Page 107 - Star Wars Insider (Special Edition 2019)

As recently as five years ago, well-

crafted heroic journeys for female
characters were harder to come by than
full portions at Niima Outpost. It didn’t help
that Campbell’s model framed women as
distractions from greatness (“Woman as
Temptress”) or unrealistic and unhealthy
expressions of love (“Meeting with the
Goddess”). Vogler’s original memo template
doesn’t address gender specifi cally, but
over the years his revised books highlight
journeys for heroes and heroines alike.
The third edition of The Writer’s Journey

identifies feminist scholars and their
writings on the Hero’s Journey, and
employs a simple yet effective technique
of splitting his explanations of the journey
between male and female pronouns.

“I’M NO ONE.”

The early grumblings from some quarters
about the prospect of a female-led trilogy of
Star Wars movies proved to be isolated and
unrepresentative, and Rey and her heroism
have been embraced by the public at large,
including longstanding Star Wars fans and
new ones. Yet, for fans to hoot and cheer THE EVOLUTION OF THE
when the lightsaber slaps into her hand
in the movie’s third act, the character
needed to grab the audience’s heart in
the fi rst act. The Force Awakens does
this by mostly conforming to Vogler and HERO’S JOURNEY
Campbell’s structures. Vogler’s Act One
includes segments called “Ordinary World,”
“Call to Adventure,” “Refusal of the Call,” For many fans of Star Wars, their contemporary storytellers can depict
“Meeting with the Mentor,” and “Crossing familiarity with the Hero’s Journey their epic tales. It is no surprise,
the Threshold.” Campbell calls this initial comes from the Skywalker saga. therefore, that the Hero’s Journey
phase of the journey “The Departure,” When writing the tale that became has adapted to today’s foremost
and includes an extra segment: “Belly of A New Hope, George Lucas drew mythic medium.
the Whale.” upon the work of Joseph Campbell, A graduate of the same University
Those sparse opening sequences and this influence became widely of Southern California fi lm school

with Rey on Jakku establish her “Ordinary known thanks to The Power of Myth, as George Lucas, Christopher
World,” prior to her “Call to Adventure,” as a 1988 Bill Moyers PBS miniseries Vogler became a screenwriter,
she leans against the AT-AT’s foot and hears and book, and the Smithsonian story consultant, and Hollywood
the cries of BB-8, rushing across the dunes traveling exhibit, Star Wars: The development executive. In 1985
Magic of Myth, during the decade he wrote an internal memo for
that followed. Disney studio execs explaining
Campbell studied myths and how Campbell’s framework could
legends from all around the world serve as the template for successful
to generate what he called the movies of all kinds. The memo’s

“monomyth.” Examining the paths influence quickly took off well
of many protagonists from humble beyond Disney’s gates, and its most
origins to epic destiny, Campbell recent form is the third edition of
broke down the stages of the Hero’s Vogler’s lengthy book, The Writer’s
Journey based on patterns and Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers.
themes that he observed to be Approaching the Hero’s Journey
common across many cultures from the perspective of modern
and millennia of storytelling. When storytelling in movies, Vogler
Lucas sought to create his modern focuses its stages around the three-

myth, Star Wars, he found much act structure of films and illustrates
that resonated in Campbell’s writing. with examples as wide-ranging as
Due in no small part to the The Wizard of Oz, Titanic, Beverly Hills
groundbreaking success of Star Cop, The Lion King—and, of course,
Wars, movies have become the A New Hope and the rest of the Star
largest canvas upon which Wars saga.

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