The Hero's Journey: Joseph Campbell and the Mythology of Star Wars

Why Do We Love the Hero’s Journey?

After you see The Mandalorian & Grogu, explore the "monomyth" that connects Luke Skywalker, Moses, and the Buddha. 

The creator of Star Wars, George Lucas, said that he tried to tell "an old myth in a new way" and to "distill" the ideas of the world's religions to create the story-world of Star Wars. In his efforts, Lucas relied heavily on the work of Joseph Campbell, whose 1949 book The Hero with a Thousand Faces argued that all classical hero stories are variations on one central myth.

For Campbell, and for Lucas, the diversity of hero stories from the world's religions belies a common pattern of descent and return. The hero enters an unfamiliar world, confronts the darkness within and without, and finally returns with a gift that brings life to others. Whether it's Moses, the Buddha, or Luke Skywalker, the archetypal hero goes on what Lucas calls "a voyage of transformation by trials and revelations," discovering how they are connected to all living beings. 

While Campbell's work has been criticized by scholars, it has been embraced by storytellers and screenwriters. Since the late seventies, the hero's journey has provided the template not just for the Star Wars movies but also the majority of superhero movies and Hollywood heroism more generally. Whether we agree with Campbell's theory or not, understanding his interpretation of myths as expressions of the collective unconscious can help us ask why we enjoy stories that follow this well-worn story structure. Considering how Campbell's "monomyth" is and is not like stories of saints, sages, and bodhisattvas helps us understand where the similarities and differences are between religious traditions, as well as the ways blockbuster films can serve a religious function.

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