In George Lucas’s Star
Wars Trilogy, the characters Han Solo and Luke Skywalker both embody the
heroic characteristics outlined by Jason Campbell in The Hero’s Journey Defined.
Both men display such characteristics at separate times and there is no
specific chronological pattern to the way in which each hero’s journey relates
to the other one. Although both
characters had contact with each other during their journey’s and had effects
on each other’s journeys, both journeys occur as independent events. Luke’s heroic journey occurred in the movie A
New Hope while Han’s occurred over the course of the three films. First we, observe Luke’s journey.
In A New Hope, Luke follows quite
essentially the text book formula of Campbell’s heroic journey. We see him make a departure, when he leaves
his home planet. We see him in the belly
of the whale, when he’s trapped on the death star. We see him experience an initiation when the
task of destroying the death star falls into his hands. And finally, we view him in his return when
he is honored at a ceremony by the rebels he extended himself to save. Luke’s journey is made rather apparent by
Lucas, whereas mapping out Han’s requires a little more “connect the dots
action.
Han’s
heroic journey is slightly more difficult to map than Luke’s. Han’s departure occurs at the end of the
first film when he decides to give up his former destitute, criminal life to
engage in the rebellion, and he joins Luke in the run on the death star. After Han’s departure we see Han enter the
belly of the whale in a quite literal sense when he flies his broken vessel
into the belly of a space monster in Empire
Strikes Back. After that, Han’s
initiation occurs when he is given the task of destroying the death star’s
shield generator so the rebel fighters can destroy the space station in Return of the Jedi. Upon his successful completion of that task,
we observe his return, when he celebrates with the rebels he fought for at the
end of the film.
While Luke
and Han are very obviously different heroes, as different characters would
naturally be unique, it’s without question that the two men both experience
steps that are outlined in Jason Campbell’s The
Hero’s Journey Defined. This is a
result, I believe, of the fact that their creator, George Lucas, was heavy
influenced by Campbell’s work on heroes and used it as a template for
creation. Something interesting to note
is that the two heroes’ differences can be mapped out by Jason Campbell’s
outlines of contemplative and civic heroes.
When Luke becomes a hero in the first film, he is a civic hero, one who
takes full part in his community. When
Han becomes a hero in the third film, he is also a civic hero, one taking part
in his community, but by the time this has happened, Luke has become a
contemplative hero. Luke is not taking
full part in the actions of the community and is instead providing much needed
spiritual support from the outside. The
difference between Skywalker and Solo is that Solo has not yet become a
contemplative hero. Will he?
Andrew Wlos
I’d have trouble seeing Han as ever becoming a contemplative hero. Simply due to his down-to-earth nature, it seems more like the answers to all his questions lie at the business end of a blaster. In fact, he’s pretty self actualized, with no such an identity crisis as we’ve seen with Luke. I suppose one of the perks of his less-than-moral life up until the series is that he has already come to terms with his demons. Han’s concerns are basically all worldly matters that, by the end of the films, can be easily satiated. I doubt he has the potential to be anything but a civic hero, since he’s already so set in his ways.
ReplyDeleteEverything about his character seems to be making it difficult to apply the Hero’s Journey to his actions, since he is a more complex and modern interpretation of a hero. There’s no question that he is heroic in the modern sense, but I just don’t see the same steps applying to him and Luke. Though they share a lot of their crises -- the belly of the whale in the death star, etc. -- it’s Luke upon which it has the transformative effects, while Han’s steady as a rock, spiritually.