STAR WARS  and Campbell's Hero
 
Use this chart to check out the points in your paper.
Your grade will reflect how much of this detail you picked up,
as well as your ability to analyze and compare the film and the book.
 
Outline of Correspondences
 
Campbell

Pre-departure
Hero feels restless, unfulfilled
Hero often a foundling or orphan

Departure
The blunder--accidental drawing in
The call to adventure
The refusal of the call
Removal of obstacles to call

Supernatural Aid
Need for protective guide
Amulet
Supernatural force is with the hero

Crossing the Threshold
Must cross threshold to the unknown
Threshold guardian(s)

The Magic Flight
Hero must break free of known world
Helpers come to assist

The Road of Trials
Monsters and obstacles crop up 
Meeting with the goddess
Feminine temptation
Belly of the whale
Finding supernatural strength
Dark forest
Human rescue from without
Heroic deeds
Risks loss of humanity

Atonement with the father
Hero discovers truth of origins
Realizes son=father; ogre=own ego
Loss of innocence
Father and son are rivals
Father dies, son becomes the father
Beholding face of father-->atonement

Apotheosis
Hero  undergoes ritual-->more than human
Hero joins with goddess
Hero learns Truth; woman already knows
Hero chooses to return to human realm
Hero brings back boon
Hero must reintegrate, though difficult
Star Wars

Pre-departure
Luke wants to leave farm, looks out to horizon
Luke brought up by aunt and uncle

Departure
Luke buys R2D2 as replacement droid
R2D2, the herald,  plays Leia's message
Luke turns back to duties at home
Luke's home and foster parents are destroyed

Supernatural Aid
Luke joins Obi-wan
Light saber
Luke begins to learn about the Force

Crossing the Threshold
Luke and Obi-wan go to the intergalactic bar
The strange denizens of the bar

The Magic Flight
Escape with Obi-wan from Tatooine
Enter Han Solo and Chewbacca

The Road of Trials
Imperial troops, ice monster, Jabba
Enter Leia
Luke strongly attracted to Leia
Garbage compactor 
Luke develops control of the Force
Tree-cave on Degobahf
Leia and Han catch Luke as he falls
Rescue of Han
Luke gets mech arm, is part machine like Vader

Atonement with the father
Luke learns Darth Vader is his father
Luke battles himself as Vader in cave
Luke fully accepts his destiny--> man
Luke must fight Vader
Luke takes on role of most poweful Jedi
Luke and Anakin are reconciled

Apotheosis
Luke lives with Force;  can see dead Jedis
Luke and Leia discover they are twins
Leia "always knew" her origins
Luke goes back to Ewok village and friends
Luke brings peace and new age of Jedi
Luke must perform ritual before celebrating
Note:             Han, Lando, Vader, and even the droids have hero journeys of their own. 
Question: Why doesn't Leia seem to have one?
* * * * 
Note:          Luke enters more than one belly of the whale=initiation=baptism:
                          --garbage compactor
                          --tonton's guts
                          --Dagobah swamp 
                          --Jabba's dungeon
  Question: What is (are) Han's belly-of-the-whale experience(s) ?

* * * *

Note:            Several characters undergo an apotheosis as a result of self-sacrifice:
                              --  Obi-Wan (allows Darth to kill him)
                              --  Luke (steps off platform in Cloud City)
                              --  Vader (dies to save Luke)
Question:   Does this pattern apply to Yoda, Han, or any of the others?

* * * *

Note:           Several key symbols play an important part in the journey, for example
                              -- Vader's mask and mechanized support system
                              -- Light saber colors
                              -- Beasts that swallow folks whole
                              -- Liquid environments
Question: What other important symbols add meaning to the narrative?

* * * *

Note:            Leia and Luke have a complex psychological and symbolic relationship:
                             --As twins, they are halves of a whole
                             --As male and female, they are complementary opposites
                             --As a single psyche, they are ego and anima
Question: Is Leia really the goddess, or is she just the completion of Luke?

* * * * 

Note:           Luke begins on Uncle Owen's right-hand path, but clearly chooses the left-hand
                         path of adventure.  Similarly, he makes a definite choice to fight on the side of 
                         good rather than for the dark, evil side.
Question: How does this fit in with Campbell's emphasis on the Eastern idea of following the
                         Middle Way, the path of the reconciliation of pairs of opposites?

* * * *

Note:          Vader is the arrested hero, frozen at the adolescent stage, unable to progress to full
                        adulthood, not fully human.  He is the hero that might have been, whose journey has not
                        been completed.
Question: Does Vader complete his own hero's journey ?

* * * *

Note:          Luke loses a hand to Vader in their sword fight.
Question: How many hands get chopped off in the films?  What does this mean?