaving the known limits of his or her world and venturing into an unknown and dangerous 3.2.1 The Road of Trials realm where the rules and limits are not known. Campbell: “With the personifications of his destiny to The road of trials is a series of tests that the person must guide and aid him, the hero goes forward in his adven- undergo to begin the transformation. Often the person ture until he comes to the 'threshold guardian' at the en- fails one or more of these tests, which often occur in trance to the zone of magnified power. Such custodians threes. bound the world in four directions — also up and down Campbell: “Once having traversed the threshold, the — standing for the limits of the hero’s present sphere, or hero moves in a dream landscape of curiously fluid, am- life horizon. Beyond them is darkness, the unknown and biguous forms, where he must survive a succession of tri- danger; just as beyond the parental watch is danger to the als. This is a favorite phase of the myth-adventure. It has infant and beyond the protection of his society danger to produced a world literature of miraculous tests and or- the members of the tribe. The usual person is more than deals. The hero is covertly aided by the advice, amulets, content, he is even proud, to remain within the indicated and secret agents of the supernatural helper whom he met bounds, and popular belief gives him every reason to fear before his entrance into this region. Or it may be that so much as the first step into the unexplored. The adven- he here discovers for the first time that there is a benign ture is always and everywhere a passage beyond the veil power everywhere supporting him in his superhuman pas- of the known into the unknown; the powers that watch at sage. The original departure into the land of trials repre- the boundary are dangerous; to deal with them is risky; sented only the beginning of the long and really perilous yet for anyone with competence and courage the danger path of initiatory conquests and moments of illumina- fades.” tion. Dragons have now to be slain and surprising barriers passed — again, again, and again. Meanwhile there will be a multitude of preliminary victories, unretainable ec- 3.1.5 Belly of the Whale stasies and momentary glimpses of the wonderful land.”

The belly of the whale represents the final separation from the hero’s known world and self. By entering this stage, the person shows willingness to undergo a metamorpho- 3.2.2 The Meeting with the Goddess sis. Campbell: “The idea that the passage of the magical This is the point when the person experiences a love that threshold is a transit into a sphere of rebirth is symbol- has the power and significance of the all-powerful, all ized in the worldwide womb image of the belly of the encompassing, unconditional love that a fortunate infant whale. The hero, instead of conquering or conciliating may experience with his or her mother. This is a very the power of the threshold, is swallowed into the unknown important step in the process and is often represented by and would appear to have died. This popular motif gives the person finding the other person that he or she loves emphasis to the lesson that the passage of the threshold is most completely. a form of self-annihilation. Instead of passing outward, Campbell: “The ultimate adventure, when all the bar- beyond the confines of the visible world, the hero goes in- riers and ogres have been overcome, is commonly repre- 4 3 CAMPBELL’S SEVENTEEN STAGES sented as a mystical marriage of the triumphant hero-soul Campbell: “Atonement consists in no more than the with the Queen Goddess of the World. This is the crisis at abandonment of that self-generated double monster— the nadir, the zenith, or at the uttermost edge of the earth, the dragon thought to be God (superego) and the dragon at the central point of the cosmos, in the tabernacle of the thought to be Sin (repressed id). But this requires an temple, or within the darkness of the deepest chamber of abandonment of the attachment to ego itself, and that is the heart. The meeting with the goddess (who is incar- what is difficult. One must have a faith that the father is nate in every woman) is the final test of the talent of the merciful, and then a reliance on that mercy. Therewith, hero to win the boon of love (charity: amor fati), which the center of belief is transferred outside of the bedevil- is life itself enjoyed as the encasement of eternity. And ing god’s tight scaly ring, and the dreadful ogres dissolve. when the adventurer, in this context, is not a youth but It is in this ordeal that the hero may derive hope and as- a maid, she is the one who, by her qualities, her beauty, surance from the helpful female figure, by whose magic or her yearning, is fit to become the consort of an im- (pollen charms or power of intercession) he is protected mortal. Then the heavenly husband descends to her and through all the frightening experiences of the father’s ego- conducts her to his bed—whether she will or not. And if shattering initiation. For if it is impossible to trust the she has shunned him, the scales fall from her eyes; if she terrifying father-face, then one’s faith must be centered has sought him, her desire finds its peace.” elsewhere (Spider Woman, Blessed Mother); and with that reliance for support, one endures the crisis—only to find, in the end, that the father and mother reflect each 3.2.3 Woman as Temptress other, and are in essence the same. The problem of the hero going to meet the father is to open his soul beyond In this step, the hero faces those temptations, often of a terror to such a degree that he will be ripe to understand physical or pleasurable nature, that may lead him or her how the sickening and insane tragedies of this vast and to abandon or stray from his or her quest, which does not ruthless cosmos are completely validated in the majesty necessarily have to be represented by a woman. Woman of Being. The hero transcends life with its peculiar blind is a metaphor for the physical or material temptations of spot and for a moment rises to a glimpse of the source. life, since the hero-knight was often tempted by lust from He beholds the face of the father, understands—and the his spiritual journey. two are atoned.” Campbell: “The crux of the curious difficulty lies in the fact that our conscious views of what life ought to be sel- dom correspond to what life really is. Generally we refuse 3.2.5 Apotheosis to admit within ourselves, or within our friends, the full- ness of that pushing, self-protective, malodorous, carniv- When someone dies a physical death, or dies to the self orous, lecherous fever which is the very nature of the or- to live in spirit, he or she moves beyond the pairs of op- ganic cell. Rather, we tend to perfume, whitewash, and posites to a state of divine knowledge, love, compassion reinterpret; meanwhile imagining that all the flies in the and bliss. A more mundane way of looking at this step is ointment, all the hairs in the soup, are the faults of some that it is a period of rest, peace and fulfillment before the unpleasant someone else. But when it suddenly dawns on hero begins the return. us, or is forced to our attention that everything we think or Campbell: “Those who know, not only that the Ever- do is necessarily tainted with the odor of the flesh, then, lasting lies in them, but that what they, and all things, re- not uncommonly, there is experienced a moment of re- ally are is the Everlasting, dwell in the groves of the wish vulsion: life, the acts of life, the organs of life, woman in fulfilling trees, drink the brew of immortality, and listen particular as the great symbol of life, become intolerable everywhere to the unheard music of eternal concord.” to the pure, the pure, pure soul. The seeker of the life beyond life must press beyond (the woman), surpass the temptations of her call, and soar to the immaculate ether 3.2.6 The Ultimate Boon beyond.” The ultimate boon is the achievement of the goal of the quest. It is what the person went on the journey to get. All 3.2.4 Atonement with the Father the previous steps serve to prepare and purify the person In this step the person must confront and be initiated by for this step, since in many myths the boon is something whatever holds the ultimate power in his or her life. In transcendent like the elixir of life itself, or a plant that many myths and stories this is the father, or a father figure supplies immortality, or the holy grail. who has life and death power. This is the center point of Campbell: “The gods and goddesses then are to be un- the journey. All the previous steps have been moving into derstood as embodiments and custodians of the elixir of this place, all that follow will move out from it. Although Imperishable Being but not themselves the Ultimate in this step is most frequently symbolized by an encounter its primary state. What the hero seeks through his inter- with a male entity, it does not have to be a male; just course with them is therefore not finally themselves, but someone or thing with incredible power. their grace, i.e., the power of their sustaining substance. 3.3 Return 5

This miraculous energy-substance and this alone is the 3.3.3 Rescue from Without Imperishable; the names and forms of the deities who ev- erywhere embody, dispense, and represent it come and Just as the hero may need guides and assistants to set out go. This is the miraculous energy of the thunderbolts of on the quest, often he or she must have powerful guides Zeus, Yahweh, and the Supreme Buddha, the fertility of and rescuers to bring them back to everyday life, espe- the rain of Viracocha, the virtue announced by the bell cially if the person has been wounded or weakened by rung in the Mass at the consecration, and the light of the the experience. ultimate illumination of the saint and sage. Its guardians Campbell: “The hero may have to be brought back from dare release it only to the duly proven.” his supernatural adventure by assistance from without. That is to say, the world may have to come and get him. For the bliss of the deep abode is not lightly abandoned in favor of the self-scattering of the wakened state. 'Who 3.3 Return having cast off the world,' we read, 'would desire to re- turn again? He would be only there.' And yet, in so far 3.3.1 Refusal of the Return as one is alive, life will call. Society is jealous of those who remain away from it, and will come knocking at the Having found bliss and enlightenment in the other world, door. If the hero. . . is unwilling, the disturber suffers an the hero may not want to return to the ordinary world to ugly shock; but on the other hand, if the summoned one bestow the boon onto his fellow man. is only delayed—sealed in by the beatitude of the state of perfect being (which resembles death)—an apparent Campbell: “When the hero-quest has been accom- rescue is effected, and the adventurer returns.” plished, through penetration to the source, or through the grace of some male or female, human or animal, per- sonification, the adventurer still must return with his life- 3.3.4 The Crossing of the Return Threshold transmuting trophy. The full round, the norm of the mon- omyth, requires that the hero shall now begin the labor The trick in returning is to retain the wisdom gained on of bringing the runes of wisdom, the Golden Fleece, or the quest, to integrate that wisdom into a human life, and his sleeping princess, back into the kingdom of humanity, then maybe figure out how to share the wisdom with the where the boon may redound to the renewing of the com- rest of the world. munity, the nation, the planet or the ten thousand worlds. But the responsibility has been frequently refused. Even Campbell: “The returning hero, to complete his adven- Gautama Buddha, after his triumph, doubted whether ture, must survive the impact of the world. Many failures the message of realization could be communicated, and attest to the difficulties of this life-affirmative threshold. saints are reported to have died while in the supernal ec- The first problem of the returning hero is to accept as stasy. Numerous indeed are the heroes fabled to have real, after an experience of the soul-satisfying vision of taken up residence forever in the blessed isle of the unag- fulfillment, the passing joys and sorrows, banalities and ing Goddess of Immortal Being.” noisy obscenities of life. Why re-enter such a world? Why attempt to make plausible, or even interesting, to men and women consumed with passion, the experience of transcendental bliss? As dreams that were momen- 3.3.2 The Magic Flight tous by night may seem simply silly in the light of day, so the poet and the prophet can discover themselves play- ing the idiot before a jury of sober eyes. The easy thing Sometimes the hero must escape with the boon, if it is is to commit the whole community to the devil and re- something that the gods have been jealously guarding. It tire again into the heavenly rock dwelling, close the door, can be just as adventurous and dangerous returning from and make it fast. But if some spiritual obstetrician has the journey as it was to go on it. drawn the shimenawa across the retreat, then the work of Campbell: “If the hero in his triumph wins the bless- representing eternity in time, and perceiving in time eter- ing of the goddess or the god and is then explicitly com- nity, cannot be avoided” The hero returns to the world of missioned to return to the world with some elixir for the common day and must accept it as real. restoration of society, the final stage of his adventure is supported by all the powers of his supernatural patron. On the other hand, if the trophy has been attained against 3.3.5 Master of Two Worlds the opposition of its guardian, or if the hero’s wish to return to the world has been resented by the gods or This step is usually represented by a transcendental hero demons, then the last stage of the mythological round be- like Jesus or Gautama Buddha. For a human hero, it may comes a lively, often comical, pursuit. This flight may be mean achieving a balance between the material and spiri- complicated by marvels of magical obstruction and eva- tual. The person has become comfortable and competent sion.” in both the inner and outer worlds. 6 5 POPULAR CULTURE

Campbell: “Freedom to pass back and forth across the ing in response to Campbell’s filmed presentation of his world division, from the perspective of the apparitions of model[16] characterized it as "...unsatisfying from a so- time to that of the causal deep and back—not contami- cial science perspective. Campbell’s ethnocentrism will nating the principles of the one with those of the other, raise objections, and his analytic level is so abstract and yet permitting the mind to know the one by virtue of the devoid of ethnographic context that myth loses the very other—is the talent of the master. The Cosmic Dancer, meanings supposed to be embedded in the 'hero.'" In Sa- declares Nietzsche, does not rest heavily in a single spot, cred Narrative: Readings in the Theory of Myth (1984), but gaily, lightly, turns and leaps from one position to an- editor Alan Dundes dismisses Campbell’s work, charac- other. It is possible to speak from only one point at a time, terizing him as a popularizer: “like most universalists, he but that does not invalidate the insights of the rest. The is content to merely assert universality rather than bother individual, through prolonged psychological disciplines, to document it. […] If Campbell’s generalizations about gives up completely all attachment to his personal limi- myth are not substantiated, why should students consider tations, idiosyncrasies, hopes and fears, no longer resists his work?"[17] the self-annihilation that is prerequisite to rebirth in the In a similar vein, American philosopher John Shelton realization of truth, and so becomes ripe, at last, for the Lawrence and American religious scholar Robert Jew- great at-one-ment. His personal ambitions being totally ett have discussed an “American Monomyth” in many of dissolved, he no longer tries to live but willingly relaxes their books, The American Monomyth, The Myth of the to whatever may come to pass in him; he becomes, that [12] American Superhero, and Captain America and the Cru- is to say, an anonymity.” sade Against Evil: The Dilemma of Zealous Nationalism. They present this as an American reaction to the Camp- 3.3.6 Freedom to Live bellian monomyth. The “American Monomyth” storyline is: A community in a harmonious paradise is threatened Mastery leads to freedom from the fear of death, which in by evil; normal institutions fail to contend with this threat; turn is the freedom to live.[citation needed] This is some- a selfless superhero emerges to renounce temptations and times referred to as living in the moment, neither antici- carry out the redemptive task; aided by fate, his decisive pating the future nor regretting the past. victory restores the community to its paradisiacal condi- tion; the superhero then recedes into obscurity.[12] Campbell: “The hero is the champion of things becom- ing, not of things become, because he is. “Before Abra- The monomyth has also been criticized for focusing on ham was, I AM.” He does not mistake apparent change- the masculine journey. From Girl to Goddess: The Hero- lessness in time for the permanence of Being, nor is he ine’s Journey through Myth and Legend (2010), by Va- fearful of the next moment (or of the 'other thing'), as lerie Estelle Frankel, sets out what Frankel considers the destroying the permanent with its change. 'Nothing re- steps of the female hero’s journey, which is different from [18] tains its own form; but Nature, the greater renewer, ever Campbell’s monomyth. makes up forms from forms. Be sure there’s nothing per- According to changingminds.org, "[Campbell’s] much ishes in the whole universe; it does but vary and renew admired and much-copied pattern has also been criticized its form.' Thus the next moment is permitted to come to as leading to 'safe' moviemaking, in which writers use his pass.” [17] structure as a template, thus leading to 'boring' repeats, albeit in different clothes.”[19] 4 Criticism 5 Popular culture Scholars have questioned the validity or usefulness of the monomyth category. In 1977, The American Monomyth identified a monomyth template specific to the conventions of works of fiction in According to Northup (2006), mainstream scholarship American popular culture: of comparative mythology since Campbell has moved away from “highly general and universal” categories in “A community in a harmonious paradise is general.[13] This attitude is illustrated by e.g. Consentino threatened by evil; normal institutions fail to (1998), who remarks “It is just as important to stress contend with this threat; a selfless superhero differences as similarities, to avoid creating a (Joseph) emerges to renounce temptations and carry out Campbell soup of myths that loses all local flavor.”[14] the redemptive task; aided by fate, his decisive Similarly, Ellwood (1999) stated “A tendency to think victory restores the community to its paradisi- in generic terms of people, races ... is undoubtedly the acal condition; the superhero then recedes into profoundest flaw in mythological thinking.”[15] obscurity.” Others have found the categories Campbell works with so vague as to be meaningless, and lacking the support In two later books, The Myth of the American Superhero required of scholarly argument: Crespi (1990), writ- (2002) and Captain America And The Crusade Against 7

Evil: The Dilemma Of Zealous Nationalism (2003), the Science fiction author David Brin in a 1999 Salon arti- authors extend the thesis by using examples from both cle criticized the monomyth template as supportive of American popular culture and the American religious tra- “despotism and tyranny”, indicating that he thinks mod- dition. ern popular fiction should strive to depart from it in order [37] The monomyth concept has been very popular in Amer- to support more progressivist values. ican literary studies and writing guides since at least the 1970s. Christopher Vogler, a Hollywood film pro- ducer and writer, created a 7-page company memo, A 6 Self-help movement and therapy Practical Guide to The Hero With a Thousand Faces,[20] based on Campbell’s work. Vogler’s memo was later Poet Robert Bly, Michael J. Meade, and others involved developed into the late 1990s book, The Writer’s Jour- in the men’s movement have applied and expanded the ney: Mythic Structure For Writers. George Lucas' Star concepts of the hero’s journey and the monomyth as a Wars (1977) was notably classified as monomyth al- metaphor for personal spiritual and psychological growth, [21] most as soon as it came out. Numerous other works particularly in the mythopoetic men’s movement.[38][39] of popular fiction have been forwarded as examples of the monomyth template, including Spenser’s The Fairie Characteristic of the mythopoetic men’s movement is a Queene,[22] Melville’s Moby Dick,[23] Charlotte Brontë's tendency to retell fairy tales and engage in their exege- Jane Eyre,[24] works by Charles Dickens, Faulkner, sis as a tool for personal insight. Using frequent refer- Maugham, J. D. Salinger,[25] Hemingway,[26] Mark ences to archetypes as drawn from Jungian analytical psy- Twain,[27] W. B. Yeats,[28] C. S. Lewis,[29] and J. R. chology, the movement focuses on issues of gender role, [39] R. Tolkien,[30] Seamus Heaney[31] and Stephen King,[32] gender identity and wellness for modern men. Advo- among numerous others. cates would often engage in storytelling with music, these acts being seen as a modern extension to a form of "new In addition to the extensive discussion between Campbell age shamanism" popularized by Michael Harner at ap- and Bill Moyers broadcast in 1988 on PBS as The Power proximately the same time. of Myth (Filmed at "Skywalker Ranch"), on Campbell’s influence on the Star Wars films, Lucas himself gave an Among its most famous advocates were the poet Robert extensive interview for the biography Joseph Campbell: Bly, whose book Iron John: A Book About Men was a A Fire in the Mind (Larsen and Larsen, 2002, pages 541- best-seller, being an exegesis of the fairy tale "Iron John" [38] 543) on this topic. In this interview, Lucas states that in by the Brothers Grimm. the early 1970s after completing his early film, American The mythopoetic men’s movement spawned a variety of Graffiti, “it came to me that there really was no modern groups and workshops, led by authors such as Bly and use of mythology...so that’s when I started doing more Robert L. Moore.[39] Some serious academic work came strenuous research on fairy tales, folklore and mythology, out of this movement, including the creation of vari- and I started reading Joe’s books. Before that I hadn't ous magazines and non-profit organizations, such as the read any of Joe’s books.... It was very eerie because in Mankind Project.[38] reading The Hero with A Thousand Faces I began to real- ize that my first draft of Star Wars was following classical motifs"(p. 541). Twelve years after the making of The 6.1 Bibliotherapy Power of Myth, Moyers and Lucas met again for the 1999 interview, the Mythology of Star Wars with George Lucas The monomyth, or hero’s journey, can help people & Bill Moyers, to further discuss the impact of Campbell’s suffering from adjustment disorder cope with new life work on Lucas’s films.[33] In addition, the National Air transitions.[40] Using bibliotherapy to help patients with and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution spon- adjustment disorder is a five-stage process: Introduction sored an exhibit during the late 1990s called Star Wars: of concepts, selection of text, identification and projec- The Magic of Myth which discussed the ways in which tion, abreaction and catharsis, and insight and integration. Campbell’s work shaped the Star Wars films[34] A com- Introduction of the concepts is talking to the patient about panion guide of the same name was published in 1997. bibliotherapy as well as archetypes and the hero’s journey. While Frank Herbert's Dune (1965) on the surface ap- Selection of text allows the patient to pick a book or story pears to follow the monomyth, this was in fact to sub- that they enjoy or would be interested in, and most fic- vert it and take a critical view, as the author said in 1979, tional literature has elements of the hero’s journey. “The bottom line of the Dune trilogy is: beware of heroes. Much better [to] rely on your own judgment, and your Identification and projection is when the patient identi- own mistakes.”[35] He wrote in 1985, "Dune was aimed fies themes, symbols, and archetypes in the text, then the at this whole idea of the infallible leader because my view therapist helps the patient to project themselves into the of history says that mistakes made by a leader (or made in story. a leader’s name) are amplified by the numbers who follow Abreaction and catharsis is when the patient has an emo- [36] without question.” tional response to the story, usually due to factors relating 8 8 NOTES to their own lives. Insight and integration is when the pa- [10] The hero’s journey: Joseph Campbell on his life and work. tient looks back on the story and what the hero did to Edited and with an Introduction by Phil Cousineau. For- overcome their struggles, and try to do similar things to ward by Stuart L. Brown, Executive Editor. New York: overcome their struggles. Harper and Row, 1990. By using bibliotherapy, a patient can project their strug- [11] Christopher Vogel, The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure gles onto the hero in the story and draw parallels between For Writers (2007) the story and their real life. [12] Jewett, Robert and John Shelton Lawrence (1977) The American Monomyth. New York: Doubleday.

7 See also [13] Northup, p. 8

[14] “African Oral Narrative Traditions” in Foley, John Miles, 8 Notes ed., “Teaching Oral Traditions.” NY: Modern Language Association, 1998, p. 183 [1] Monomyth Website, ORIAS, UC Berkeley accessed 2009-11-03 [15] Ellwood, Robert, “The Politics of Myth: A Study of C.G. Jung, Mircea Eliade, and Joseph Campbell”, SUNY Press, [2] Campbell, Joseph. The Hero with a Thousand Faces. September 1999. Cf. p.x Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1949. p.23. [16] American Anthropologist, 92:4 (December 1990), p. [3] Campbell, Joseph and Henry Morton Robinson. A Skele- 1104 ton Key to Finnegans Wake, 1944. Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Princeton: Princeton Uni- [17] Web.archive.org versity Press, 1949. p. 30, n35. “At the carryfour with awlus plawshus, their happyass cloudious! And then and [18] Valerie Estelle Frankel (19 October 2010). From Girl to too the trivials! And their bivouac! And his monomyth! Goddess: The Heroine’s Journey through Myth and Leg- Ah ho! Say no more about it! I'm sorry!" James Joyce, end. McFarland. p. 5. ISBN 978-0-7864-5789-2. Finnegans Wake. NY: Viking (1939) p. 581 [19] “Campbell’s 'Hero’s Journey' Monomyth”. changing- [4] John Collier, foreword to a 1987 reprint of Mabel Dodge minds.org. Retrieved 2015-12-15. Luhan (1937) Edge of Taos Desert: An Escape to Reality, p. viii “The myth is obviously related to what one might [20] The Writer’s Journey accessed 2011-03-26 call the monomyth of paradise regained that has been ar- ticulated and transformed in a variety of ways since the [21] Andrew Gordon, 'Star Wars: A Myth for Our Time', Lit- early European explorations.” Steven Ashe, Qabalah of erature/Film Quarterly 6.4 (Fall 1978): 314–26. Matthew 50 Gates (2008), p. 21: “those aspects of legend that are Kapell, John Shelton Lawrence, Finding the Force of the symbolically equivalent within the folk lore of different Star Wars Franchise: Fans, Merchandise, & Critics, Peter cultures” Lang (2006), p. 5.

[5] “Dionysus, Ivanov’s 'monomyth,' as Omry Ronen has put [22] Edmund Spenser’s Faerie Queene and the Monomyth of it, is the symbol of the symbol. One could also name Joseph Campbell: Essays in Interpretation, E. Mellen Dionysus, the myth of the myth, the metamyth which sig- Press, 2000. nifies the very principle of mediation, [...]" J. Douglas Clayton (ed.), Issues in Russian Literature Before 1917 [23] Khalid Mohamed Abdullah, Ishmael’s Sea Journey and the (1989), p. 212. Monomyth Archetypal Theory in Melville’s “Moby-Dick”, California State University, Dominguez Hills, 2008. [6] The Hero’s Journey, New World Library 2003, p. xxi. [7] Lévi-Strauss gave the term “mytheme” wide circulation [24] Justin Edward Erickson, A Heroine’s Journey: The Femi- from the 1960s, in 1955 he used “gross constituent unit”, nine Monomyth in Jane Eyre (2012). in Lévi-Strauss, Claude (1955). “The Structural study of myth”. Journal of American Folklore. 68 (270): 428– [25] Leslie Ross, Manifestations of the Monomyth in Fiction: 444. doi:10.2307/536768. ISSN 0021-8715. JSTOR Dickens, Faulkner, Maugham, and Salinger, University of 536768. OCLC 1782260. reprinted as “The structural South Dakota, 1992. study of myth”, Structural Anthropology, 1963:206-31; [26] John James Bajger, The Hemingway Hero and the Mono- “the true constituent units of a myth are not the iso- myth: An Examination of the Hero Quest Myth in the Nick lated relations but bundles of such relations” (Lévi-Strauss Adams Stories, Florida Atlantic University, 2003. 1963:211). The term mytheme first appears in Lévi- Strauss’ 1958 French version of the work. [27] Brian Claude McKinney, The Monomyth and Mark [8] Морфология сказки (“the morphology of folk-tales”), Twain’s Novels, State College, 1967. Leningrad (1928). [28] illiam Edward McMillan, The Monomyth in W.B. Yeats’ [9] Leeming, David Adams. Mythology: The Voyage of the Cuchulain Play Cycle, University of Illinois at Chicago Hero. New York: Harper & Row. 1981. Circle, 1979. 9.1 Books based upon interviews with Campbell 9

[29] Stephanie L. Phillips, Ransom’s Journey as a Monomyth • MacKey-Kallis, Susan. The Hero and the Peren- Hero in C.S. Lewis’ Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, nial Journey Home in American Film. University of and That Hideous Strength, Hardin-Simmons University, Pennsylvania Press (2001). ISBN 0-8122-1768-3 2006. • Northup, Lesley. “Myth-Placed Priorities: Religion [30] Paul McCord, The Monomyth Hero in Tolkien’s The Lord and the Study of Myth”. Religious Studies Review of the Rings, 1977. 32.1(2006): 5-10. [31] Henry Hart, Seamus Heaney, Poet of Contrary Progres- • Vogler, Christopher. The Writer’s Journey: Mythic sions, Syracuse University Press (1993), p. 165. Structure For Writers. Studio City, CA: Michael [32] , Stephen King’s “The Dark Tower": a modern myth Uni- Wiese Productions, 1998. versity essay from Luleå tekniska universitet/Språk och • Voytilla, Stuart and Vogler, Christopher. Myth & kultur Author: Henrik Fåhraeus; [2008]. the Movies: Discovering the Myth Structure of 50 Un- [33] Films.com forgettable Films. Studio City, CA: Michael Wiese Productions, 1999. ISBN 0-941188-66-3 [34] “Star Wars @ NASM, Unit 1, Introduction Page”. si.edu. • Amanieux Laureline, Ce héros qui est en chacun de [35] Clareson, Thomas (1992). Understanding Contempo- nous, book in French on the monomyth of Camp- rary American Science Fiction: the Formative Period. bell, Albin Michel, 2011. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press. pp. 169– 172. ISBN 0-87249-870-0. 9.1 Books based upon interviews with [36] Herbert, Frank (1985). “Introduction”. Eye. ISBN 0- 425-08398-5. Campbell

[37] Salon Arts & Entertainment | “Star Wars” despots vs. • The Hero’s Journey: Joseph Campbell on his Life “Star Trek” populists “By offering valuable insights into and Work Edited and with an Introduction by Phil this revered storytelling tradition, Joseph Campbell did Cousineau. Forward by Stuart L. Brown, Executive indeed shed light on common spiritual traits that seem Editor. New York: Harper and Row, 1990. shared by all human beings. And I’ll be the first to ad- mit it’s a superb formula — one that I’ve used at times • The Power of Myth (with Bill Moyers and Betty Sue in my own stories and novels. [...] It is essential to un- Flowers, ed.), 1988 derstand the radical departure taken by genuine science fiction, which comes from a diametrically opposite liter- ary tradition — a new kind of storytelling that often rebels 9.2 DVD/discography against those very same archetypes Campbell venerated. An upstart belief in progress, egalitarianism, positive-sum • Joseph Campbell and the power of myth (1988) games — and the slim but real possibility of decent human institutions.” • The Hero’s Journey: The World of Joseph Campbell (1987) [38] Boston Globe accessed 2009-11-03

[39] Use by Bly of Campbell’s monomyth work accessed 2009- 11-03 10 External links

[40] Duffy, Jason (2010). “A Heroic Journey: Re- • The Monomyth Cycle Conceptualizing Adjustment Disorder Through the Lens of the Heo’s Quest”. Journal of Systemic Therapies. • Examples of Each Stage of a Hero’s Journey in Star Wars and The Matrix [41] http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/04/ the-science-of-near-death-experiences/386231/ • Hero’s Journey • The Romantic Appeal of Joseph Campbell 9 References

• Campbell, Joseph. The Hero’s Journey: Joseph Campbell on His Life and Work (1949, 2nd ed. 1968, 3rd ed. 2008 ).

• Campbell, Joseph. “The Hero with a Thousand Faces.” Princeton University Press: Princeton, NJ. 1949 10 11 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

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