I was surprised to learn last week that a Hawaii man played a pivotal role in the creation of the “Star Wars” movies.
The man was Joseph Campbell, who married a local girl and settled down in Honolulu in 1972. He was a top-selling author and world expert on mythology. “Star Wars“ creator George Lucas called him “my Yoda.”
Lucas read Campbell’s 1949 book, “The Hero with a Thousand Faces” while attending the University of Southern California and again in 1975 as he was developing his story about a galaxy far, far away.
“When I started doing research on fairy tales, folklore and mythology,” Lucas recalled in a 1988 interview with newsman Bill Moyers, “I started reading Joe’s books. I began to understand how I could make ‘Star Wars.’ It was a great gift. If I hadn’t run across it, I might still be writing ‘Star Wars’ today.
Lucas was the first Hollywood filmmaker to acknowledge Campbell as a guiding light in story development, but not the last.
“In his study of world hero myths, Campbell discovered that they are all basically the same story, retold endlessly in infinite variations,” said Christopher Vogler, a Hollywood film producer and writer, in his 2007 screenwriting guide, “The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure For Writers.”
“Stories built on the hero myth have an appeal that can be felt by everyone because they reflect universal concerns.”
A FAMILIAR TALE
In the beginning of the story, most heroes are living a simple, ordinary life, minding their own business.
One day, a problem shows up at their doorstep. They waver about taking on the challenge but then are compelled to act. Along the way they meet allies who help them and an older person who mentors them.
They overcome smaller hurdles that sharpen their skills until they triumph over the villain in the final battle. Along the way, they discover their destiny and often receive a reward they can bring home to their community.
These steps can be seen in the important journeys of Moses, Jesus, Buddha and Muhammad. For contemporary audiences, they’re present in the fanciful creations of “Harry Potter,” “The Matrix,” “Lion King,” “Bugs Bunny,” “The Hobbit” and “Moana” as well as “Star Wars.”
Volger writes, “They deal with child-like but universal questions: Who am I? Where did I come from? Where will I go when I die? What is good and what is evil? What must I do about it?”
SAGE ADVICE
Campbell said that a frequent element in mythology is a wise, older person who guides the hero on his or her journey. In “Star Wars,” that would be Obi-Wan Kenobi who tells Luke Skywalker to use the force, and Yoda, who helps him develop his powers. In “The Matrix,” Neo is mentored by Morpheus, who tells him he’s “the one.”
In “Jaws,” it’s Robert Shaw’s character, Quint, who understands the power and vulnerabilities of sharks. King Arthur had Merlin. Harry Potter was mentored by Hogwarts Headmaster Albus Dumbledore.
“The wise old man may be a real shaman or wizard,” Vogler said in his book, “but he can also be any kind of mentor or teacher, doctor or therapist, crusty but benign boss, or tough but fair sergeant.”
Along the way, the hero encounters allies that help them in their journey. In “Moana,” her unlikely assistant is Maui, voiced by Dwayne Johnson. Dorothy meets the Scarecrow, Tin Man and Cowardly Lion on the Yellow Brick Road.
Luke Skywalker encounters Leia, Han Solo and Chewbacca. Harry Potter has Ron, Hermione and Hagrid. Jesus had 12 disciples.
OVERCOMING DEATH
“A critical moment in any story, is an ordeal in which the hero appears to die and be born again,” Vogler said. “It’s a major source of the magic of the hero myth. The audience has been led to identify with the hero.
“We are encouraged to experience the brink-of-death feeling with the hero. We are temporarily depressed and then we are revived by the hero’s return from death.”
This happens in “Star Wars” where Luke, Leia and others are trapped in the Death Star’s trash compactor (think Jonah in the belly of the whale).
“In ‘E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial,’ E.T. momentarily appears to die on the operating table.”
“Having survived death, beaten the dragon, slain the Minotaur, the hero now takes possession of the treasure he’s come seeking. Sometimes it’s a special weapon like a magic sword or it may be a token like the Holy Grail, or some lesson, or elixir which can heal the wounded land.”
LUCAS’ LAST MENTOR
“My last mentor was probably Joe (Campbell),” Lucas said in his Moyers interview, “who exposed me to many of the cosmic questions and mysteries.
“I had been interested in them all my life, but hadn’t focused it the way I had before I became friends with Joe.
“Campbell was looking for the common threads through the various mythologies and religions. ‘Star Wars’ is telling an old myth in a new way.”
FOLLOWING HIS BLISS
Joseph Campbell was married to island girl Jean Erdman, whom he met at Sarah Lawrence College in New York. Erdman was the daughter of a New England missionary and a member of the Dillingham family.
She became a dancer and later a choreographer and theater director. She and Campbell married in 1938. When she retired from theater in 1972, they moved to Honolulu.
In case you’re wondering, Joseph Campbell was not related to James Campbell, the Scot who developed sugar cane in Leeward Oahu and has a high school named for him.
Joseph Campbell passed away in 1987 at age 83 and is buried in the Dillingham plot at Oahu Cemetery. Jean turns 101 on Feb. 20 and lives in Honolulu.
Joseph Campbell is also well-known for coining the phrase “Follow your bliss.”
“If you follow your bliss,” Campbell wrote, “you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living. If you are following your bliss, you are enjoying that refreshment, that life within you, all the time.”
Lucas said, for him, that means to “follow your talent or things you enjoy.” Campbell said it could also be written as “follow your blisters.”
“Each of us has a choice of being a hero or not being a hero every day of our lives,” Lucas said. “You can either help somebody; you can be compassionate toward people; you can treat some people with dignity, or not.
“One way you become a hero, the other way, you’re part of the problem.”
Bob Sigall, author of “The Companies We Keep” series of books, looks through his collection of old photos to tell stories of Hawaii people, places and companies. Contact him via email at sigall@yahoo.com.
