Monomyth
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The monomyth (often referred to as the hero's journey) is a description of a basic pattern found in many myths from around the world. This universal pattern was described by Joseph Campbell in his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949).[1] A noted scholar of novelist James Joyce, Campbell borrowed the term monomyth from Joyce's Finnegans Wake. This article is about modern uses and interpretations of Campbell's insights and analysis about the "hero's journey."
Campbell's work has been consciously applied by a wide variety of modern writers and artists, for example, in creating screenplays for movies. The best known is perhaps George Lucas, who has acknowledged a debt to Campbell regarding both the original Star Wars trilogy and its prequels.
In addition, leaders in the men's movement, notably Robert Bly and Michael J. Meade, have used Campbell's insight as a guide for personal spiritual growth.
Campbell's insight was that important myths from around the world which have survived for thousands of years, all share a fundamental structure. This fundamental structure contains a number of stages, which includes
- a call to adventure, which the hero has to accept or decline
- a road of trials, regarding which the hero succeeds or fails
- achieving the goal or "boon," which often results in important self-knowledge
- a return to the ordinary world, again as to which the hero can succeed or fail
- application of the boon in which what the hero has gained can be used to improve the world.
In a well-known quote from the introduction to The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Campbell wrote:
| “ | A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.[2] | ” |
The classic examples of the monomyth relied upon by Campbell and other scholars include the Buddha, Moses, and Christ stories, although Campbell cites many other classic myths from many cultures which rely upon this basic structure.
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[edit] Summary of the monomyth
In the monomyth, the hero starts in the ordinary world, and receives a call to enter an unusual world of strange powers and events. If the hero accepts the call to enter this strange world, the hero must face tasks and trials, and may have to face these trials alone, or may have assistance. At its most intense, the hero must survive a severe challenge, often with help earned along the journey. If the hero survives, the hero may achieve a great gift or "boon." The hero must then decide whether to return to the ordinary world with this boon. If the hero does decide to return, the hero often faces challenges on the return journey. If the hero is successful in returning, the boon or gift may be used to improve the world. The stories of Osiris, Prometheus, Moses, Buddha, and Christ, for example, follow this structure very closely.
Campbell describes some seventeen stages or steps along this journey. Very few myths contain all seventeen stages — some myths contain many of the stages, while others contain only a few; some myths may have as a focus only one of the stages, while other myths may deal with the stages in a somewhat different order. These seventeen stages may be organized in a number of ways, including division into three sections: Departure (sometimes called Separation), Initiation and Return. "Departure" deals with the hero venturing forth on the quest; "Initiation" deals with the hero's various adventures along the way; and "Return" deals with the hero's return home with knowledge and powers acquired on the journey.
[edit] Use of the monomyth by modern artists
The monomyth has influenced a number of artists, musicians, poets, and filmmakers, including Bob Dylan and George Lucas. Mickey Hart, Bob Weir and Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead had long noted Campbell's influence and agreed to participate in a seminar with him in 1986 entitled From Ritual to Rapture.[3]
[edit] George Lucas and Star Wars
George Lucas's deliberate use of Campbell's theory of the monomyth in the making of the Star Wars movies is well-documented. In addition to the extensive discussion between Campbell and Bill Moyers broadcast in 1988 on PBS as The Power of Myth (Filmed at "Skywalker Ranch"), on Campbell's influence on the Star Wars films, Lucas, himself, gave an extensive interview for the biography Joseph Campbell: A Fire in the Mind (Larsen and Larsen, 2002, pages 541-543) on this topic. In this interview, Lucas states that in the early 1970's after completing his early film, American Graffiti, "it came to me that there really was no modern use of mythology...so that's when I started doing more strenuous research on fairy tales, folklore and mythology, and I started reading Joe's books. Before that I hadn't read any of Joe's books.... It was very eerie because in reading The Hero with A Thousand Faces I began to realize that my first draft of Star Wars was following classical motifs"(p.541).
Twelve years after the making of The Power of Myth, Moyers and Lucas met again for the 1999 interview, the Mythology of Star Wars with George Lucas & Bill Moyers, to further discuss the impact of Campbell's work on Lucas' films [3]. In addition, the National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution sponsored an exhibit during the late 1990s called Star Wars: The Magic of Myth which discussed the ways in which Campbell's work shaped the Star Wars films [4]. A companion guide of the same name was published in 1997.
[edit] Chris Vogler, The Writer's Journey, and Hollywood films
Christopher Vogler, a Hollywood film producer and writer, created a now-legendary 7-page company memo, A Practical Guide to The Hero With a Thousand Faces[5], based on Campbell's work which inspired films such as Disney's 1994 film, The Lion King. Vogler's memo was later developed into the late 1990s book, The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure For Writers, which became the basis for a number of successful Hollywood films and is believed to have been used in the development of the Matrix series.
[edit] Modern applications of the monomyth
Each of the seventeen stages of the monomyth (below) can be found in popular works, including movie series such as the Star Wars movies and The Matrix movies.
[edit] Departure (or Separation)
[edit] The Call to Adventure
The adventure begins with the hero receiving a call to action, such as a threat to the peace of the community, or the hero simply falls into or blunders into it. The call is often announced to the hero by another character who acts as a "herald". The herald, often represented as dark or terrifying and judged evil by the world, may call the character to adventure simply by the crisis of his appearance.
Modern applications: In Star Wars, Luke Skywalker, the hero, begins the story in frustration over being unable to leave home. The heralds are the two droids who carry a message from Princess Leia. In The Matrix, the call comes in the form of Morpheus and his followers who encourage the hero, Neo, to question reality. Morpheus literally calls Neo using a cell phone.
Classic examples: Sometimes the call to adventure happens of the character's own volition. In the story of the Minotaur, Theseus learns the tale of the beast and the terrible sacrifice to appease it, which sets him on a quest to destroy it. In Herman Hesse's book Siddhartha the main character, Siddhartha, becomes weary of his way of life and decides he must venture away from his accustomed life in order to attain spiritual enlightenment. Most Buddhist myths describe the Buddha as becoming bored with his royal life and venturing into the world. Other times, the hero is plunged into adventure by unforeseen events. In Homer's Odyssey, Odysseus is caught in the terrible winds of the angered god Poseidon and sent off to distant lands.
[edit] Refusal of the Call
In some stories, the hero initially refuses the call to adventure. When this happens, the hero may suffer somehow, and may eventually choose to answer, or may continue to decline the call.
Modern applications: In Star Wars, Luke is refused adventure by his uncle, a man who seeks to protect Luke from the inevitable dangers of fate. Subsequently, Luke's family is killed by stormtroopers. In The Matrix, Neo refuses to take the window washing scaffold to escape and is captured by the Agents.
Classic examples: Myth and history are rife with examples of what happens to those who refuse the call too long or do not take it seriously. A Persian city was turned to stone, inhabitants and all, for refusing the call of Allah. Daphne was pursued by the Greek god Apollo (a herald), but refused his advances at all costs. She prayed to her father, Peneus, to take away her beauty to be rid of Apollo; Peneus turned the nymph into a tree, the only semblance left of her past self being her beauty. In Judeo-Christian mythology, Lot's wife is turned into a pillar of salt for looking back with longing to her old life when she had been summoned forth from her city by Yahweh. One of the clearest references to the refusal and its consequences comes in the voice of Yahweh in Proverbs 1:24-27 and 32:
- Because I have called, and ye refused ... I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. ... For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
[edit] Supernatural Aid
After the hero has accepted the call, he encounters a protective figure (often elderly) who provides special tools and advice for the adventure ahead, such as an amulet or a weapon.
Classic example: In Greek mythology, Ariadne gives Theseus a ball of string and a sword before he enters the labyrinth to confront the minotaur.
Modern applications: In Star Wars, Luke encounters the Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi who presents Luke with a lightsaber and teaches him the ways of the Force.
[edit] The Crossing of the First Threshold
The hero must cross the threshold between the world he is familiar with and that which he is not. Often this involves facing a "threshold guardian", an entity that works to keep all within the protective confines of the world but must be encountered in order to enter the new zone of experience.
Modern applications: In Star Wars, the threshold is Mos Eisley, a spaceport that acts as a doorway between Luke's home planet and the wider universe; Luke must avoid capture by the threshold guardians, the Imperial stormtroopers. In The Matrix, Neo must choose the red pill to leave the Matrix and enter the real world.
[edit] Rebirth
The hero, rather than passing a threshold, passes into the new zone by means of rebirth. Appearing to have died by being swallowed or having their flesh scattered, the hero is transformed and becomes ready for the adventure ahead.
Biblical applications: In the gospels, John the Baptist baptizes Jesus before Jesus begins his public ministry.
Modern applications: In Star Wars, it is the Death Star, in which Luke is engulfed and in which he learns how to be a hero. In The Matrix, Neo finds himself waking up in a bio-electric cell where he is one of the humans being harvested by the machines.
[edit] Initiation
[edit] The Road of Trials
Once past the threshold, the hero encounters a dream landscape of ambiguous and fluid forms. The hero is challenged to survive a succession of obstacles and, in so doing, amplifies his consciousness. The hero is helped covertly by the supernatural helper or may discover a benign power supporting him in his passage.
[edit] Marriage
The ultimate trial is often represented as a marriage between the hero and a queenlike, or mother-like figure. This represents the hero's mastery of life (represented by the feminine) as well as the totality of what can be known. When the hero is female, this becomes a male figure.
Modern applications: In The Matrix, Neo confronts the Oracle. In The Matrix Reloaded, Neo takes Trinity as a lover.
[edit] Woman as Temptress
His awareness expanded, the hero may fixate on the disunity between truth and his subjective outlook, inherently tainted by the flesh. This is often represented with revulsion or rejection of a female figure.
Modern applications: In The Matrix Reloaded, Persephone attempts to seduce Neo. In Star Wars, there is tension between Luke and Han Solo over their love for Princess Leia -- this is resolved in Episode VI, Return of the Jedi when Luke finds out that Leia is actually his sister. Luke is also tempted by the dark side itself, as demonstrated by his vision in the cave on Dagobah. [4]
[edit] Atonement with the Father
The hero reconciles the tyrant and merciful aspects of the father-like authority figure to understand himself as well as this figure.
Biblical applications: In the gospels, Jesus wrestles with his impending death in the Garden of Gethsemane, before submitting to his Father's will.
Modern applications: In The Empire Strikes Back, Luke confronts Darth Vader and learns that he is his father and a former Jedi; in Return of the Jedi, he is reconciled with the reformed Vader. In The Matrix Revolutions, the Oracle explains to Neo that she and the Architect are two programs that work together to keep the Matrix working, the latter to "balance the equation" and the former to "unbalance" it.
[edit] Apotheosis
The hero's ego is disintegrated in a breakthrough expansion of consciousness. Quite frequently the hero's idea of reality is changed; the hero may find an ability to do new things or to see a larger point of view, allowing the hero to sacrifice himself.
Modern applications: In The Empire Strikes Back, Luke sacrifices a part of himself (losing his hand) rather than turn to the dark side. In The Matrix, Neo faces off against Agent Smith resulting in his death and resurrection as the One.
[edit] The Ultimate Boon
The hero is now ready to obtain that which he has set out, an item or new awareness that, once he returns, will benefit the society that he has left.
Modern applications: In the climactic scene of Star Wars, Luke uses the Force to successfully destroy the Death Star by firing torpedoes down a narrow ventilation shaft of the Death Star.
[edit] Return
[edit] Refusal of the Return
Having found bliss and enlightenment in the other world, the hero may not want to return to the ordinary world to bestow the boon onto his fellow man.
Classic examples: After obtaining Nirvana, Buddha doubted whether he could communicate the path to enlightenment.
[edit] The Magic Flight
When the boon's acquisition (or the hero's return to the world) comes against opposition, a chase or pursuit may ensue before the hero returns.
Classic examples: In many fairy tales and folktales, it is literally a magic flight, with the hero or heroine transforming objects to stop the pursuit (The Master Maid, The Water Nixie) or transforming himself and any companions to hide themselves (Farmer Weathersky or Foundling-Bird).
[edit] Rescue from Without
The hero may need to be rescued by forces from the ordinary world. This may be because the hero has refused to return or because he is successfully blocked from returning with the boon. The hero loses his ego.
Modern application: In The Empire Strikes Back, Luke is rescued by the Millennium Falcon as he hangs on an antenna beneath Cloud City after a battle with Darth Vader.
[edit] The Crossing of the Return Threshold
The hero returns to the world of common day and must accept it as real.
[edit] Master of Two Worlds
Because of the boon or due to his experience, the hero may now perceive both the divine and human worlds.
Modern application: In Return of the Jedi, Luke becomes a Jedi. He has mastered the force and defeated the one true temptation, the Dark Side. In The Matrix Reloaded, Neo destroys several Sentinels in the real world using only his mind.
Classic example: In the Christ story, Jesus is able to return to the ordinary world after resurrection.
[edit] Freedom to Live
The hero bestows the boon to his fellow man.
Modern application: In "The Return of the Jedi" Luke has overcome the Empire and his rebellion is free to live and thrive, the ending scene establishes the peace restored by Luke's victory. In The Matrix Revolutions, Neo realizes that machine life is as valid as human life and gives his own life in order to reconcile the worlds of man and machine.
[edit] Use of the monomyth by the men's movement
Poet Robert Bly, Michael J. Meade, and others involved in the men's movement have applied and expanded the concept of the hero's journey and the monomyth as a metaphor for personal spiritual and psychological growth, particularly in the mythopoetic men's movement.
Characteristic of the mythopoetic men's movement is a tendency to retell fairy tales and engage in their exegesis as a tool for personal insight. Using frequent references to archetypes as drawn from Jungian analytical psychology, the movement focuses on issues of gender role, gender identity and wellness for modern men. Advocates would often engage in storytelling with music, these acts being seen as a modern extension to a form of "new age shamanism" popularized by Michael Harner at approximately the same time.
Among its most famous advocates were the poet Robert Bly, whose book Iron John: A Book About Men was a best-seller, being an exegesis of the fairy tale "Iron John" by the Brothers Grimm.
The mythopoetic men's movement spawned a variety of groups and workshops, led by authors such as Bly and Robert L. Moore. Some serious academic work came out of this movement, including the creation of various magazines and non-profit organizations, such as the Mankind Project.
[edit] Criticism
Thoughtless use of monomyth structure is often blamed for lack of originality and clichés in popular culture, especially big-budget Hollywood films. In addition to the popularity of Campbell-influenced guides such as The Writer's Journey, the influential book Screenplay by Syd Field also proposed an ideal three-act structure, which is easily compatible with modern screenwriters' attempts to craft a monomyth. However, since the peak popularity of cinematic monomyth narratives in the 1990s, some would-be blockbuster movies that have been seen as conscious attempts to follow the structure have met with indifference from critics and often disappointing performance at the box office, as in the case of Cinderella Man and George Lucas' three Star Wars prequels.
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Monomyth website accessed November 28, 2006.
- ^ Campbell, Joseph. The hero with a thousand faces. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1949. p. 30.
- ^ ([1]
- ^ There is some debate as to whether this is truly a universal feature of myths, or a specific example of a broader category of "temptation away from the true path". Although most of Campbell's book uses examples from many cultures, his chapter on "Woman As the Temptress" draws examples exclusively from Judeo-Christian stories. See [2].
[edit] References
- Campbell, Joseph. The hero with a thousand faces. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1949.
- --with Henry Morton Robinson. A skeleton key to Finnegans Wake. 1944.
- Joyce, James. Finnegans wake. 1939.
- MacKey-Kallis, Susan. The hero and the perennial journey home in American film. University of Pennsylvania Press (2001). ISBN 0-8122-1768-3
- Vogler, Christopher. The writer's journey: mythic structure for writers. Studio City, CA: Michael Wiese Productions, 1998.
- Voytilla, Stuart and Vogler, Christopher. Myth & the Movies: Discovering the myth structure of 50 unforgettable films. Studio City, CA: Michael Wiese Productions, 1999. ISBN 0-941188-66-3
[edit] Books based upon interviews with Campbell
- The hero's journey: Joseph Campbell on his life and work. Edited and with an Introduction by Phil Cousineau. Forward by Stuart L. Brown, Executive Editor. New York: Harper and Row, 1990.
- The power of myth (with Bill Moyers and Betty Sue Flowers, ed.), 1988
[edit] DVD/Discography
- Joseph Campbell and the power of myth (1988)
- The hero's journey: The world of Joseph Campbell (1987)
