The Hero's Journey: Star Wars, The Matrix, Hunger Games, and Rango

[Music] Joseph Campbell said that all the great myths the primitive myths the great stories have to be regenerated if they're going to have any impact and that you had done that with Star Wars are you conscious of doing them well when I did Star Wars I consciously set about to recreate myths and the and the classic mythological motifs I wanted to use those motifs to deal with issues that existed today in the 1930s in the midst of the Great Depression Joseph Campbell retired to the woods of New York to dedicate his life to the study of all mythologies and religions of the world he started to notice recurring themes and patterns such as that of the hero's journey he wrote about this in his first book the hero with a thousand faces it's possible that if I had run across that I would still be writing Star Wars today Campbell noticed that in traditions all over the world we find stories of people living ordinary lives who are called to the hero's adventure they meet mentors who guide them across the threshold and teach them key lessons let go your conscious self and act on instinct do or do not there is no try my last mentor probably was Joe Joe - Ken Joe Campbell who asked a lot of the interesting questions and exposed me to a lot of things that made me very interested in a a lot more of the cosmic questions in the mystery I put the force into the movies in order to try to awaken a certain kind of spirituality the hero sets off on a road of trials each one offering a lesson and overcoming their fears discovering true love and finding their true self [Music] the final transformation is often symbolized by literal deaths of the old self [Music] and a rebirth of the new at which point they attain their ultimate boon knowledge peace power salvation and use this boon to heal the world often by finding a third way that unites dueling forces or dissolves Court conflicts contradictions and dualities I am a Jedi like my father before me I'm telling an old myth in a new way I see Star Wars as as taking all of the issues that religion represents and trying to distill them down into a a more modern and eat more easily accessible construct that people can grab on to to accept the fact that there is a greater mystery out there I don't believe it that is why you fail [Music] Campbell worried that the wisdom of great traditions was not being heard he worried that our arguments over whether or not a story is literally true or not led us to miss the way in which such stories could reveal key lessons for our lives he called on artists to remake the myths in ways that they could speak to our lives today George Lucas was the first to heed the call if it's a tool that can be used to make old stories be new soon after that a memo started floating around Hollywood written by Christopher Vogler the memo summarized Campbell's work and soon movies were utilizing the formula of course Joseph Campbell and his analysis of the hero's journey we took in all of that as we began to shape the story while some think this has made Hollywood too predictable it is also allowed Hollywood to use one of humankind's most powerful tools the art of storytelling to explore the core conflicts contradictions and dualities of our time take the matrix for example we have an ordinary guy called to adventure he meets a mentor to help him across the threshold and give him some key lessons he goes on a road of trials to overcome his fears what is he doing he's beginning to be discovered true love and finds his true self the final transformation is marked by a death of the old self and rebirth of the new at which point he receives the ultimate boon knowledge of what is really going on and uses this boon to heal the world the pattern is universal but the themes are unique for each time in place has its own unique manifestations of conflict contradiction and duality the matrix confronts big questions about the relationship of man and machines while weaving together religious themes from Christianity you might say everyman Hinduism comic and Buddhism using the wisdom from these traditions to resolve even bigger questions about fate and free will do you believe in fate choice and caused everything begins with choice no wrong choice is in how to find meaning and purpose in a world in which meaning and purpose are not Givens it's a freedom perhaps peace but it'd be for love delusions mr. Anderson Vega recent perception temporary constructs of people human intellect trying desperately to justify an existence that is without meaning or purpose why mr. Anderson why why do you persist because I choose to neo dyes for our sins like a Christ and merges dualities like a Buddha shining the light of his enlightenment through the darkness of the world in The Hunger Games we have an ordinary girl call to adventure meets a mentor to help her across the threshold to tell us how to get sponsors and give us advice embrace the probability of your imminent death she goes on a road of trials to overcome her fears trust me find true love and find her true self the final transformation is marked by a death of the old self and rebirth to the new at which point she receives the ultimate boon knowledge of what is really going on this is the revolution and you are the Mockingjay The Hunger Games explores how to be authentic and free in a society of illusion and control The Hunger Games are not just in the arena society itself is a game of strategy and deceit so she has to keep acting to stay alive but the act is tormenting her through the trials she finds her way toward her true self she makes choices that are not just strategies she realizes who she truly loves and at the critical moment remember the real enemy is she takes aim at the game itself she sees past the dualities of us versus them we have no fight he said the one the captain gave us and sees the real duality as that between authenticity and strategy you're still trying to protect me and in the end she realizes that one game is simply being replaced by another and takes one last shot at the game itself [Music] even a seemingly simple animation like Rango can confront big questions using the power of the hero narrative Rango is an ordinary lizard called to adventure meets a mentor that helps them across the threshold follow your shadow goes on a road of trials to overcome his fears and find his true self the final transformation is marked by a death of the old than rebirth of the new at which point he receives the ultimate boon knowledge of what is really going on and uses this knowledge to save the world Rango is especially interesting because it explicitly plays upon make your own narrative I know who I am the guy the protagonist the hero and it calls for some of Campbell's most precious insights what are you talking about enlightenment let me up and I would help you find what you see if you want to find water you must first find Campbell famously said that myths are not just true or false they are metaphors you submit the form our job is not to decide if they are true but to see how they might guide us or bring us together Rango plays the part of the hero looking for his path [Music] searching for his troop lists trying to find his true self oh mama I could be anyone he lives a lie in an authentic life and tries to get everyone to believe in him oh you want some to leave in spoons believing me but ultimately he has to face his own lies you didn't do any of the things you said did you I'm no pod but being nobody allows him to move beyond his fear submit to the world and he wakes up on the other side of the road use me where he learns that his struggle to get people to believe in him was misguided I don't even know what I'm looking for anything no he doesn't have to know who he is they used to call you the man with no name doesn't matter what they call you it's the deeds make the man he learns that names and beliefs don't matter need some kind of hero then be a hero oh no no no you don't understand I'm not even supposed to be that's right you came a long way to find something that isn't out here don't you see it's not about you it's about them but I can't go back don't know that you've got a choice son miss help you to have your own hero's journey no man can walk out on his own story find your individuality but hopefully reminds you that you're part of a whole and that you must also be part of the community so you made it that's right let me go the other side of the road everybody has to choice of being a hero or not being hero every day of their lives see that we'd see what we need to see beautiful isn't it and it's it's not a grand thing you know you don't have to get into a giant laser sword fight and blow up three spaceships to become a hero yeah it is go my friend I want to show you something when I first started teaching about the hero's journey I had this student in my class he was one of the best students I ever had but it seemed like life was passing him by he was really looking for something but I'm not sure if he knew what it was in my class we talked about the hero's journey that all over the world we have these stories of people called to adventure they go on a road of trials and then they merged transformed and in the class there was this girl who who really was a hero who had gone on a road of trials they were a perfect match they fell in love they even raised a kid together and I thought it was going to be happily ever after but then a few years later he wrote to me after that he says he just started running he would run day and night sometimes up to 20 miles a day [Music] month after month he just kept running he says it was something he couldn't not do he ran and ran trying to figure out what went wrong and then one day he was running in the park and he could suddenly see himself like as if he were outside his own body looking down on himself and he saw this guy running through the trials of life [Music] and for the first time he had a sense of compassion for himself [Music] he looked down and he said my goodness you're a hero [Music] but not in the sense of I'm a hero and I'm better than everybody else more like there's heroes all around me and you just started running through the park seeing heroes everywhere he went and it was this wisdom and compassion that he says ultimately healed his relationship [Music] we all have our journeys to make I will see you on the other side

Channel: Michael Wesch

Views: 4,958

Rating: 4.9694657 out of 5

Keywords: hero, mythology, joseph campbell, religion, perennial philosophy, hero's journey, monomyth, anthropology

Id: ckXzsT9djlI

Length: 14min 51sec (891 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 19 2019