Joseph Campbell: The Hero's Journey – A Biographical Portrait is a documentary about the life and works of Joseph Campbell, the author of The Hero with a Thousand Faces. During his life Campbell was known as an American Mythology professor, a writer, and a lecturer who revolutionized the fields of comparative mythology.
Joseph Campbell was born and raised in White Plains, New York in an upper middle class Roman Catholic family. As a child he was fascinated with American Indian culture. He taught himself everything he could about the culture and focused on the mythology of the Indians. During the 1920's he spent time traveling in Europe and became highly influenced by the Lost Generation; a group of American authors such as Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and Dos Passos, as well as the avant garde artists of the time such as Matisse and Picasso.
It was during this time that he realized that many of the myths throughout the world had similar threads and this became the theory of the journey of the archetypal hero. It is this theory that formed the basis of his 1949 seminal classic The Hero with a Thousand Faces. This is also the book that filmmaker George Lucas credits with helping him to form the stories of the Star Wars films; Lucas is shown giving credit to Campbell in this film. At the same time Campbell came to understand the myths that defined his own existence.
Joseph Campbell: The Hero's Journey – A Biographical Portrait is a film that is 57 minutes long and is narrated by Peter Donat. It is 4:3 full screen format and contains no bonus materials. It mixes much of its time between interviews with Campbell, listing to him lecturing, and historical footage so as to put time frames in perspective.
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Article comments
1 - El Bicho
Have you seen The Power of Myth with Campbell and Bill Moyers? Very good.
2 - T. Michael Testi
El Bicho,
Thanks for the comment,no I have not seen it, but it is something that I am planning on one day soon.
T.