The Hero with One Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell

The Adolescent’s Journey

Many of the stories that have been told for centuries, or have recently been created, incorporate the story of a young innocent character who embarks on a journey and becomes a hero, known as The Hero’s Journey; a series of steps that all heroes follow. This journey not only shows the main character becoming a hero but also shows the hero move along a path similar to that of adolescence, the path between childhood and maturity. The Hero’s Journey was created by a man by the name of Joseph Campbell. He wrote a book called The Hero with One Thousand Faces, a novel containing a variety of stories that follow the steps of the Hero’s Journey. One famous creation that follows The Hero’s Journey is the science fiction film trilogy: Star Wars, created by George Lucas. Lucas depicts the struggles that take place along the path of adolescence through the story of a protagonist Luke Skywalker, who strives to become a Jedi Knight to show that Campbell’s Hero’s Journey reflects the struggles that youth go through whether they are depicted in a story or not.

There comes a time in every young man or women’s life where he begins to start building up and finding identity. Adolescence includes finding one’s identity because the youth really do not have much of a clue who they want to become as an adult. This is reflected in Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey in the first step of The Ordinary World. The Ordinary World is where the story begins in The Hero’s Journey; it is where the hero lives their everyday life. In this world the hero is trying to figure out who they are and what they want to become. George Lucas’s first film in the Star Wars Trilogy is A New Hope. In this film the protagonist, Luke Skywalker, is introduced...

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...se the force (mind control) and has a sense of confidence and pride in being a Jedi Knight. After completing adolescence young adults have matured and can feel confident in being an adult, much like Luke can now that he is a Jedi Knight.

Works Cited

Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. Dir. Irvin Kershner. Perf. Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford Carrie Fisher. DVD. Twentieth Century Fox, 2006.

Star Wars: A New Hope. Dir. George Lucas. Perf. Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford Carrie Fisher. DVD. Twentieth Century Fox, 2006.

Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. Dir. Richard Marquand. Perf. Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford Carrie Fisher. DVD. Twentieth Century Fox, 2006.

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