Joseph Campbell

This paper examines Jung’s rebirth archetype in two popular fairy tales, focusing on how it is described, how it specifically functions within the narratives, and on underlying mythopoeic imagery from which the narratives are constructed. The preliminary study combines formalist intertextual literary analysis of Fitcher’s Bird (better known as Bluebeard) and Little Red Cap (better known as Little Red Riding Hood) with a multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, cross-cultural, and transmedial hermeneutical perspective grounded in the theories of Carl G. Jung, Arnold van Gennep, Mircea Eliade, Joseph Campbell, Marija Gimbutas, and other major interpreters. The paper provides a Theoretical Overview and applies the theory to archetypal interpretation in the two tales.  The findings hold practical implications for the contemporary relevance of fairy tales as tools of psychological analysis, wisdom tales, and repositories of mythopoeic symbols.  The findings also contribute to an increasingly wide-ranging multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary perspective in the social sciences, arts, and humanities.

Key words: rebirth, archetype, mythico-ritual, individuation, initiation, fairy tales, folk tales, mythopoetics, depth psychology, hermeneutics, literature, shamanism, symbolism

This chapter explores the narrative structure underlying J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter heptalogy, suggesting that it follows the model of the monomyth or hero's journey not only as a basic pattern for the whole story line, but also for each individual volume. Drawing on Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces and Carl Gustav Jung's psychological archetypes, this archaic narrative has been recognised as one of the major plots in literature. According to archetypal and myth theory, these narrative patterns are part of our collective unconscious and can be observed at any time in any culture, mirroring basic human experiences. Rowling applies the hero's journey without being formulaic, but she remains true to its original form, the cycle of separation, initiation and return, while her characters take on the roles of different Jungian archetypes during the individual volumes, allowing them to develop into fully faceted personalities within the space of seven books. The article traces the eight stations of the monomyth in Harry's journey from childhood to adulthood, from chosen child to the hero of his own story, and it points out which archetypal roles the characters take on, arguing that the structure of the novels is more complex than they are sometimes given credit for.

Faith in the Journey: Personal Mythology as Pathway to the Sacred By Richard S. Stromer This dissertation explores the idea of personal mythology as an approach for engaging in the search for a more personal relationship to the sacred. Underlying this work is a concern with the post-modern dilemma of how to approach religious renewal in an age dominated by a reductionistic, materialistically oriented secularism on the one hand and dogmatic religious fundamentalisms on the other. Seeking to avoid both the demythologizing tendency of secularism and the equally damaging tendency of fundamentalism to literalize archetypal and mythic material, this dissertation explores the possibility of a third alternative. That alternative approach requires an ongoing personal engagement with both the world's religious and mythological traditions and the sacred dimension of each individual's life story from a perspective that is inherently symbolic, metaphorical, archetypal, and imaginal. This work is interdisciplinary in nature and draws on content from the fields of comparative mythology, religious studies, and depth psychology. It is hermeneutical in approach, exploring and synthesizing this varied content in order to explicate the concept of personal mythology as a religious endeavor. In doing so, this dissertation first focuses on the evolution of the concept of personal mythology over the past century. Secondly, it explores a range of contemporary theological approaches for understanding the nature of the sacred, of divinity, and of religious faith that make sense in relationship to the iii concept of personal mythology. Thirdly, this work explores ways in which personal mythology effectively synthesizes insights drawn from both depth psychology and religion. Fourthly, it focuses on relevant aspects of the work of Joseph Campbell and C. G. Jung, two individuals who have played key roles in conceptualizing the contemporary mythological approach to the religious domain of life. Lastly, this dissertation proposes the concept of "faith in the journey" as a metaphor for the religious implications of exploring one's personal mythology. In this context, it is argued that seeking the sacred through the mythic dimension of one's life story fosters an evolving form of personal religious faith predicated on a profound sense on the inherent rightness and necessity of one's unique life journey.

This paper provides a brief introductory interpretation of some key archetypal motifs in the Celtic mythology of Tristan and Isolde.  The interpretation is based on elements taken from numerous interpreters of the myth, from Thomas of Brittany and Gottfried von Strassburg to the contemporary retelling by the French scholar, Joseph Bedier, from which the current author’s narrative is largely derived.  An archetypal tale of forbidden love, the story of Tristan and Isolde is one of the most profound and thoroughly developed archetypal stories of the hero journey, utilizing more than 60 archetypal symbols and motifs, rich with metaphorical imagery closely corresponding to the images found abundantly in the world’s myths, rites, shamanic initiations and Jung’s individuation process.  The narrative is augmented with amplification by archetypal images appearing in the Celtic tale that are also found in mythopoeic narratives of the ancient Greeks, Hebrews and other cultures.  Possible psychological meanings of the images are indicated, and a bibliography is provided for further research.

The 1939 family classic film, The Wizard of Oz, based on the beloved children’s tale by L. Frank Baum, represents a modern example of mythologist Joseph Campbell’s model of the hero quest myth.  This two-part study begins with a theoretical overview contextualizing The Wizard of Oz, as mythopoeic literature, and Campbell’s hero quest paradigm, informed by Carl G. Jung’s theories and methods as well as other key sources.  The second part of the study applies Campbell’s model to the text of Baum’s Oz narrative in both its cinematic and literary forms, examining Baum’s tale for archetypal features described in Campbell’s model of the initial stage of the “leitmotif of the monomyth.”  This comparative analysis emphasizes the myth-motif of the threshold passage accompanied by sequentially interconnected, recurring myth-motifs identified by Campbell and associated with the initial stage of Dorothy Gale’s transformational journey, i.e., separation from ordinary reality.  This narrative interpretation demonstrates key symbolic features of mythico-ritual (initiatory) structure in the initial stage of Baum’s modern fairy tale.  Screenshots from the movie visually illustrate that Dorothy’s journey in the other world of Oz closely follows the archetypal, symbolic structure of Campbell’s classic quest myth of the hero. 

Keywords: archetype, Arnold van Gennep, Carl G. Jung, hero quest, initiation, Jean Houston, Joseph Campbell, J. R. R. Tolkien, L. Frank Baum, Mircea Eliade, monomyth, myth-motif, mythic orphan, mythology, mythopoeic, narrative, night sea journey, primordial image, rites of passage, ritual, shaman, threshold passage, Wizard of Oz

‘Who am I?’ is the central question of the hero’s journey. This thesis takes the hero’s journey as motif and metaphor for the exploration of subjectivity, and explores the manner in which woman’s journey as hero has been marginalised. For woman, the question ‘Who am I’ has been obscured by the more pressing question, ‘Who is woman?’ This thesis sets out to find and follow woman as hero and in so doing, to explore woman’s evolving socio-cultural and psychological relationship with what it is to be human. To begin this journey, I turn to feminist theory as a principle space for the examination of the question of Woman. I trace feminism’s development of, and increasingly complex engagement with, the definition of Woman as subject. Arriving at the juncture of contemporary feminist discourse I introduce the unique tools and sophisticated philosophy of Wilber’s Integral theory in order to examine the possibilities that an Integral feminism may offer for the (re)construction of the female subject. Reciprocally, feminist theory is brought to bear upon Integral theory. Following the proposition that the emergence of post-conventional feminist subjectivity represents an evolutionary unfolding of consciousness, this thesis follows and investigates the stages of consciousness as posed in Wilber’s evolutionary spiritual philosophy. As Wilber utilises perspectives from multiple disciplines to construct his theory, I utilise interdisciplinary feminist evidence to interrogate his theory of consciousness and to thus trace woman as hero through these stages. Finally, I return to examine the manner in which classic models of the hero have posed the separative (male) self as the omega point of human development. I contextualise the limits of this model by introducing the more expansive horizons of contemporary Adult Developmental theory. By applying this expanded spectrum of development with a specific eye to gender I illustrate the heroine’s journey to the embodiment of the Unitive horizon of the divine. Further I demonstrate the necessity of establishing a genealogy of the female divine as complement to this path, from which a figure of the female divine horizon (after Irigaray), who is both guide and goal for the heroine on her journey may emerge. Defined in her own name, plotted as a subject in the evolutionary stages of consciousness, and with a gender specific pathway of development towards the divine horizon, this thesis looks towards rendering a neo-perennial mythology of the journey of woman as hero that places her in the context of the dawning Integral stage.

A segunda década do terceiro milênio chega ao fim e, com ela, um cenário político conservador. No Brasil, o poder da bancada BBB (Bala, Boi e Bíblia) no Congresso e a popularidade do presidenciável Jair Bolsonaro atestam isso. Esse cenário é resultado, em parte, da crescente influência das igrejas pentecostais e neopentecostais na arena política, havendo, em geral, uma convergência entre as posições ideológicas dos evangélicos e seus valores familiares. Para compreender esse fenômeno, fez-se um estudo de caso do mito familiar de uma denominação neopentecostal em particular: a Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus (IURD), o maior fenômeno religioso do Brasil dos últimos 30 anos, tomando-se como objeto de estudo a literatura produzida sobre e por seu líder e por membros de sua família. Os marcos teóricos do estudo foram: o pensamento do psiquiatra suíço Carl Gustav Jung, criador da psicologia analítica e a sociologia do neopentecostalimo brasileiro. A mitologia familiar IURDiana foi compreendida principalmente a partir do estudo sobre o mito familiar IURDiano, dividida em: o mito do herói, o mito do Eterno Feminino e o mito familiar propriamente dito, um construto teórico ainda pouco explorado na comunidade Junguiana. Outros intérpretes do mito também foram incluídos: Simone de Beauvoir, Joseph Campbell, Mircea Eliade e James Hillman. Apresentou-se um breve histórico sobre as três ondas do pentecostalismo no país e da trajetória da IURD, desde a sua fundação à inauguração do Templo de Salomão. A análise centrou-se nos perfis do homem, da mulher e da família de Deus idealizados por Edir Macedo. Foram apontadas como características da teologia IURDiana: a submissão da mulher, o domínio da razão sobre emoção, o fomento à prosperidade material e a luta constante contra outros credos, havendo evidências de que o mito familiar da Igreja Universal seja uma adaptação pós-moderna da “família tradicional” brasileira. Esta seria uma família patriarcal, cuja configuração coloca o mito pessoal do pai como o mito central da família. Esse modelo de família tradicional ajudaria as fiéis da IURD a recuperarem a unidade familiar e serem valorizadas frente a situações de exclusão econômica e social. As posturas contraditórias dos pastores, obreiros e até do próprio Bispo perante o seu mito familiar também foram discutidas.

Joseph Campbell is the mythographer of the last century who has congenially opened the mythological universe to both scholars and to a wide range of people searching for pathways to enlighten their lives. His elixir of life was to help people “see myth as a reflection of the one sublime adventure of life, and then to breathe new life into it” (Campbell, 2003, p. xiv). The hero’s journey is his gift, his “ultimate boon” (Campbell, 2008, p. 29) for the human condition and social world. It represents a universal motif which runs through virtually all kinds of change, transformation, and growth. The main objective of this special issue of the Journal of Genius and Eminence is to explore the multi-faceted potential of the hero’s journey and perhaps shed new light on it. The introduction gives an overview of Campbell’s ultimate boon and a summary of each of the 12 articles that follow. Distinguished scientists and outstanding practitioners have joined this journey in tribute to Campbell and the 30th anniversary of his death. The contributors take us far and wide, exploring different ways to explore Campbell’s thoughts, allowing insights into the nuances and subtleties of his mythological world, and striking new ways to illuminate the Campbellian universe.

This paper examines archetypal, initiatory symbolism in interconnected Biblical narratives, the Old Testament story of Jonah and the Fish (or Whale) and the apocryphal story known as the Harrowing of Hell, a metaphorical relationship alluded to in Jesus Christ’s cryptic reference to the “sign of Jonah.”  An amplification of the imagery indicates the symbolic identity of these two mythico-ritual, structural motifs and relates the imagery in both stories to widely distributed primordial rebirth symbolism common to aboriginal people across the world.  The interpretive framework for this literary analysis is grounded in a cross-cultural, trans-medial, multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary perspective derived from the psychological criticism of Carl G. Jung and scholars influenced by Jung’s archetypal theories, including Joseph Campbell (comparative mythology/literary mythology), Mircea Eliade (history of religions), Northrop Frye (archetypal literary criticism), and others.  The study contributes to an interdisciplinary hermeneutic of archetypal, mythico-ritual imagery found in dreams, fairy tales, and religious myths and rituals, as well as literary and film narratives.

    Keywords: literary analysis, hermeneutics, myth-criticism, mythopoeic, mythopoetic, archetypes, amplification, theology, mythology, initiation, rebirth, monomyth, night-sea journey, individuation

The tools of business are dynamic - capital, people, markets and ideas - all are living entities in a constant state of flux. To take these tools - to work with them and reorganize them in new and different ways to produce a positive effect in your life and your organization --is the essence of the creative process. How to get there? This work will provide a working map for the journey towards your own potential.

Westerns build tension through stand-offs and duels, while Battleship Potemkin creates tension through the escalating conflict between the sailors and their oppressors, leading to moments of intense drama and emotional impact. While Battleship Potemkin and spaghetti Westerns differ greatly in their settings and political contexts, both genres depict a struggle between good and evil, with heroic figures standing up against manichaean oppressive forces.
Beyond such representations, the hierarchy of tragedy resisted the attacks of affirmative action. It was Thomas De Quincey, with his short essay "On the Knocking at the Gate in Macbeth," who opened my understanding to the third ethical narrative: compassion for the wicked, the damned, and the criminals.
The writings of Joseph Campbell reinforced my understanding of the ethical value of the myth. While the comic hero suffers mockery and ridicule without remedy because we understand they are inadequate, the mythical hero confronts such mockery and ridicule with hope, as they deeply understand that their societies are the inadequate ones. Socrates, Jesus, and Saint Joan are submissive mythical characters for reasons that highlight them as figures of peaceful resistance against injustice and oppression.
Socrates accepted his fate with dignity and wisdom, despite the injustice of his condemnation. Accused of corrupting the youth of Athens and impiety, instead of fleeing or rebelling, he chose to defend his principles to the end. Socrates understood that his mission was to question and challenge the norms and beliefs of his society to seek truth and justice. His submission was not passive acceptance but a form of intellectual and moral resistance that inspired future generations.
Jesus, for his part, confronted mockery and ridicule with hope and faith in his divine mission. Throughout his life, he preached a message of love, compassion, and justice in a society that often rejected and ridiculed him. Despite facing persecution, torture, and finally crucifixion, he accepted his fate with serenity, convinced that his sacrifice had a greater purpose. His submission to divine will and his willingness to suffer for humanity gained him universal recognition as The Messiah.
Saint Joan of Arc is another example of a submissive mythical hero who faced mockery and persecution with courage and unwavering faith. Though a young peasant girl, she firmly believed that God had entrusted her with the mission of liberating France from English occupation during the Hundred Years' War. Despite the mockery, betrayal, and ultimately the trial and execution for heresy, Joan remained faithful to her vision and convictions. Her submission was not surrender but a demonstration of her commitment to her faith and country.
Socrates, Jesus, and Saint Joan faced injustice, mockery, and ridicule not with violent rebellion but with dignified acceptance and unwavering commitment to their principles and missions. These heroes deeply understood that their societies were wrong, and through their submission and sacrifice, they sought to transform and redeem the world around them. Their hope and peaceful resistance make them eternal figures of inspiration and ethical example.
Cinema is the crown of the arts, for it gathers them all, as Wagner once dreamed of. Any film is the result of 16,000 years of dramatic writing, so we, as filmmakers, stand on the shoulders of giants, as George Bernard Shaw used to say.
In this book, I unmask the revengeful ethical discourse of many action films, but also of many so-called "auteur cinema" films that, under the populist facade of communism, socialism, progressivism, or any other "ism," seek to demonize "the other," now called "the middle reactionary class," in the same way that the Spanish Inquisition and the National Socialists demonized the Jews.

Since the beginning of the Digital Game Studies in the 1980’s, the relationship between interactive and narrative elements of hybrid digital games has been an important issue. Are digital games texts, stories, simulations or games? What are the crucial traits of their ludicity or hybridity? This book wants to contribute to these debates by designing a model making it possible to analyse the hybrid nature of interactive-narrative digital games in a differentiated manner. Therefore narratives like Joseph Campbell’s ‘Hero’s Journey’ are used to bridge the gap between the interactive and performative elements of digital games on the one hand and the narrative ones on the other hand. The monomyth (within the meaning of Campbell) provides a very wide range of mythological themes and contents as well as mythical functions allowing the designers to influence the player’s actions. Finally, Nintendo’s The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998) functions as a typical example demonstrating the mechanics of the continuum model by using a little explored digital game.

The translation of The Writer's Journey, by Christopher Vogler, and the practically simultaneous publication of Story, by Robert McKee, revived the debate about books on film and TV scripts, in which guides, descriptive studies and academic analyses are mixed together in a field where often the borders between different particular issues are crossed. This intersection of theoretical writings discloses a great deal of agreement between academic conclusions and the ones screenwriters reach in their day-to-day practice, which can produce the question: in what ways do screenwriting manuals and analytical studies complement each other and how do they exchange contributions?

A través de siete apartados se analiza la cronología de Star Wars, el contexto histórico-social que la determina y cómo se evidencia en la saga. También por qué se puede considerar Star Wars como un mito moderno y cómo refleja el viaje del héroe. Son estudiados aspectos religiosos que gira alrededor del concepto de la Fuerza, los aprendizajes biopedagógicos, la interculturalidad manifiesta en la saga y los elementos que ésta posee para que se desarrolle un nuevo camino espiritual llamado jedismo.
Abstract Through seven sections the chronology of Star Wars, the historical and social context that determines it and how is evident in the saga are analyzed. Also in which way Star Wars is a modern myth and how the hero's journey is reflected. Eeligious aspects that revolves around the concept of the Force, the biopedagogy learning, interculturalism manifested in the saga and the elements that this series of films has to develop a new spiritual path called jedism are studied.

The problem of reading, in language teaching, is a big challenge. Today's globalized world scenario requires individuals to refine their habilities and knowledge for a greater experience of the possibilities offered by society. This monograph is intended to contribute for the critical reader-students formation. Based on the research of Joseph Campbell on the theme of "Mother Goddess", recurring on various mythological traditions, the study of metaphors, or even analogies present in mythical texts analyzed by Campbell, approaches from Philosophy, Anthropology and History. Of great cultural value, the object of the present study is also a provocative invitation to reflection, especially by raising the issue of relations between man and nature - the Goddess body. The theme was developed in textual interpretation classes with students of 2nd year of high school and was well received. Interesting and promising results was obtained, given the great interest aroused in the students.

Keywords: mother goddess_metaphor_textual interpretation.

Realizou-se, no último mês de Setembro, o lançamento do livro: “Maçonaria e
Simbologia: Uma Análise do Preconceito Através da História e da Simbologia”, ocorrido na
Biblioteca Municipal de Sumaré/São Paulo. O livro consiste no trabalho de pesquisa em
Iniciação Científica, financiada com apoio da Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de
São Paulo – FAPESP. A investigação, proposta no projeto inicial, principiou-se com a
pesquisa bibliográfica, o que levou a um minucioso processo de coleta de dados, visto que boa
parte do material encontrado não tinha o caráter científico*
necessário para, por si só, garantir
uma pesquisa de qualidade. A pergunta inicial, levantada no projeto, consistia em ponderar,
de maneira científica, os motivos da existência do preconceito em torno da Maçonaria que
muitas vezes fora, e ainda continua sendo, taxada como um culto satânico. O questionamento
foi levantado após pesquisas precedentes em torno da Simbologia das religiões, realizadas
durante a graduação em Psicologia. Toda a pesquisa, de modo geral, priorizou pela
investigação de obras de autores de renome como Campbell, Eliade e Jung, juntamente com
outros historiadores e antropólogos. Além disso, foram realizada visitas técnicas no exterior, e
análise de documentação histórica, relativas à Maçonaria, sendo que muitos destes
documentos se encontram no Arquivo Nacional de Portugal – Torre do Tombo

Avertebrata merupakan golongan hewan yang termasuk ke dalam kelompok yang tidak mempunyai tulang belakang atau penyokong tubuh. Salah satu golongan avertebrata yang akan dibahas dimakalah ini adalah Filum Coelenterata. Istilah coelenterata diambil dari bahasa Yunani (Greek);coilos= rongga, enteron=usus. Namun gabungan istilah tersebut tidak diartikan sebagai hewan yang ususnya berongga, melainkan cukup disebut hewan berongga. Coelenterata adalah hewan yang memiliki rongga di dalam tubuhnya yang berfungsi sebagai organ pencernaan sekaligus sebagai pengedar sari makanan. Coelenterata disebut juga Cnidaria berasal dari bahasa Yunani ; cnidos=jarum penyengat. Disebut demikian karena memiliki knidosit atau sel-sel penyengat yang ada pada epidermisnya. Filum Coelenterata tersebut terdiri dari tiga kelas yaitu Hydrozoa, Scypozoa, dan Anthozoa. Hydrozoa berasal dari bahasa yunani, yaitu hydro yang berarti air dan zoa yang berarti hewan. Scyphozoa berasal dari bahasa Yunani, scypho = mangkuk dan zoa = hewan. Anthozoa berasal dari bahasa Yunani, anthos berarti bunga, dan zoon berarti hewan. Tubuh hewan-hewan dari filum ini tersusun oleh dua lapis jaringan dan satu lapisan non seluler. Bagian luar berupa lapisan jaringa epidermis dan dalam lapisan jaringan endodermis atau gastrodermis, sedangkan di antara kedua lapisan ada lapisan non seluler yang disebut mesoglea. Bentuk tubuhnya memiliki dua tipe yaitu sebagai polip yang sesil dan sebagai medusa yang dapat bergerak bebas. Coelenterata dapat berkembangbiak secara seksual maupun aseksual. Dalam makalah ini juga membahas aspek-aspek biologi Hydra, Aurelia aurita, Metridium marginatum dilihat dari sistem reproduksi, respirasi, pergerakan, dsb.

Resumo O estudo da temática dos símbolos e das tradições filo-sófico-iniciáticas trouxe à luz este artigo. Baseando-nos na escas-sez de estudos na área, principalmente pela pouca quantidade de artigos científicos que tratem de tal temática, é que surgiu o interesse por pesquisar e dialogar com a história de uma das mais antigas e difundidas sociedades esotéricas existentes no mundo. Um enfoque histórico e fenomenológico foi importante para ava-liar o atual estado da arte, cujo tema é bastante complexo, pois a ficção se mistura com o real e histórico. Por isso, o amparo em estudos de autores consagrados, como Eliade e Campbell, forne-ceu uma base científica necessária para a execução da pesquisa. O artigo trata, em linhas gerais, sobre o contexto histórico em que ocorreu o surgimento da Ordem Rosa-Cruz, bem como um pouco de sua mitologia. Abstract The theme of the study of symbols, philosophical and initiatory traditions inspired this article. Since there are not many studies in this area, neither scientific articles about this subject, a research about the history of one of the oldest and most widespread esoteric societies around the world seemed to be worthwhile. A historical and phenomenological view was important to assess the current state of the art knowing that the subject is also quite complex because it mixes fiction with reality and history. Therefore, the support from expert authors, such as Eliade and Campbel, provided a scientific basis for the execution of the research. What's more the article is about the historical background in which the emergence of the Rosicrucian Order occurred and some of its mythology as well.

The book I wrote on Joseph Campbell's reception of C.G. Jung. Based on my PhD thesis at university of Edinburgh, Religious Studies department, and on archival research done at Joseph Campbell library in Santa Barbara. First chapter available for download.

“Going beyond the conventional paralleling of Campbell with Jung, Ritske Rensma argues that Campbell’s view of Jung went through three stages. At first, Campbell granted Jung and Freud equal importance in the understanding of myth. Next, Campbell rejected Jung's view on, especially, the origin of myth in favor of the ethological view espoused by Konrad Lorenz and Niko Tinbergen. Finally, Campbell came to see the overlap between Jung and the ethologists. An original, scholarly approach to Campbell, one that rests substantially on the scrutiny of unpublished material. Strongly recommended.”

Robert A. Segal, Sixth Century Chair in Religious Studies, University of Aberdeen, UK

The hero archetype has two sides. On the one hand it provides the impetus for personal emancipation, contributing to the success of Western culture. On the other hand it has given rise to present-day hubris and expansionism. The article investigates the dark side of unthinking heroic worship. It is argued that our civilization is under the spell of an illusion of heroism causing a collective hubris and fixation on principles, to the detriment of the personal values of the heart. As portrayed in myth, the hero must be allowed to die.

Keywords: sun-hero, suicide bomber, terrorism, Icarus, hubris, individuation, apocalypse, millenarianism, Carl Jung.

Peer Reviewed Proceedings of the 7th Annual Conference Popular Culture Association of Australia and New Zealand (PopCAANZ), Sydney, 29 June – 1 July, 2016, pp. 79-87. ISBN: 978-0-473-38284-1. © 2016

This paper surveys select aspects of Joseph Campbell’s monomyth, a model developed in his now-iconic work The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949) and compares it with the weird fiction of author H.P. Lovecraft’s ‘Cthulhu Mythos’. Throughout, it is argued that Lovecraft’s writing shares superficial similarities with the monomyth, ostensibly or actually mirroring certain stages, yet Lovecraft’s work is ultimately subversive of this model. The only triumph in Lovecraft’s work is the continuance of the loathsome entities encountered within his stories. It is argued that Lovecraft’s portrayal of the monstrous can be viewed as an outworking of what Campbell terms ‘horrendous Divine Comedy’. Accounting for this type of storytelling, Lovecraft’s recurrent portrayals of annihilation, the monstrous and cosmic horror could be illustrative of the metanarratives of his own life. In this sense they reflect his experiences and evolving beliefs in early-twentieth century North America. Despite the personalized anxieties of these works, they have endured, continuing to appeal to present-day audiences.

Posté par revueprojections ⋅ juin 20, 2012 ⋅ 2 Commentaires Classé dans Christopher Vogler Il existe aujourd'hui peu d'écrivains qui n'ont pas entendu parler de La force d'inspiration des mythes pour l'écriture cinématographique et romanesque, de Christopher Vogler. En effet, l'idée matrice qui y est véhiculée et qui veut que dans toutes les histoires, on retrouve des éléments structurels universels, a servi et sert encore à plus d'un auteur/scénariste. Toutefois, le succès dont jouit Vogler devrait être partagé car sa théorie n'est pas nouvelle : il s'inspire en effet directement des écrits de Joseph Campbell et du travail de Vladimir Propp. La question est donc la suivante : qu'est-ce que Vogler a bien pu leur emprunter pour formuler sa « recette scénaristique »? Afin d'y répondre, nous commencerons d'abord par analyser les textes antérieurs à celui de Vogler.

This essay aims to explore and explain the phenomenon of the Hero’s Journey and the various archetypes known in folklore, and show the ways in which the novel by Eve Forward, Villains by Necessity, conforms to this subject, although her presenting the villains as heroes. I will also compare Villain’s by Necessity to other texts, such as, Lord of The Rings to show the traditional way high fantasy novel emulates the monomyth.
I will analyze Joseph’s Campbell’s version of the monomyth drawing on the value of his analysis of the journey. Going through the stages of the journey and what role they add to the novel. In analyzing the heroes journey, I will establish the need for them in creating a great story using books and films as examples.
The heroes’ journey being formed from both Christohper Volger in his book the Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers and Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Using Campbell’s theories in tandem with the work of other archetypal theorists, I will analyze Villains by Necessity and interpret how it follows the hero’s journey.
With the use of Vogler's The Writer’s Journey, I will also explore the idea of what makes a hero, and the philosophy behind what makes a hero in literature. I will do him through looking at the traits characters share in literature and what separates them from being firmly the main protagonist.
Further, I will analyze the different types of heroes in literature, like; the unwilling heroes, the willing heroes, anti-heroes, tragic heroes, group-oriented heroes, loner heroes, and catalyst heroes. After explain briefly on the types of heroes they are in literature, alongside examples, I will then focus on what type of hero Sam plays in Villain’s by Necessity, briefly consulting the idea of Sam processing the attributes of an absurd hero that Camus puts forward. 
Additionally, I will apply the heroes journey to Villain’s by Necessity looking if it follows the same creative form and structure of the hero’s journey established by Joseph Campbell. Relating Sam and his gang of misfits merry journey to ridding the world of good and reverting the world to a world of balance between good and evil. 
Next, I will introduce the archetypes and why the reader emphasizes with the hero’s journey due to them saying themselves in the journey. Intending what Joseph Campbell meant by slaying ones own dragon, as many characters do in the heroes journey, relating it to the world we live in today and to Villains by Necessity.
It is a valid argument to say that Villain by Necessity conforms to the Hero’s Journey structure, since what the plot boils down to five supposed villains journey to save the world from eradicating evil from the world.

What remains of the mythological hero's legacy in the superhero? In this work I analyze the relationship between the modern superhero and the ancient mythological hero. The work is divided into three main parts: in the first one I use the analysis of J. Campbell " The hero with a thousand faces " and " Gli eroi greci " of A. Brelich. For Campbell, the hero is defined by his journey that is divided in three moments: Departure, Initiation and Return. I argue that the superhero, unlike the mythological heroes, never completes this journey. Batman, Spider-Man, Daredevil: they are prisoners of the " Initiation " , they never return to the community, they stay in the " liminal status ". I refer to Brelich to show the aspects of the ancient mythology which are still strong in the superhero's world such as the relationship with the cities, the fight, the mysteries and the ritual of passage. In the second part, I deepen one important aspect of the mythological hero: his hubris. It manifests itself in all his monstrous aspects, especially in the violence. Referring to R. Girard's "La violenza e il sacro", I show how violence and suffering not only survive in the modern superhero but are necessary to define its relationship with society. Finally, in the third part, reconnecting to the hubris, the monstrous aspect of the hero, I deepen his relationship with the monsters he fights. I show that monsters and heroes are not so different and they present many traits in common. Both in ancient mythology and in modern comics the hero often becomes a monster to fight against other atrocities. In the superhero universe, despite a clearer division between heroes and villains, between Good and Evil, the superheroes preserve the monstrous aspects present in the hero of myth and a strong connection with their enemies. Each of these elements will be studied in connection with the most iconic superheroes.

This thesis explores the disorientation that can follow the loss of religious faith, the lingering effects of religious complexes or religious trauma, and a possible path for fulfilling the religious instinct through fostering personal myths. Using psychologists Carl G. Jung, William James, and James Hillman as conversation partners, the approach is primarily hermeneutical with heuristic and alchemical hermeneutic components that describe a shift away from Christianity to a personal myth centered in the Celtic mythos. Starting with an examination of the definition of religion in contemporary religious studies, pluralism and polytheism are explored as a foundation for spiritual exploration that is conducive to the process of individuation and spiritual wholeness. Four sources for shaping personal myth are examined, through world religions, personalization, personification, and creative mythology.

School: Istanbul Dogus University
Department: English Language and Literature
Graduation Project Advisor: Assist. Prof. Dr. Gillian M. E. Alban
Completion Date: June 2010

ABSTRACT

Harry Potter and the adventure he sets off on have enchanted people for over ten years now. Some love it, some hate it; some wrote numerous books and research papers on it. Harry Potter is an orphaned boy whose parents were murdered at the hand of the darkest wizard of all ages, Lord Voldemort. He was brought to live with his dreadful relatives, the Dursleys, and when he was eleven years old, he found out from a letter coming from a magical school called Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry that he was actually a wizard. It was only after he started his education that he found out he was somehow linked to that darkest wizard and expected to destroy him. The interesting part of Harry Potter’s journey is that it follows the basic structure that each and every hero one way or another goes through. In his The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Joseph Campbell calls it monomyth, that is to say one myth. This concept is closely linked to Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung’s opinions on the archetypes. According to the monomyth structure, the hero starts his journey with Departure, faces temptations and very dangerous, life-changing trials in Initiation. The Return is the last section in which he comes back from his journey with the knowledge and wisdom he gains through those trials, and is expected to heal the world(s) he lives in.

There are countless mythological allusions in the Harry Potter series that enable us to connect Harry and his exploits to many mythical figures and events respectively. Just as Cerberus is illustrated as a three-headed dog guarding the gates of Hades in Greek mythology, in Harry Potter it has the same guarding job and is responsible for the protection of the entrance to the Philosopher’s Stone. Phoenix, Basilisk and many other connections and symbols are fittingly discussed and put into the storyline to enrich it. These connections and the choices Harry makes throughout his adventure help us understand why and how Harry is considered to be a hero.

Abstract: This paper is concerned with mythology and ideology in media coverage of the financial crisis. I argue that the Mail Online’s ‘critical’ discourse of bankers is a mythological construction of the trickster, which causes ideological and discursive dilemmas for the Mail as a right wing news source. Some stories featuring the banker as trickster suppressed discussions of systemic failings in the financial system. However, other instances mobilised systemic questions and concerns about global trading and the free market. By conducting a Critical Discourse Analysis of Mail Online news stories I show that the Mail’s criticism of bankers does not reflect an ideological compromise or opposition to the systemic design and ideals of free market capitalism. Rather, paradoxical mechanisms occur when the Mail represents bankers as the immoral individuals (tricksters) who take advantage of the system: whilst these criticisms call for some form of punishment or legislation to control the problem, there is reluctance to compromise free market values or legitimise state regulation of the banking sector. The complex characteristics of trickster figures in the stories analysed demonstrate current dilemmas and anxieties about the power and practices of financial institutions. Whether bankers are the genius providers of wealth or the reckless destroyers of economies, their ridicule highlights a sensitive balance of values and interests in journalistic storytelling. As Radin argued, “If we laugh at [the trickster], he grins at us. What happens to him happens to us” (1955:169).  If it is true that we need the expertise of bankers to recover in the global market then this provides another dilemma for publics, politicians and storytellers to consider.

keywords: mythology; ideology; bankers; trickster; critical discourse analysis

This paper considers the relevance of The Power of Myth to the secular study of religion. First, I identify the scholars from whom Campbell borrows concepts. I organize these scholars into three groups – the qualitative religious scholars, the quantitative religious scholars, and those who draw from both approaches. Next, I identify Joseph Campbell’s key ideas (the monomyth, the hero’s journey, the existence of a higher power or energy, the lack of myth in the modern world, and the notion that religion possesses given qualities). I then analyze the contradictions inherent within Campbell’s argument, for Campbell fails to synthesize three scholarly traditions into one coherent theory of religion. Additionally, I discuss Campbell’s descriptive reductionism, his reactionary views regarding secularization, and the political conservatism found within the book. I conclude that Power is not an authoritative work of secular religious scholarship, but rather one man’s subjective blend of research and personal beliefs.

The aim of the thesis is to provide an overview of three contemporary action films: Dredd 3D, John Wick, and Mad Max: Fury Road, through a so-called "bio-structuralist" approach - combining archetypal criticism, literary Darwinism, and narratology, into a unified, holistic theoretical model.
The thesis is divided in four main parts: (1) an introduction, that gives a rationale for the aim, scope, and the design of the thesis, (2) a theoretical framework, which provides both an overview of the theories and fits them in the general model, (3) a part including the case studies, that puts the theoretical approach to the test, and finally (4) a conclusion that gives a verdict on the feasibility of the model and summarizes the findings. A particular emphasis is put on the monomyth as a story paradigm that all the films in the case studies share, whose combination of a biologically dictated scaffolding, and cultural brickwork, is an excellent testing ground for the theoretical model.
In addition to the attempts of revealing glimpses of our evolved nature in the plots, narrative conventions, cinematography, themes, motivations, settings, and character networks in the films, the thesis attempts to balance the hardliner literary Darwinist stance of the dominance of biology over culture, with an acknowledgement of the existence of cultural transmission and stylistic evolution. Thus, the thesis proposes terminology that differentiates between cultural units totally dominated by biology, partially tied to it, and completely independent of it, albeit spread in ways  reminiscent of biological evolution.
The proposed theoretical model is shown to be a viable alternative to post-structuralist approaches as far as the study of action cinema is concerned, with its ample scope serving as its principal advantage.

In 1997 Dr Roger Sworder, presented an examination of Homer’s Smith God in Mathematical Cosmologies of Newton, Homer and Plato (Studies in Western Traditions Occasional Papers No.5, Bendigo: Dept of Arts La Trobe University). The current paper was written to support and expand upon Sworder's cosmological reading. I draw upon universal symbolisms and sacred geometry.

This paper was written some 10 years ago as a matter of personal interest. I have tidied it up to some extent, however, it still probably needs further development on the earrings and brooches. It is presented here for anyone who might be interested. I would be happy to receive any feedback.

ÖZET
Bu çalışma, Manas Destanı’nı Joseph Campbell’in Kahramanın Sonsuz Yolculuğu adlı kitabında
üzerinde durulan “yola çıkış- erginlenme- geri dönüş” şeklinde özetlenen aşama arketipi bağlamında yeniden
anlamlandırma denemesidir. Manas Destanı, Manas’ın “ayrılış- erginlenme-dönüş” arketiplerine uygun
olarak bireyleşme mücadelesini vermesi ve “Yüce Birey”, “Anima”, “Animus”, “Gölge” ve “Yüce Ana”
arketiplerini ele alması açısından önemlidir. “Yüce Birey” arketipi Alp Bakay, “Anima” ve “Animus”
arketipleri Manas ve Kanıkey, “Gölge” arketipi Almambet, “Yüce Ana” arketipi Çıyırdı, Kanıkey ve Saykal
vasıtasıyla metne taşınmıştır. Manas’ın kahramanlık yolculuğunda en büyük yardımcıları “Almambet”,
“Çuvak” ve “Sırgak”; en büyük “tiran”ı Konurbay olmuştur. Metnin sonunda Manas, Konurbay tarafından
öldürülmüştür. Çalışmada Manas tarafından başlatılan ve olgunluğa ulaştırılan kahramanlık mücadelesinin,
Manas’ın ölümünün ardından oğlu Semetey’e emanet edildiği sonucuna ulaşılmıştır.
Anahtar Kelimeler: Manas Destanı, Kahramanın Sonsuz Yolculuğu, arketipsel sembolizm.
ABSTRACT
In this study The Epic of Manas was analyzed in case of Joseph Campbell’s Monomyth Theory which
was expressed in his book: The Hero With A Thousand Faces. The initiation process of Manas to become an
individulized person, according to the Campbell’s formula (seperation- progress and return) is worthy in
terms of the “Noble Individual”, “Anima”, “Anismus”, “Shadow” and “Holy Mother” arche- types. “Noble
Individual” arche- type is taken place with Alp Bakay, “Anima” and “Anismus” arche- types are taken place
with Manas and Kanıkey, “Shadow” arche- type is taken place with Almambet and “Holy Mother” archetype
is taken place with Çıyırdı, Kanıkey and Saykal in the text. Almambet, Çuvak and Sırgak are the most
important supporter and Konurbay is the strongest tyrant of Manas. At the end of the text Manas is killed by
Konurbay. The result of this study can be summarized with this sentence: The initiation process which was
started and reached at a mature degree by Manas was put into his son Semetey’s hands after his death.
Key Words: The Epic Of Manas, The Hero With A Thousand Faces, the arche-type symbolism.