Looking for the Full Episode?  Go to: The Heroic Journey: Understanding Joseph Campbell’s Monomyth Through Iconic Pop Culture – Part 1

_______________________________________________

[00:00:00]

[00:00:14] Well, welcome back. It’s been two years since my last podcast.

[00:00:18] That’s a, that’s a long time. Anyway. I hope you’re happy to hear my voice. I know it’s been a long two years. And I thought I would kick off this year by talking about my most favorite lesson plan that I do in my mythology classes. And that is teaching about the heroic journey.

[00:00:39] You know, Joseph Campbell was.

[00:00:41] This amazing. Researcher and the fact that he connected. Stories from across the world. Really aligns with my values of showing that we have so much more in common with peoples around us than we realize. And that we all have a unique point of view and we should honor those points of views.

[00:01:06] So let’s talk about the heroic journey. In this, I love that John Joseph Campbell calls it the mano myth, right? It’s the one great myth. It’s the one myth to rule them all. I guess. But we see these journeys in cultures all over the world. That never had any interaction with each other. And. You know, that storyline has progressed for centuries and. Almost any movie that we watch. Has a piece of the heroic journey.

[00:01:38] So I don’t teach this. As a myth. I teach this as an archetype and as a storytelling technique. And I’m, I can see this applying in more than just a mythology class. I teach it in my regular ELA classes as well. But not to the depth.

[00:01:53] So I teach Joseph Campbell 17 stages of the monomyth and there’s, three acts, if you will. We have the separation. Our hero is separated from the world that he knows. Then initiation. And then return. And it’s really interesting.

[00:02:13] So the departure or the separation, these events happen usually very quickly at the beginning of this myth. So we find our hero in the ordinary world. This is their home life is probably uneventful for them. Then as we get to know our hero, We see that our hero is considered odd by other people in their world. And often the hero feels out of place.

[00:02:42] So as we go through this mono myth, I’m going to be using examples from pop culture to explain each of these steps. Now if you have my. Heroic journey, PowerPoint, lesson plan, all of that

[00:02:58] You can use this. If you are not as familiar to help you understand how you can teach this to your students.

[00:03:02] Okay. So the first story I want to use to explain this is star wars. I mean, we all know that George Lucas used the heroic journey as a template for star wars. I’m a gen X-er. So the first star wars movie, which is. Star wars, episode four, a new hope. As we open up the movie, we have Luke Skywalker. Living on tattooing and he, he doesn’t want to be a moisture farmer. He doesn’t want to stay there with his aunt and uncle.

[00:03:34] He wants to be a pilot. He wants to see the universe. He wants to go out into the stars. And

[00:03:39] they don’t want to allow him. And, Luke does not fit in with his family.

[00:03:43] If we take Harry Potter, for example. Harry Potter. Doesn’t fit in with the Dursleys crazy things happen to him.

[00:03:51] They don’t want him as part of his family. Like he just doesn’t fit in.

[00:03:55] At some point, our hero is going to get a call to adventure. And this call to adventure is going to be for them to leave their typical environment, to leave their home, to leave the ordinary world. And usually when the call to adventure happens, there’s a discovery or an event or a danger that puts them on their path. So if we take Luke and star wars, He gets his call to adventure when he finds R2D2.

[00:04:26] We’re actually runs away. Fines, Ben Kenobi. He sees the. The message from princess Leia. And this starts Luke, on this adventure, right? This event. Of finding R2D2. R2D2 throwing. Or running away. Ben getting the message. Without those events, liquid have just stayed as a moisture farmer. But. Then

[00:04:51] Ben asks him, come with me. Come with me and I will teach you the ways of the force. And he says, yes. If we look at Harry Potter, the inciting event is. The letter that comes. And even though Harry does not get this letter for. A week. If I remember right. This event leads him to a call, which is to go to heart Hogwarts, right?

[00:05:16] That’s the ultimate call to adventure. And in that he literally leaves his ordinary world and moves into a magical world. Luke leaves his ordinary world of the planet of tattooing and ventures out into the universe.

[00:05:28] Now, every hero will in some way, refuse the call. And this comes from their feeling that they’re inadequate to actually complete this quest that they’ve been called on. And they will initially refuse it, this refusal.

[00:05:45] It’s small often. It’s not like I refuse and they walk away and. Somebody has to convince them to go on the quest. No, it’s usually. It’s. We see this as like doubts within their own self. Right. So with Luke, he says, I can’t go with you. I have chores to do. And Luke actually doesn’t leave with Ben.

[00:06:08] He goes home. He goes back to the farm. And then he finds out that his aunt and uncle have been murdered. And that’s when he makes his final choice. For Harry Potter. It’s so slight. It’s so small. But when Hagrid says to him, you’re a wizard, Harry.

[00:06:27] Harry says me a wizard. I can’t be. So small, this doubt. That Harry had. There’s no way there’s something special about him.

[00:06:38] Now, every hero is not left alone. They all are given super natural aid. In the myths or in the heroic journey, supernatural refers to something that is above the laws of nature. And this can be wisdom. So. If we think about Luke Skywalker. The thing that he gets, the aid that he gets. Is learning how to use the force. It’s a wisdom, right?

[00:07:08] We know that the force. Exists. And it touches everybody’s lives. But only a few people know how to wield it. Whatever this gift is, it’s something that the hero needs in order to succeed. And without it, they would not be successful in their quest. For Harry Potter. The thing that he learns is magic.

[00:07:27] That’s kind of beautiful and wonderful.

[00:07:29] Now. Our heroes are not left to do this on their own. They are always given a guide or a mentor. And this is a specific character that helps them to understand the situation. This person might not be with them forever. In fact, often they leave the hero fairly early on in the story.

[00:07:50] Did the guide and the mentor, they provide them with training. And it’s usually without this person, our hero would never have started on this journey. They never would’ve stepped outside that door.

[00:08:02] So we have Obi wan Kenobi. For. Luke Skywalker. For Harry Potter, a lot of people often want to say that Dumbledore is the mentor. But if you think about it, Harry has very little interaction with Dumbledore. Until Christmas, and the mirror. And that first in our first book. But.

[00:08:26] For Harry the guide or the mentor is Hagrid. Haggard is the one who brings the letter. Haggard is the one who defends them against the Dursleys Haggard is the one who takes him to Diagon alley. Haggard is the one who kind of starts teaching him about the magical world now. A lot of our stories are.

[00:08:47] Built especially in, I think if we’re looking at modern culture, And modern storytelling techniques. Because of series that happen. In books. Or stories. The guide and the mentor can change from story to story. So for Luke Skywalker, he also has a mentor in Yoda, right? And for Harry Potter, he gets a new mentor every year, someone there to help him and support him and take him on his way.

[00:09:19] Now one thing that the mentor usually gives our hero, but it doesn’t have to come from the mentor. Is a talisman. So a talisman is a very specific object and it’s a physical thing. That is a meaningful or significant to the hero. Often, this is something magical. I remember magical in the heroic journey is something that defies the laws of nature. So for Luke Skywalker, his talisman is his lightsaber. For Harry Potter, his talisman is his want. Now Hagrid, didn’t give him his one, but Hagrid showed him how or where to go to get a wand.

[00:10:01] So there’s always a little bit of fudging here and there, but. Basically the same. Now. Of group of people that is incredibly significant for hero. Are his allies or his helpers. In comic book terms, these are the sidekicks, right? Without their assistance, our hero would fail.

[00:10:26] And. The allies come and go. Throughout the myths throughout the stories. They usually don’t stay with the hero the entire time. If we look at. Luke Skywalker. He has several allies, several people.

[00:10:42] So he has R2D2. He has see-through PO. He has Han solo. He has Chewbacca. He has princess Leia. And all of these people. And if we look at the three movie arc, Of Luke Skywalker, all of those people come and go. Throughout those stories. It Harry Potter has allies. Our chiefly run in her mind. Although there are others that come in and help him sometimes as mentors are his allies as well.

[00:11:14] Now. Once our hero. Accepts the call. He has his talisman. His mentor has given him guidance. He will then do the next step is. To cross the threshold. And this is the point where our hero actually crosses from the ordinary world. Into the special world. So for Luke Skywalker. This is the moment. That they for him. He walks into the bar and they arrange transport with Han solo. And

[00:11:51] that moment when he leaves the planet. That is the crossing of the threshold. For Harry Potter, this happens when. He is tapping. On the or Hagrid is tapping on the wall and Diagon alley. Well behind the bar that opens up into Diagon alley. At this moment, Harry crosses. And I love that scene because this is also the moment where we get that great music.

[00:12:16] It comes in. And literally he moves into a different world. You’ll also notice if you watch it visually the leaky cauldron. It’s dark and gray. But when he moves. Through the wall. It is like the sun is shining. And it’s that moment that wizard of Oz moment, where they go from black and white to color. It’s incredible.

[00:12:40] Our hero. Can’t just. Cross the threshold. There’s always. Something, that’s trying to prevent that from happening. And this can show up in multiple ways. So these are called the threshold guardians. These are characters that try to prevent our hero from crossing. And often they can be our hero. Are the hero’s own fears and doubts or internal conflicts. If we take star wars.

[00:13:09] Luke’s threshold.

[00:13:10] Guardians are first his own doubts and fears. He says, no. At first. To bank and OB. And then it becomes trying to get past the, the soldiers, the empire soldiers that are there looking for R two D two.

[00:13:27] Then If we take Harry Potter, his threshold guardians are. Well, the Dursleys. They’re trying to stop him from finding out that he’s a wizard. Stop him from going to Hogwarts. And then the other threshold guardian for him is of course the wall. And.

[00:13:45] In a sort of. Metaphysical sense or I don’t know. Harry’s threshold. Guardian can also be his lack of knowledge. He doesn’t not, he does not understand this world or know it.

[00:13:57] Okay. So that takes us to step two or phase two or act two, which is initiation. Or sometimes this is called the road of trials. This is a pretty long episode. And so I think I’ll stop here. And I think I’ll do two more podcasts. One on the initiation and one on the return. Anyway, I hope as you listened to this. You can think of times in your own life, because we are the heroes of our own stories, where we have crossed that threshold, where we have had mentors, where we have had allies. Where maybe our threshold guardians were ourselves, maybe our own fears. Because this story is not just in myths or. Pop culture. The monomyth and the heroic journey. Lives within all of us.

[00:14:48] And we’ll talk about that more in future episodes.