Page 118 - Star Wars Insider (Special Edition 2019)

A HEROINE’S JOURNEY

“ordinary” humans, such as Nick Katniss are not the fi rst protagonists
Fury or Natasha Romanoff. without superpowers to undergo a
The Hunger Games series takes Hero’s Journey as originally outlined
place in a world entirely removed by Joseph Campbell in 1949 (see
from the supernatural, yet still SWI #168). Many characters have
conforms to the monomyth. In this taken exceptional quests despite
world, Games Makers exert their being outwardly unexceptional
technologically advanced infl uence themselves. Interestingly, these
over the Hero’s Journey, just as gods heroes who are not “chosen ones”
and goddesses do in classical myth. are often female—witness 1939’s
This trend is also evident in The Wizard of Oz, numerous
he Hero’s Journey Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Disney films, and the likes of

is changing. Throughout this its treatment of technological today’s Hidden Figures (2016) and
series of articles, we have seen terror, the Death Star. In A La La Land (2016). Jyn Erso fi ts this
how Star Wars’ protagonists New Hope, the battle station is tradition, but also develops it, along

fit into a long-established the classic monster, which the less obviously gendered lines.
“monomythic” structure that supernaturally gifted hero must
has served storytellers since battle to achieve his destiny. In Building Blocks
classical times. But what makes Rogue One, the Death Star To understand Jyn’s

the established Hero’s Journey is simply a fact, and the significance, we must fi rst
01 Jyn Erso (Felicity
so timeless is not so much its heroes battling against it Jones) must understand what she takes
fixed formula as its fl exibility to have no special powers to choose her path from her forebears in the

– rebel or rogue?
accommodate and embrace change. call upon. It is a pointed Star Wars universe—both
Today, we are witnessing the reminder that our most 02 New allies to see what sets her apart,
transformation of monomythic singular heroes stand Chirrut and Baze and to acknowledge that
follow Jyn on her
storytelling from epic tales of the tall on the shoulders of heroic quest. she is an evolution of
supernatural to stories built around ordinary people, each the archetype, not an
03 A mission to
characters who cannot draw on of whom has their own, aberration. Though it is
Jedha, in search
unearthly powers. In the Marvel more grounded version of of an old friend. not obvious at fi rst, Jyn
Cinematic Universe, roles once the Hero’s Journey. shares common ground
04 Jyn surveys the
reserved for superheroes are Of course, Jyn Erso with both Princess Leia
rebel base on
now just as likely to fall to and The Hunger Games’ Yavin 4. and Padmé Amidala,
despite having an
01
upbringing that was
anything but royal.
Both Jyn and Leia are raised
by adoptive father fi gures, who
school them in the ways of
rebellion against the Empire. Both
are eventually reunited with their
long-lost fathers, in unhappy
circumstances relating to the Death
Star. Though Leia does not know
she has been reunited with her
father, the resulting destruction
of her homeworld can be seen as
the moment she is transformed
from rebel ambassador to potential
gun-toting commando, willing to
do whatever it takes to destroy the
Empire. Jyn and Galen’s reunion
serves the same function, with

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