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Star Wars stories are often well known for following The Hero’s Journey in some fashion. For those unfamiliar with the idea, it originates with Joseph Campbell, in a way. It’s a narrative structure he discovered within the mythology of various cultures throughout time. Campbell, a comparative mythologist and scholar, detailed his thoughts about this archetypal journey in the book The Hero With a Thousand Faces.
Credit to adapting and understanding the structure of the Hero’s Journey story belongs largely to Christopher Vogler. He outlined his initial treatise in the 1980s while working as a story consultant for – wait for it – Disney. But he’d been thinking about the idea since college, while he was studying cinema at – again, wait for it – USC, George Lucas’ alma mater.
With the advent of the first Star Wars stand-alone story, it’s worth pausing to consider – is there a Hero’s Journey in evidence? It sure looks like it to me, and in today’s podcast, I’ll roll through the twelve typical steps of the Hero’s Journey, and flag for you where they happen in Rogue One for Jyn Erso.
And here’s more about the Hero’s Journey if you’d like to explore it further. And I want to know – what do you think about Jyn’s journey? Does it conform or bear similarity to the typical journey? What’s different, what’s cool, what did you enjoy the most? Share your thoughts in the comments!
Trivia Time!
Test your knowledge of the Star Wars universe!Yesterday’s answer: Stormtroopers (the garden variety kind), Snowtroopers
Today’s question: What four-word phrase does Rey utter when she realizes she’s going to have to fly the Falcon on Jakku?
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Awesome stuff. Love your podcast.
I have to disagree with you re Step 4 (mentor). I don’t think that it’s Mon Mothma. I think that Saw is the mentor (her being reunited with him. He trained her as he states). His shout “save the rebellion, save the dream” meets the advice part.
In the Rogue One Visual
guide, it says that Jyn is not impressed with the Rebel leadership. And Mothma does nothing for her. In fact Mothma comes across as very weak in R1 in my opinion. She doesn’t even fight for the Rogue One mission.
Eadu is the special world.
Keep up the great work!!
Thanks,
Adil
Montreal
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Thanks for your reply, Adil, and for the kind words about the podcast!
You definitely make a good case for considering Saw as the mentor, and they certainly had that relationship already established.
I would have liked a bit stronger push for going to war from Mon Mothma in R1 – it’s the direction in which she wants to go, but she doesn’t push it the way Raddus does. That said, in the novelization, there’s a moment right before that council meeting, where Mon pulls Jyn aside and says, “I’m sorry for what we did to you,” and it hits Jyn pretty hard. I think Jyn has more respect for Mon than the movie itself might suggest. I’d even guess there’s a chance Jyn knew who Mon was from her time with Saw, while Saw was still part of the nascent Alliance.
But that’s speculation, of course. And like I said, you make a compelling case. 🙂 #MTFBWY