Joseph Campbell's Hero Analysis

Sports have undoubtedly had a global impact on culture. From ordinary, popular sports such as running to more blatantly bizarre and obscure activities such as extreme ironing, the world-wide appeal of athletic activities in society has led to their integration in a variety of cultural outlets such as television, social media, journalism, and film. Extending from this desire for athletic competition is the equally ravenous appetite for talented athletes who ultimately transform the sports in which they play. One particular form of communicative media, classical literature, has largely been influenced by society’s desire for the epic athlete, enabling a spectrum of authors from Plato to Hemingway to cater to this audience. Transcending the multitude

Shaped by a 17-step journey, Campbell’s hero is a figure who must overcome a variety of challenges and undergo personal growth in order to effectively understand themselves and the role they fulfill in society. Through said journey, the hero transforms from an individual with unreached potential into a powerful warrior who has defeated obstacles and embraced their destiny, demonstrating themselves to be a champion of, and inspiration to, collective humanity. Campbell writes on the universality and role of the monomyth,

Not only was Greece the birthplace of the Olympics, but it was the country of many philosophers, poets and singers who all praised sports. Lynne Balaeif observes that Greek civilization glorified the body in both art and sports (421), thus providing fertile ground for the popularization of the sports hero. For example, Pindar, the first singer to praise athletes and sports, mentions no less than 11 different sports champions in his works, setting the pattern for the treatment of sports stars as heroes while Homer’s timeless works The Iliad and The Odyssey constitute the first examples of sports reporting (Fajardo 443). Homer’s works in particular exemplify the strength of the sports hero as they feature the character of Odysseus, who “is every inch a player who showed himself in The Iliad…he also excelled in the funeral games for Patrocles in wrestling and running, which presages his adventures—as navigator, sailor, swimmer in the later epic” (Meyers 350). Odysseus’ athletic prowess as well as his eventual reconciliation with his wife and son after completing several tasks prove him to fulfill both the roles of the sports hero and the archetypal hero. His status as hero further stems from his role as a vessel for the important values of being mindful of the gods and being loyal to one’s family. Odysseus demonstrates these values through both his seduction of Calypso