How Useful Is The Hero’s Journey In Analysing The Protagonists Journey In Star Wars
This essay will be analysing the film “Star Wars: A New Hope” and the journey of the character Luke Skywalker through the lens of Joseph Campbell and Christopher Vogler’s theory of the Hero’s Journey and discussing how well the film adheres to the ideas proposed by Campbell and expanded upon by Vogler.
The Hero’s Journey is a detailed outline of how the hero of a story traverses the plotline from start to finish.
Vogler states the stages of the Hero’s Journey as the following:
THE ORDINARY WORLD - This stage is specified by Vogler as the the beginning stage. The world is established for us and the Hero is introduced to us in a sympathetic light in a setting …show more content…
While trying to escape they discover that Princess Leia is being held prisoner in the space station, they release her from her cell and after facing stormtroopers find them in a trash compactor. Both Campbell and Vogler refer to this part of the story as the “Belly Of The Whale” and Vogler even references a moment of symbolic “death and rebirth. This can be seen in the moment when the trash compactor stops closing, and C3PO mistakes Luke’s cries of relief as the sound of his death. Luke then escapes the trash compactor having faced death and survived. But the ordeal is not over as they still must battle their way through Storm Troopers and make it back to the Millennium Falcon. Luke has to watch Obi Wan die before him and is forced to run away. But despite the loss loss of his mentor they are successful in their escape with the death star …show more content…
The stakes couldn’t be higher at this point as the faction that loses will face total destruction. Luke joins the assault force, and begins his attack on the enemy space station, and one by one each of his allies are picked off, until Luke is the last fighter left that has any hope of making the shot that will destroy the death star. Vogler also says “the trick for writers is to show the change in their characters, by behavior or appearance” in star wars this takes form in a change in Luke behaviour, when he listens to the advice of Obi Wan and trusts in the power of the force rather than his targeting computer to make the final shot that will decide the fate of millions.
RETURN WITH THE ELIXIR - The final stage in the hero’s journey in which the characters have overcome their most difficult challenges and return home with a gift, which can be physical and tangible, or it may be something more abstrict. The “heroes return to their starting place, go home, or continue the journey. But they always proceed with a sense that they are commencing a new life, one that will be forever different because of the road just traveled.”
Luke returns to his new home; the rebel base with his friends to celebrate their victory over the empire and the gift he brings back with him to the people of the rebel alliance is the gift of freedom from the tyranny of the empire as well as not suffering
This essay will be analysing the film “Star Wars: A New Hope” and the journey of the character Luke Skywalker through the lens of Joseph Campbell and Christopher Vogler’s theory of the Hero’s Journey and discussing how well the film adheres to the ideas proposed by Campbell and expanded upon by Vogler.
The Hero’s Journey is a detailed outline of how the hero of a story traverses the plotline from start to finish.
Vogler states the stages of the Hero’s Journey as the following:
THE ORDINARY WORLD - This stage is specified by Vogler as the the beginning stage. The world is established for us and the Hero is introduced to us in a sympathetic light in a setting …show more content…
While trying to escape they discover that Princess Leia is being held prisoner in the space station, they release her from her cell and after facing stormtroopers find them in a trash compactor. Both Campbell and Vogler refer to this part of the story as the “Belly Of The Whale” and Vogler even references a moment of symbolic “death and rebirth. This can be seen in the moment when the trash compactor stops closing, and C3PO mistakes Luke’s cries of relief as the sound of his death. Luke then escapes the trash compactor having faced death and survived. But the ordeal is not over as they still must battle their way through Storm Troopers and make it back to the Millennium Falcon. Luke has to watch Obi Wan die before him and is forced to run away. But despite the loss loss of his mentor they are successful in their escape with the death star …show more content…
The stakes couldn’t be higher at this point as the faction that loses will face total destruction. Luke joins the assault force, and begins his attack on the enemy space station, and one by one each of his allies are picked off, until Luke is the last fighter left that has any hope of making the shot that will destroy the death star. Vogler also says “the trick for writers is to show the change in their characters, by behavior or appearance” in star wars this takes form in a change in Luke behaviour, when he listens to the advice of Obi Wan and trusts in the power of the force rather than his targeting computer to make the final shot that will decide the fate of millions.
RETURN WITH THE ELIXIR - The final stage in the hero’s journey in which the characters have overcome their most difficult challenges and return home with a gift, which can be physical and tangible, or it may be something more abstrict. The “heroes return to their starting place, go home, or continue the journey. But they always proceed with a sense that they are commencing a new life, one that will be forever different because of the road just traveled.”
Luke returns to his new home; the rebel base with his friends to celebrate their victory over the empire and the gift he brings back with him to the people of the rebel alliance is the gift of freedom from the tyranny of the empire as well as not suffering