Blog gloB Post #1
Star Wars: The Hero's Journey
Star Wars: A New Hope ,by George Lucas, makes use of the Hero's Journey by Joseph Campbell. In A New Hope, much of the story is focused mainly when the characters are in the Death Star. When infiltrating the Death Star, the protagonists go through many stages of Joseph Campbell's monomyth. Some examples of these include the Road of Trials which much of the movie is about, Meeting with the Goddess, and Temptation.
The stage of Meeting with the Goddess is not necessarily meeting with a person, but is rather a point where the protagonist gains an asset that will help him or her with the problem. In this case, Luke Skywalker gains a lightsaber from Obi-Wan, which shows him the pathway to the Force. Furthermore, he gains the help of the Princess, which he rescues on the Death Star. It could be argued that he gains the help of Han and Chewbacca, but they come earlier in the story. However, the biggest asset that Luke Skywalker gains is the death of Obi-Wan, so Obi-Wan can communicate with Luke as a ghost. This has a direct connection with the Ultimate Boon (the final achievement), as Obi-Wan tells Luke to trust in the Force, and Luke makes the shot. Getting stuck on the Death Star is a crucial step in the Meeting with the Goddess.
While in the Death Star, George Lucas's film also goes through the stage of Temptation. In this case, the temptation is Leia. Luke risks his life along with Han and Chewbacca to save Leia, even though it would not benefit them at all. It is unclear whether or not Luke wants to save Leia because she is about to be killed, or if he likes her, but both are temptations. This ties directly into the Road of Trials stage, as the Temptation (Leia) brings Luke and his crew to another Trial. There wasn't any severe penalty with the Temptation, as they are able to get out of the Death Star. Although some would say that the death of Obi-Wan was a downside to this, Obi-Wan would have died anyway, and in the end, the death of Obi-Wan helps Luke achieve his goal.
The Road of Trials could be signified by the entirety of the Death Star. Aside from the training droid on the Millennium Falcon, I would argue that this is where the Road of Trials begins, and leaving it is where it ends. Joseph Campbell says that this stage can be described as "a series of tests, tasks, that the person must undergo to begin the transformation(The Royal Society of Account Planning)." Luke and his group meet trial after trial, such as infiltrating the prison, attempting to rescuing Leia, escaping from the stormtroopers, and surviving the trash chute. I thought it was interesting how George Lucas uses the Death Star as the Road of Trials. Each trial leads the the next, and you can see the transformation from after the Death Star. Before, he was a farm boy who didn't want to go to space, but in the end, he becomes brave and capable.
Each of these scenes proves that the Hero's Journey resides in A New Hope. Although the movie does not follow word for word of the monomyth, it still exhibits many stages, traits, and motives.
I really like the way you quantify the stage of meeting with the goddess. I for one just assumed it had to be a person (Leia) but your idea of it being a point in time is a interesting perspective. I also fully agree with your understanding about the road of trials and I think that was something that needed to be discussed further in class. I also agree that the story doesn't strictly follow the monomyth, I tried in my description to reanalyze every point in order for it to follow more closely to the monomyth but I think what you are saying fits super well.
ReplyDeleteYou did a nice job of breaking down each of the steps that you describe, as well as giving evidence for why you believe these scenes represent each particular step. I thought your interpretation of the Meeting with the Goddess step was unique, and it does make sense in the context of the film and Hero’s Journey cycle. I also thought the examples you listed for Road of Trials were interesting, because I’d known that most of the film fell under this step, but I hadn’t thought about each individual trial. Great post!
ReplyDeleteI really like your idea that the Meeting with the Goddess somewhat intersects with the death of Obi-wan, as it is not really something that I thought about. I think that that viewing of the Meeting of the Goddess gives a somewhat unique insight into the story itself, even if it may mess with the order of the steps. I also think interpreting the road of trials not as a set of disconnected trials but the death star as a whole was also pretty interesting to see.
ReplyDeleteI think that placing the death star as the road of trials makes a lot of sense and you do good job arguing in favor of it. It does look like Luke comes out of the death star a lot different than when he entered it and he gains a lot from it. I could also see temptation as being part of the road of trials but I agree that there are other parts of the story that have elements of it, but I still think it's mainly in the road of trials.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was interesting that you classified Obi-Wan giving Luke his lightsaber and Obi-Wan's death as parts of the Meeting with the Goddess stage. I had always thought that the goddess was Princess Leia, but your interpretation relating both Obi-Wan's gift and death as the "goddess" was convincing. I can see how Obi-Wan might be the goddess figure, giving Luke both a weapon and courage.
ReplyDeleteI also think that putting Obi-Wan's death as meeting with the goddess is interesting, because usually you would think of the gift or benefit from this stage as more of a triumph. However, in this case it is more of a loss that serves to help spur Luke on and become confident in himself, eventually allowing Luke to make the impossible shot and destroy the Death Star and complete his journey.
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