Joseph Campbell
American Writer (Alma Mater; Columbia University), Mythologist, Lecturer
Sat-Chit-Ananda
(Sanskrit)
1904-1987
"When a civilization begins to reinterpret its mythology with science, the life goes out of it, it is killed."
-The Hero with a Thousand Faces
While attending college Joseph Campbell was inspired and influenced by...
after his death "The Joseph Campbell Foundation" was created. This global network contains all his original collected works
and he never stopped writing about mythology...
Sigmund Freud
mythic stories give us hope...
Carl Jung
the list goes on...
Cinderella tells about a person surviving terrible hardship...
video games
Jenova Chen, made the hit PS3 game "Journey" based completely off Joseph Campbell's "The Heros Journey"
parable
James Frazer
movies
mythic tales being told in movies
...the tale has a central theme of depression. Both parents die; Cinderella is oppressed by people who have power of her. Yet she has hope something good might come of her life...
James Joyce
writers began using "The Hero's Journey" to create similar stories...
psychological
Stanley Kubrick handed "Hero with a Thousand Faces" to Arthur C. Clark who in turn wrote 1968 Space Odyssey
...when the time arrives for the great ball at the palace, she is not expected to go. Her sisters make fun of her for wanting to go. She has not given up on herself even though for years her sisters have treated her like a servant. She reaches for the golden moment and good things come of it. The account is full of insights about getting through long ordeals.
folklore
Comparative Mythology
Joseph Campbell believed myths from different cultures reveal the same, or similar, psychological forces at work in those cultures...
"hero stories from around the world share a common plot structure"
the similarities result from archetypes present in the unconscious levels of every person's mind
12 stages
The Hero's Journey
1. Heroes are introduced in the ORDINARY WORLD, where
2. they receive the CALL to ADVENTURE
3. They are reluctant at first or REFUSE THE CALL, but
4. are encouraged by a MENTOR to
5. CROSS THE FIRST THRESHOLD and enter the Special World
6. where they encounter TESTS, ALLIES, AND ENEMIES.
7. They APPROACH THE INMOST CAVE, crossing a second threshold
8. where they endure the ORDEAL.
9. They take possession of their REWARD and
10. are pursued on THE ROAD BACK to the Ordinary World.
11. They cross the third threshold, experience a RESURRECTION, and are transformed by the experience.
12. They RETURN WITH THE ELIXIR, a boon or treasure to benefit the...ORDINARY WORLD
when Joseph Campbell was a child he went to the American Museum of Natural History and became fascinated by Native American Indian Mythology...which led to his lifelong passion for myth
in this book, he found a salient pattern found in all myths called...
AHA!!
consistencies
patterns
so he wrote a book to tell people what he discovered...
Campbell loved stories...
similarities
he recognized early man made many stories to explain the universe
like...
Krishna
Jehovah
Prometheus, Osiris, Jesus, Buddha, Zeus, Krishna, Moses, Odysseus
God
he noticed cultures from all around the world share very similar stories and myths...
Brahma
Rama
Vishnu
Biame