https://gizmodo.com/new-proof-that-every-scifi-epic-is-based-on-joseph-camp-344335
It ’s a normal . Any storytelling chemical formula is going to be game . Any . Of course , Campbell did n’t opine he was prescribing a rule . He thought he was draw the convention that ’s inherent in all the capital history . But over time , otiose author like George Lucas haveused it as a checklist . It ’s just as boring as the video game where you have the level foreman and then you have the big genus Bos at the end . Except in the “ Journey , ” it ’s the guardians of adventure , postdate by the “ Draco , ” followed by the final struggle .
It monish originality . By the same token , if you take that every great story is really just the same expectant story with aerofoil changes , you ’re encouraging people to plagiarize the hell out of onetime account . Instead of championing stories that are unlike , like say , Firefly / Serenity or James Robinson ’s Starman , you ’re influence to call a shlock - fest like the original Star Wars “ mythic ” because it ’s about a hero who ’s singled out .
Why is one hero so particular anyway ? The hero does n’t just get the “ call to risky venture ” because everyone ’s incur it . He gets it because he ’s the most important person alive , with the most special skillz or the biggest learning ability . Everybody who ’s not him sucks and should go away . It plays into people ’s fantasies that they ’re on the QT amazing , without have to turn for it . But for those of us who are n’t Ender Wiggin or Luke Skywalker , it ’s just pointless . What about a sub who ’s the swell because she decide not to put up with the shit that everybody else is putting up with ? What about a grouping of citizenry who adjudicate to work together to change the stinky status quo ?
The “ submarine ” is always a d00d . Why does the poor boy encounter the goddess halfway through ? Because she ’s hawt and he ’s a guy . If the hero was a chick , would the goddess be a dude ? Somehow we doubt it .
It ’s cheesy as hell . Hereare some choice New Age - y quote from Campbell . Sample citation : “ Your hallowed space is where you’re able to retrieve yourself again and again . ” Woah , dude . I just felt my crystals vibrate a small . Campbell also is likely the inventor of the phrasal idiom “ follow your bliss . ”
He shoehorned a good deal of myth into his theory . Campbell himself writes , in Thousand Faces , that he ’s not interested in exploring the difference between myth , just the similarity . In other words , he look for whatever law of similarity he could ascertain and overtop any dispute as “ variations ” in his monomyth . He alsoignoredcountries outside the Indo - European tradition , like East Asia and Africa .
It confuses personal increase with clear problems . Sometimes for defeat a big immorality , you have to check an important personal object lesson and grow as a soul . But often , you do n’t . Oftentimes , defeating a great evil just take defend like hell and doing what has to be done , and there ’s no time to play the goddess or touch your magical wand or any of that stuff . Campbell ’s monomyth is unrealistic and spreads the idea that warfare is therapy .
Bottom line : Riding on the track Campbell laid down will get you a cheesy story about the most specialest guy in the universe , who save everybody with a little assistant from his companions and who hit a wonderful unearthly “ boon ” that enriches everybody along the way . preserve it for high phantasy . We ’d rather have a variety of messy stories in our scientific discipline fabrication .
George LucasStar Wars
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