A Microcosm of a Hero's Journey
George
Lucas's Star Wars: A New Hope can be
perceived to be a microcosm of Campbell's definition of a hero's journey. It is
obvious that the Departure of the journey is emphasized in the film, but there
is evidence to suggest that there is an Initiation and Return stage as well,
even though they might not be as highlighted as the Departure in the film.
However, instead of focusing on the obvious, I would like to focus on the
Initiation stage. The Initiation stage includes the "Road of Trials,"
the "Meeting with the Goddess," "Woman as the Temptress,"
"Atonement with the Father," "Apotheosis," and "The Ultimate Boon" (Campbell).
"The
Road of Trials" is prevalent throughout the film from when Luke began his
training with a lightsaber aboard the Millenium Falcon until the final
destruction of the Death Star. Ben Kenobi served as his guide and upon Kenobi's
death at the hands of Vader, Ben Kenobi became an agent of supernatural help in
guiding Luke during his final run into the crevice of the Death Star. Luke also
began to become aware of the Force and his aptitude for it. Luke's "Meeting
with the Goddess" is not exactly an orthodox one in that Leia takes the
role of the Goddess. Through their escape out of the Death Star, there are many
scenes that consist of only Luke and Leia, and this may have been intentionally
done to hint towards a romance developing between Luke and Leia, though at this
point the love may be unrequited. In this film, it lacked the "Woman as
the Temptress" aspect to its Initiation stage. However, it can be surmised
that this part of the Initiation is being saved for its subsequent sequels.
The
"Atonement with the Father" aspect can be viewed as a metaphor in
this film. Campbell references to God as "the Father," but in this
film's case, the Force appears to be the replacement for the father figure as
it is omnipotent and consists of all of the universe. At this point, we can
refer back to the Millenium Falcon training from Ben Kenobi. In this scene, Ben
teaches Luke how to not use his eyes to deflect the shot by trusting within the
Force. Luke begins to abandon his old ways of perceiving the world and in turn
begins to feel the Force and rely on its power. Later on, the
"Apotheosis" aspect appears but not within the hero Luke. Instead,
this step appears in Ben Kenobi when he faced Darth Vader in a lightsaber duel.
Ben disappeared before the final strike from Vader, and becomes an everlasting
being in-tune with the Force. This can be viewed as a foreshadow towards Luke's
own "Apotheosis" in a later sequel. "The Ultimate Boon"
appears within Luke in the form of his ability as a pilot. He trusts his
instincts and deals the final blow to the Death Star. In this scene, he
breathes a sigh of relief, but with that sigh, he also gained confidence and
illuminated both himself and Han Solo as well.
Though
these pieces of the film may seem subtle, they definitely consitute as evidence
that the Initiation stage was acheived in the hero's journey. While this is the
first of three films in the series, it makes sense that the overall goal is to
achieve the Departure stage, but as I mentioned earlier, this first film can
act as a microcosm for the rest of the series in which the second movie becomes
the Initiation stage, and the third movie becomes the Return stage. Ford was
one of the few supporters of this franchise, and despite difficult working
conditions, the studio began becoming impatient, thus possibly forcing Lucas to
include glimpses of the Initiation stage into the film where the Departure was
emphasized (Pfeiffer 71-72).
Ryder O'Connell
ReplyDeleteI agree with your point that the "Meeting with the Goddess" isn't orthodox. I would even suggest that Leia doesn't play the role of Campbell's Goddess in the film at all, because she is not conquered by Luke, and because the Goddess is usually one of the heroes final trials with the meeting as the zenith, and Luke encounters her in what is most likely his first. The infiltration of the Death Star is Luke's first step after confirming his role as the hero under Obi-Wan's instruction. In addition, the hero is supposed to claim the goddess, but obviously this is a feat that will never be accomplished due to their star-crossed destiny. These lacking aspects create a unique approach to the initiation phase of the hero’s journey.
As you said, Leia doesn’t play the role of the Temptress either. Lacking either of the two female roles, it opens up her obviously significant part to be closer to a reflection of the hero and expanding upon Campbell’s idea of the archetypal woman. Since Campbell’s woman is supposed to represent ultimate wisdom, and Leia has no more wisdom than Luke has himself, she must join him in their mutually heroic journey to grow as characters.
Wlos Comment:
ReplyDeleteI find your third paragraph insight very interesting. I agree that A New Hope takes an interesting place in the ark of the three films and how the relate to Cambell's paper on heroism, but when I examine all three films in total context, I see many different occurrences of the devices that Cambell describes and, upon the study of all three films, I see them occur disjointedly. What I'm saying is that many of Campbell's devices occur but they don't follow specific timelines or patterns, it's almost as if they occur independently and unrelated to each other.
For instance, in A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back we see Ben Kenobi and Yoda fill the hermit role, but the question exists, who is the hermit in Return of the Jedi? I see Luke as being very much of a hermit in that movie. Luke's test in Return of the Jedi (his fight with vader) is slightly independent of the Rebel cause of bringing down the empire, it's on a slightly different spectrum. I would not necessary call him the hero of the second death star battle. Rather than joining hands with everyone else, he went off to fight his own fight, solitarily, and when completed, he contemplated it on his own (while burning his father's body), not with his people. We see another heroic change, similar to that which occurred in Han Solo, occur over the course of Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi in Lando. Lando went from being selfish to acting heroically. Essentially, through the films, we see many of Cambell's ideas illustrated, but not in the direct way they were within A New Hope.
--Andrew Wlos
Alexus Fisher:
ReplyDeleteI agree that Star Wars: A New Hope can be seen as a fulfillment of the Departure stage while also serving as a “microcosm,” as you called it, for the entire Hero’s Journey. While there are clear signs of its focus around completing the Departure, there were definitely many prominent elements of the Initiation stage that were either introduced or thrown into motion. Arguments can even be made in favor of the idea that it contains elements of the Return stage as well, which could be seen in the final step of the Freedom to Live. One could argue that Luke, in not knowing that Darth Vader still lives and will return to haunt him, achieves this when he returns to the rebel base believing he has thwarted his greatest evil and is now free to pursue what he wants: aiding in the defeat of the Empire.
I think it was astute to note Lucas’ difficulties in making the movie and his lack of support from the studio. From this, it could be inferred that Lucas’ reasoning behind such a dualistic story line could be to ensure a full, rounded film with a satisfactory ending lest it flop when it came out in theaters and he should thus lose monetary support to create the sequels.