George Lucas’s 1977 film Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope in
Harrison Ford’s view fulfilled “the human need to have the human condition
expressed in mythic terms” (Pfeiffer 73). This film closely followed Joseph
Campbell’s A Hero With a Thousand Faces.
In this way, the protagonist, Luke Skywalker, exhibits all of the criteria that
Campbell considers to be the characteristics of a hero. These characteristics
include the hero being male, of lowly birth, orphaned, while he his willing to
put his life in jeopardy to the sake of his noble cause. Also, George Lucas
sends Luke on a journey that encompasses all of the stages of a journey that
Campbell outlines. Campbell’s idea of a heroic journey is comprised of three
stages: “departure, where the hero leaves his comfortable and familiar world
and ventures into the darkness of the unknown; Initiation, where the hero is
subjected to a series of test in which he must prove his character; and return,
in which the character brings the boon of his quest back for the benefit of his
people.” The aspect that I will focus on is the departure.
The first component of the hero’s
departure is the call to adventure. This call occurs when in Obi Wan Kenobi’s residence
when R2-D2 plays Princess Leia’s message urging him to transport the Death Star
schematics to her home planet of Alderaan. At this point, Obi Wan asks Luke to
join him on the journey and to learn the ways of the force like his father.
This brings us to the next aspect of the departure, the refusal of the call.
Initially, Luke refuses the journey citing his responsibility to his uncle and
the farm. Only when he returns home and realizes that both his uncle and aunt
are charred to a crisp he accepts the call.
Another
aspect of the departure is supernatural aid. In Luke’s case the Force is a
quite literal supernatural aid. According to Campbell the hero is to receive
this aid from a protective figure (Obi Wan Kenobi). Obi Wan provides Luke with
his father’s old light saber and begins to teach him how to utilize the Force.
Their first stop they make is Mos Eisley to hire a pilot to take them to
Alderaan. They enter a cantina, which signifies Luke crossing the first
threshold. Luke is ushered into the dark world of the unknown completely out of
his comfort zone. His first interaction with some tough guys in the cantina
ends in Obi Wan cutting their arms off with a light saber.
This leads
us to Luke and crew entering the belly of the whale. This occurs when they
realize that Alderaan is no more and are pulled into the Death Star by a
tractor beam. While the whole time the crew is stuck in the Death Star is
considered them being in the belly of the whale, there is a scene in the Death
Star that is quite literally representative of this. The scene I refer to is
when they are stuck in the garbage chute. The garbage chute can be seen as the
belly of the Death Star. Of course, before the belly digests them (crushes
them) they are conveniently rescued but R2-D2’s hacking.
Zoe Hall
ReplyDeleteSo you say in the beginning of your blog that Lucas sends Luke on a journey that encompasses all three steps of the journey which Campbell outlines in his book, "A Hero With a Thousand Faces." When I was repeatedly watching the movie for the blog, however, I did not really see the culmination of the journey (the "return") played out. Especially since, shortly after the destruction of the Death Star, Darth Vader is seen somersaulting away in his little ship, I saw the end of the movie merely as one of the minor victories that Campbell describes in the trials that take place during the Initiation. Do you think that this movie itself is a full representation of Campbell's journey? I saw the entire trilogy as the full embodiment of what Campbell was trying to express, but I guess as McCay says, it’s all up to interpretation.
When analyzing this movie, specifically the Departure, I couldn't think of what would be determined as "the belly of the whale" aspect of the journey. I completely agree with the idea that this step was portrayed when the heroes are in the garbage chute of the whale and I liked your allusion to the belly digesting them (and crushing them). I feel silly now that I didn't see this before.
John, you were off to a good start with this blog post. You identified key parts of the film that relate back to the hero’s journey. And for the most I agree with each scene you chose to relate to the heros journey. The only part of your post that I struggle with is your interpretation of the Belly of The Whale. Not to say your analysis is wrong but I just noticed a discrepancy that you may be able to clear up for me.
ReplyDeleteYes, being trapped in a massive planet-annihilating spaceship does seem like the most obvious Belly of the Whale phase but there are certain things that Campbell refers to that don’t happen while Luke and the group are trapped in the Death Star. Campbell describes The Belly of The Whale as being a life threatening but, ultimately a transitional period for the character: “the hero goes inward, to be born again.” Yes, the whole period of being trapped in the Death Star is life threatening especially the groups near death experience in the garbage chute. However, I don’t see how Luke “undergoes a metamorphosis” as Campbell describes it. There doesn’t really seem to be any transformation in his character, as I can remember, like the Belly of The Whale phase says there should be. Unless its the fact that after they survive together they appear to get along better as a group. The hug and laugh with each other instead of nagging like before. The metamorphosis of the group's relations is the only real metamorphosis I see. What do you think?