Carter - Week 4 post

This post will cover who I believe to be the Campbell Hero, based off the outline he constructed. I do believe the Hero in the Trilogy to be Luke Skywalker. The three stages Campbell uses to describe the path of a Hero is the departure, Initiation, and return. I believe Luke experienced a stage of all three.

Departure- "The Call to adventure" is defined as the part of the movie that signifies that destiny has summoned the hero and transferred his spiritual center of gravity from within the pale of his society to a zone unknown (Campbell, p.58). The part of this trilogy that clearly represents this to me, is when Luke's only family is killed in the first Star Wars movie. Luke is returning from meeting Obi- Wan at this time when he returns to his home destroyed. Luke decides that there is nothing left for him there and his destiny is to join and help the Empire regain control and explore the origins of his roots. 

Initiation (The Road of Trials) - This part of the movie according to Campbell is "Once having traversed the threshold, the hero moves in a dream landscape of curiously fluid, ambiguous forms, where he must survive a succession of trials (Campbell, 97). This is represented in the first movie of the trilogy as Luke must go through many trials to save Princess Leia from Darth Vader's grasp on his base station. One scene that also signifies the belly of the beast is when Luke, Solo, and Leia are trapped in the garbage shoot. This is also shown in the second movie when Luke begins to train with Yoda and takes a leap into exponential power of the "Force". This can be seen as the area of a "dream landscape of curiosity fluid" which is also covered in this section. 

Return (Rescue Without) - Campbell believes the Hero will need some sort of help from an outside source for his return or triumph to be completed. The Third movie in the star wars Trilogy is a clear example of this. Luke is dueling against his father and loses his light saber, Darth Vader tries to get Luke to join him at this moment. Luke who looks to be doomed, chooses instead to throw himself down the air shaft. He slides through a tube system and is ejected but catches onto an antenna under the floating city. He makes a desperate telepathic plea to Leia, who senses it and persuades Lando to return for him. 

I believe Luke to be a Civic Hero which Campbell describes as imbedded in the community. He participates fully in it, not seeking higher spiritual powers. He is content to live in the world. Often the civic hero’s journey is a movement from focus on self to focus on the community he serves.