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The Myth Reawakens

2015-12-22 · review / recommendation · John · 3:59 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Pop culture · mode: Personal essay · tags: timely hook

John argues, without spoilers, that the original Star Wars films mattered as myth on Joseph Campbell's hero's-journey model, and that The Force Awakens revives and broadens that myth, especially its sense of who counts as a person.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — No-spoilers joke about the Force rippling through people; John has seen the film twice and likes it

  • ★ John promises no spoilers, then jokes that being alive is a minor spoiler because people who saw the film change you as the Force ripples through the universe. (playful) — 00:00:01
  • ★★ John has seen the new Star Wars film twice, really likes it, and wants to work out why. — 00:00:26

00:00:31 — Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces and its influence on George Lucas

  • ★★ John introduces Joseph Campbell, author of The Hero with a Thousand Faces, a famous book about shared mythologies across cultures and historical eras. — 00:00:31

  • ★★★ Joseph Campbell (quoted): Campbell, quoted by John: a hero ventures from the everyday world into supernatural wonder, meets fabulous forces and wins a decisive victory. — 00:00:45

    “a hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder”

  • ★★ John says Campbell's writing on shared mythologies strongly influenced George Lucas writing the original Star Wars, and Luke Skywalker follows the hero's journey step by step. — 00:00:59

00:01:12 — The original trilogy as myth: awe and recognition, and the assigning of personhood (R2-D2, Chewie, Stormtroopers)

  • ★★★ John thinks the original Star Wars trilogy matters today not just as good movies with great effects and music, but because as myth they are brilliant. (hedged) — 00:01:12

  • ★★ John says Luke's story gave him the awe and recognition we seek from myth: recognition as a ne'er-do-well dreaming of space, awe at Vader and the Death Star. — 00:01:22

    “that intoxicating mix of awe and recognition that we seek from myth”

  • ★★★ John says that like any good myth, Star Wars helps us understand and identify ourselves as people, and the assigning of personhood matters in the original films. — 00:01:46

  • ★★ John notes we pity the droid R2-D2 and empathize with Chewie though he isn't human, but not with humanoid, English-speaking Stormtroopers, who weren't 'proper people' in 1977. — 00:01:56 · empathy

00:02:19 — Criticisms of the originals don't matter; the prequels lacked mythic resonance

  • ★★ John says criticisms of the originals (hokey dialogue, tiny galaxy, coincidences) were irrelevant to him, just as Jonah's dialogue with the whale is beside the point. (playful) — 00:02:19
  • ★★ John says the prequels lacked mythic resonance, were for many just movies and not great ones, and made him think Star Wars had given the common myth all it could. — 00:02:38

00:02:57 — The Force Awakens honors and broadens the myth and its idea of personhood

  • ★★★ John says he was wrong: The Force Awakens is great, honoring the original hero's-journey myth while expanding and deepening it toward a broader understanding of personhood. — 00:02:57
  • ★★ John says the first teaser, where a Stormtrooper removes his helmet to show a human face, made those dismissable for six movies suddenly people connected to us. — 00:03:12
  • ★★ John says the film shows the hero with a thousand faces need not be male, white or a petulant ne'er-do-well. — 00:03:29
  • ★★ John says it isn't a perfect movie, with a still tiny galaxy and sometimes clunky dialogue, but it is a very effective myth. — 00:03:35

00:03:42 — John hasn't grown too old to love a movie; sign-off

  • ★★ John had worried he'd grown too old to properly love a movie, but finds he can still nerd out about one he loves. — 00:03:42

Threads in this video

  • restate · What is art for? — John says that like any good myth, Star Wars helps us understand and identify ourselves as people. (00:01:46)

Mentioned

Central: hero's journey · Joseph Campbell · personhood · Star Wars · Star Wars: The Force Awakens · The Hero with a Thousand Faces

Also: People: George Lucas

Works: Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace · Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones · Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith

Concepts: empathy · spoiler

Characters: Chewbacca · Darth Vader · Death Star · Luke Skywalker · R2-D2 · Stormtrooper · The Force

Myths: Jonah

Also centred on personhood: What Does It Mean to Be Human?

Also centred on Star Wars: 13 SEVERED HANDS! (1) · 13 SEVERED HANDS! (2) · Disney Buys Star Wars and DFTVA! · Zero Severed Hands: On Star Wars and Making Things

Also centred on Star Wars: The Force Awakens: Zero Severed Hands: On Star Wars and Making Things

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