Tami C. Franklin
Damon Blalack
Film Festival VI
April 29, 2012
The Mythology of Star Wars: The Hero
We live in a modern, fast-paced world filled with daily stresses and pressures that can bring about individual feelings of trepidation, incertitude, and distress. There is no doubt in my mind why our history is filled with various stories led to encourage and inspire the human psyche. These so-called stories are often referred to as ‘myths’. A myth is much more than just a simple story, it is a composition intertwined with a message, belief, or lesson expressed to us by a great hero or an epic event. A myth shares a commonality of world themes, deemed important enough by humanity, to pass down and share its insight to these important messages. They are stories retold and recreated over and over again to promote wisdom, hope, and inspiration to the human spirit, and to guide us in answering our greatest question of humanity, “Why are we here?” Joseph Campbell comments in his book, “The Hero with a Thousand Faces”, that “A myth shows us what we’re up against; it identifies the “bad guys” – who often turn out to be within us – and helps us find a way to defeat them.” A myth is a storyboard of art, and art evokes thought. Both the meaning from a piece of art or a mythical story must be discerned or experienced by the observer, as their own interpretation. Our thoughts can then lead us to finding the strength to do what is right and be who we believe we are meant to be. The hero, an imaginary being of myth, can give us the courage to become the hero of our own adventure entitled life. Due to the challenging and stressful world we live in, sometimes it can take reaching out of our known world’s jurisdiction for help to gain knowledge and wisdom that will be used in seeking out our true self. Fairytales often start with the opening phrase, “Once upon a time…..” allowing the observer to place himself apart from his current world. In the dynamic story of “Star Wars”, George Lucas does this by leading us into his story with, “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…..” Transporting our imagination away from our current situations to a place we can watch an adventure unfold. Our personal thoughts and feelings will encourage our creativity and critical thinking skills to breathe new life out of a common theme and take its renewed enthusiasm to our own realm of reality, helping us to look at our situations from a new perspective or see things in a new and different light.
The hero in mythological stories has many parts to his journey. Discussing just a few of these characteristics, we begin with the common theme of the hero beginning his journey as a rather ordinary human being. He is often living in typical circumstances, sometimes even bleak. This allows the average human to connect right away to the main character by possibly relating to his circumstances. The hero is often referred to as ‘the chosen one’ whether by prophecy or predestination. We can see this also in relation to King Arthur, Jesus, and Harry Potter. As the feeling of destiny awakes in the hero, he becomes restless in his current conditions and a feeling that he does not belong there. As Luke gets frustrated with his uncle’s insistence that he stays longer on Tatooine he scuffs his feet in the dirt and with a pouting expression walks out to view the dual sunset. Watching his gaze, our mind desires to interpret his thoughts. In the words of the television series theme song to Buck Rogers in the 25th century, we hear an idea of what might be going through Luke’s mind. “What am I, who am I, what will I be? Where am I going, and what will I see?” These feelings of restlessness and wanting more from his present life sets our hero up for his call to destiny.
The call awakens the hero to his special destiny and will take courage to accept its quest. The hero is not always eager to take the challenge especially if he feels he will be leaving others behind. This is often seen in mythology as a time of change or separation. Usually a traumatic event or a shock can help the hero close the door to his past and move forward into the future. Sometimes this might happen due to a burning bush or a talking frog, in Luke’s case he comes home to find his aunt and uncle, who were his only family, dead and his home destroyed. This gives him a sense that there is nowhere to go but forward. The “hugging saint” Amma, says that “detachment is necessary for spiritual growth”. Another characteristic of the hero is courage, it takes courage to accept the call and step out on a journey. The call can be physical, spiritual, or emotional. This revelation is not just a one way call it is a summons and response relationship. We hear from the prophecy of Jeremiah, in the Old Testament, “Seek and ye shall find”. With a thirst for life, the seeker will seek out life and realize that life is seeking him out also. Campbell said, “Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors for you where there were only walls.” The hero will have begun the process of becoming the true individual that one really is, his ‘true self’.
A hero is in need of guidance as are we all, so Luke finds his mentor Obi-Wan, just as King Arthur had Merlin. Merlin has sorcery, but Obi-Wan holds knowledge of the Force. The Force is a spiritual path, an energy that surrounds and penetrates all of existence. Lucas’ representation of a higher power was created from a belief common to several different major world religions. Buddhism, Christianity, and Native American spirituality all have “Faith” in a spiritual power. A common quest is that of mortals to grasp the reality of God. Luke does not seem to be setting out in search of a holy grail, yet what he ends up finding just might be the equivalent. Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung termed the word individuation to describe the process of becoming the true individual that one really is. An unknown source said, “You have to learn how to get your confidence in self from deep within where your soul touches God.” Amma preached, “Faith in God is to strengthen your faith in you, the faith in your own Self.” Hence, self-confidence will play a big role in the travels of our hero. Obi-Wan states, “Your eyes can deceive you” as he instructs Luke to let go of all he has learned and to rely on other senses for visualizing, an opportunity to practice ‘seeing’ situations from a different point of view. A myth often adds a talismanic object to the story that will accompany the hero on his journey, a stone, a sword, a wand, a lightsaber. Luke’s lightsaber, which once belonged to his father, becomes more magical when he is able to master the ways of the Force. The stage has been set and now it is time for the hero to face his challenges which will lead him to his destiny.
Unfortunately life does not just shower us with epiphanies from out of the deep blue sea. Tests, trials, and temptations help us learn and grow into the person that we choose to be. We each have a destiny, but Lucas states, “We need to understand that we are in control of our lives”, therefore it is on us to choose which way we want to go. Luke will face trials and temptations on Dagobah under Yoda’s instruction. He will begin learning to find a quiet place within himself where he can avoid external distractions to experience a deeper realm of focus and understanding. We start to understand that many tests to be overcome lie within ourselves. We see caves and forests as dark places, filled with spirits of temptation or evil. In many stories people enter forests and do not return, Jesus is tempted by the devil in places similar to these. On Dagobah, Luke asks Yoda what is in the cave he is about to enter, Yoda tells him, “only what you take with you”. We can see the symbolism of this by relating it to what we ourselves allow into our own mind. The classic tales of good vs. evil, light vs. dark, yin and yang are consistently recycled in history. Luke will realize in his cave experience the human nature of good and evil and that it is his decision alone to find and choose which way the balance is to go.
Both the inner and outer struggles of the hero’s journey are meaningful in achieving an end goal whether it is destroying the death star, restoring peace to the galaxy, or the transformation from evil into good. The satisfaction in fulfilling a destiny, reaching your full potential, or realizing your human-divine connection are all part of a hero’s end game. We are taught to think of life as a cycle of birth, living life, and death. Jung’s individuation is similar taking us from an unconscious state (without ego), through our series of struggles in life (similar to the hero’s path), and then to transcendence, a wholeness in re-establishing the relationship between the human and the divine. So maybe we would be better to learn a cycle of birth, struggles, and re-birth. Luke’s endeavors brought him to a sense of calm and understanding of the forces in the world. One reason the ‘Hero’ story goes on and on and is continually re-made to a newer version is it sparks inside each of us the vision to be more than we are, to exist tomorrow more than we do today. Myths need to be regenerated if to have an impact on the current society, molding modern concepts with timeless wisdom in effort to connect with today’s heroes who are ready to respond to the call of adventure. Personally, Star Wars brought attention to my thoughts and feelings of believing there was more to my spirituality than I had found thus far. Could I be as brave as Luke, would I step out and follow my call? This is the proof that a myth can evoke desires, concede hope, and cultivate confidence. Star Wars is a modern myth, one to challenge those who will have the courage to follow the wisdom of their heart with the hope of quenching our psyche’s thirst for knowledge and understanding.