Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth

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Summary: In addition to...
Review: I've already reviewed this film but I'd like to add the following:

I've just seen the movie Godzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack and I must say that not only is it an amazing movie, Joseph Campbell's work has opened my eyes to the many themes shown throughout GMK. The old man as Yuri's guide, the guardian monsters, Godzilla being the evil machine of destruction fueled by the spirits of those who died in the Pacific War... All of these followed Campbell's theories and archetypes exactly!

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Summary: Joseph Campbel and The Power of Myth
Review: I myself am not a very big fan of mythological tales or stories. Joseph Campbell, however, showed me in "The Power of Myth," that mythology relates to many of the things that I believe in and live my life by. The story of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ is related to a hero's journey in many myths. Jesus experiences three temptations and comes out on top, like many heroes throughout history's many stories. Most of the movies made today have a main character hero that is called to adventure, goes through many trails, and then is rewarded with treasures, marriage, or immortality. The Star Wars, and their hero Luke Skywalker, are a prime example of this type of journey. This intrigued me, for I had never thought of Star Wars as being a myth. I thought of it as just a "movie." Joseph Campbell also explained how the stories from some religions could be compared and found similar. Like I said earlier, Jesus Christ had to go through three trails or temptations. Buddha and Muhammad both did the same. Even normal, everyday people live a life that follow the hero path as told by Joseph Campbell. I found this very interesting. I had always thought of a good person as being a hero, but not in the literal sense of their lifelong journey. It is amazing how someone's life can be written in a story. Even though there were quite a few interesting comments made by Joseph Campbell, I cannot say that I really liked this video. To be quite frank, it was boring. Interviews are not the most interesting videos to watch. This video was, however, very informative and interesting (Just boring in the way that the information was told). Joseph Campbell knows a great deal about myths and that information could be told in a different way to make it "eye-catching." Since it was boring though, I can only give it 4 stars.

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Summary: Really interesting... need to see it again though....
Review: "Joseph Campbell and the Power of the Myth" is, to say the least, a good film. This is of course saying the very least as I find it to be a very eye-opening interview. I saw this video in my literature class and I think it was only one part of the series, which focuses on heroes and really makes me want to see the other five installments. If I were one who could not handle long, drawn out interviews, I might not have been able to enjoy the video as much as I did. But as it was, instead of putting me to sleep, this program held my interest pretty well. I found it interesting how Campbell has found that nearly every story ever told is connected to every other story in some way or another. Mr. Campbell offers amazing insights into human nature through his studies on mythology and it is a great pity that he died without being able to complete his work. One of the things I really liked was how they tied Star Wars, one of my favorite movie series, into the whole myth/hero cycle theory. The thought that everyone is somehow a hero is very profound and very true. Campbell shows that even those considered evil are in some ways heroes and that everyone is a hero just by being born.
I think that, on the whole, this video (I am not sure which part of the series) is very interesting and would recommend it to anyone interested in the study of mythology and/or the human nature. Though I would warn you to be wary: this video is not for everybody. The material I find fascinating might bore you to death.
Now if only I could find the other five parts of the program...

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Summary: The Review
Review: In the film, "The Power of Myth", Bill Moyers questions Joseph Cambell about his beliefs and ideologies of myth. Mr. Cambell ,having infinite knowledge on the subject, goes very deep in explaining how different myths originate and what they mean and why they were originated. His work inspired George Lucas to write Star Wars. He also talks about the life cycle of a hero or the "heroic cycle". This is a very important topic considering almost every myth, in some form deals with a hero.
Joseph Cambell was very famous and still is to this day because of his extensive knowledge on myths and his theory that myths and epic tales and stories are often similar in some shape or form. He shows this when he relates Jesus Christ, Buddha and Moses and compares and contrasts each of their stories. There are three extremely important parts to this: departure, fulfillment, and return. An example Mr. Cambell uses is when Buddha goes into the woods, runs into "sinful things", and then returns to his home. Cambell thinks into relation to all heroes in myths and epic tales, the hero must lose their inner child. The hero always is up for any obstacle life throws their way, and then they conquer it. The obstacle usually makes the hero much stronger and wiser. The hero is then rewarded for his actions. Hercules is a very well known myth and is a great example of this.
I did not think to highly of this movie. Mythology interested me until I watched this movie. It was very hard for me to really get into it, if you can even say I got into it. I think instead of giving people on death row the electric chair, they should be forced to sit through this film.

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Summary: Review for power of myth
Review: Joseph Campbell was a great man. He took all the stories that we see on TV, and hear from our parents, and he turned them into a science. He dissected the stories into a format in which all of our stories have in common. He really made me think about our stories when he started comparing Luke Skywalker to a format, much like the taxonomy of species. Every hero goes through almost the same stages. In these stages the hero changes, and becomes something different from other characters. Joseph Campbell showed me that there is a science to everything, and it will be hard for me to watch another movie, without looking for the stages for the hero. He also said, "The brain is only second to the humanity of a human." This really made me think about how we look at things. Sometimes it is ok to take things emotionally, but others we must let our brain kick in and take control.

Joseph has been an inspiration to many people. The way that he has showed us that we are all also heros has made an impact on me. He made me realize that there are different stages that I go through just like any other person, and even my favorite movie characters. This movie is a great movie because it gives yourself a look inside a man's head that you cannot get anywhere else. You get a direct look at how a hero is different from any other character, and it also gives you a different outlook on life. I highly recommend this movie to any Hollywood lover who watches many movies.

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Summary: Joseph Campbell and the Power Of Myth...
Review: In The power of myth, Bill Moyer interviewed Joseph Campbell (mythology genius) at the Skywalker ranch. During this interview, campbell expressed his ideas on mythology and different types of heros. He described a hero as "one who has given his life for, or to someone else." Also, he said that there are different ways of being a hero, one who saves lives, and then a spiritual hero. He spoke of how mythology is connected to many present-day cultures and ideas, and mentioned that myths are usually view as the same way for many different cultures and actually bring people together. He also related mythology to religion in basically saying that there isn't much proof behind a lot of religious stories, and it's the same way with mythology. I liked how Campbell talked about the "belly of the whale." He said that it was customary for the hero of the story to get stuck in a tough place or position and to escape. He related this idea of the belly of the whale to the scene in stars wars where they are trapped in the enclosing box, and in the end escape. He spoke of how a hero usually must take a journey and pass a test during his story/adventure, and that usually towards the end of the adventure he is rewarded for his doings and his quest. He put it into three basic steps "Departure, fulfillment, and return."
The entertainment level of this video wasn't very high, it was quite dull, but very informative at the same time. If you're looking for an intertaining movie dealing with mythology then i do not reccomend this film. It was just a straight interview, with little cut away scenes that included action. As i said though, it is very informative and contains many good facts about mythology and the hero archetype. This is why I ranked it in the middle with a solid three stars.

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Summary: Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth
Review: I recently watched the video, "Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth." Bill Moyer interviewed Joseph Campbell about his great knowledge on mythology. Whenever I thought of myths, I always thought of Greek Gods and such. Now having watched this film, I realize that myths come from every single culture around the world. They are all different yet they are all linked together in some way. It was interesting how Joseph Campbell gave examples of myths and heroes from Native American Cultures to Star Wars. I liked how he incorporated recent examples, that gave me a better understanding. You can really tell how devoted Joseph Campbell is to his work. He really knows what he's talking about and I've never heard views like his from anyone else. I thought he was very interesting.

Joseph Campbell really taught me a lot about heroes. Joseph Campbell explains that the life of all heroes are in a cycle. Most all heroes start off by embarking on some sort of journey, then ending up with a reward. The journey tests their ability and strength and shows their determination. The way he described heroes was very well put. He has a way of taking ordinary people and making them seem like terrific heroes. Joseph Campbell is a very insightful person and really made me expand my imagination. He made me think about things that I had never thought about before.

Overall, I thought this movie was somewhat unentertaining, but I really gathered a lot of insight and I enjoyed listening to some points that Joseph Campbell made. He really knows what he's talking about and he's very good at explaining it. I didn't really like the whole interview setup. I thought the information could have been presented in a different format that made it more interesting and entertaining.

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Summary: Joseph Campbell and the Power of Mythology
Review: In Joseph Campbell and the Power of Mythology, Bill Moyers interviews the modern-day father of mythology, Joseph Campbell. Campbell has many views about different aspects of mythology and these views are very well given in his interview. He expresses his interpretation on the course of events in all mythology. These patterns, as according to Campbell, are separated in to the departure, fulfillment, and return to a "homeplace" for social restoration. Campbell deliberately leaves room for the imagination to make its own assumptions of these steps of a hero's adventure. Religion is another that makes use of these components. The departure is the moment when you are first exposed to the religion, the fulfillment is any related action taken in life, and return is the ascent to a type of heaven. Mythology shows that it has many other relations to every day life in this video.
Campbell also mentions a few different styles of mythology in which he displays vast knowledge. He speaks of Celtic mythology and what I gathered as a viewer as one main difference is that in Celtic mythology, it has a powerful hero following the allure of some entity of wildlife that takes him into numerous unknown lands. Campbell states that there are a wide variety of explanations for natural occurrences in all mythology of ANY type.
The most important thing that I, as a viewer, gathered from this movie is external affects that mythology has on people after learning of it. All myths deal with an influential change or transformation of the human psyche. Hero's are not just brave adventurers, they have a higher purpose that is never really revealed in the text, but reveals itself in the mind of the reader. A hero, as stated very clearly in this video, must have the internal drive to go "Into the belly of the whale" and make it back out. These aspects of mythology has inspired many great things through the sands of time and still continue to do this to this day. Though Campbell is no longer with us to teach us directly, we have his words to think about to help us learn about our society today.
I would strongly recommend this video to anyone who has even the slightest interest in mythology. Though at times it can be "slow", it is still very informative. The viewer will at times be tempted to drift off to sleep, but without a doubt, Campbell will bring up a great point to get your attention again.

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Summary: I didnt know what to think of this video
Review: Mythology has always been something that I have considered though provoking and by watching Joseph Campbell and The Power of the Myth I have realized that it wasn't as awesome as I thought it was. Yes, it is interesting that someone can base everything around the idea of a myth but it seems to me that a person like that needs to become more grounded. I can study myths for as long as I want but I don't know if I ever will truly believe them. I also think that I have become more open to what other people think by watching this video, something that we all should attempt to achieve in our everyday lives.

In the video "Joseph Campbell and the Power of the Myth", the famous Bill Moyers interviews Joseph Campbell about how myths are present in our world. They talk about how myths are present in our everyday lives and the deeper meaning of myths. Their discussion led to the description of the role of a hero and how the hero progresses throughout a myth. Mr. Campbell defined a hero as someone who has given their life for something bigger than their own self. This hero is usually sacrificing something spiritual or physical. They also talked about the hero cycle. The hero cycle can vary in its forms, it may be the most obvious thing about someone or it could be something even the hero does not realize is in their possession. The main moral objective of a hero or heroine is typically to sacrifice himself or herself for something that will ultimately mean more than they do.

Myths are something that every culture posses and I think that we should all be at least open to hearing about them, even if we do not believe them. This video opened me up to be aware of myths and I think that watching this video has made me a better-rounded person. Joseph Campbell was the only person that we heard from about myths so I would like to watch some other videos about mythology. If my 10th grade Honors English teacher reads this I would like to suggest this to her in the future.

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Summary: The Life-Cycle of a Hero
Review: In this intense and enlightening interview, Bill Moyers interrogates Joseph Campbell about his theories and ideologies of myth. As this is the favorite subject of Campbell, he always offers exquisite words of wisdom to support myths and the "life-cycle" of a hero. He stated, "Mythology is the song of the universe to me." Throughout history, the pattern of heroic acts and heroes is inevitable and seen in numerous occasions. The heroic cycle is definitely as subject that is worth writing, and thus, it is obvious in numerous classic literary works. Heroes have evolved with our culture to suite the morals of the particular time periods.
Campbell has become such a renowned figure in our society because of his theory that in epic tales, they are all generally plotted alike. He explains that in the beginning of a hero's adventure, there is one moral objective. The heroes must sacrifice themselves to save others. As seen with Moses, Buddha, Jesus Christ and infinite other heroes, there are three essential parts to the adventure: departure, fulfillment, and return. Throughout this journey, Campbell believes that the child within the hero must "die" to complete the passage into adulthood or to complete the journey. The adventure is always one that the hero is prepared to undergo or conquer. The hero gains wisdom and strength throughout this process to return as a successful figure. The return involves him being highly regarded in society as opposed to his former lower status. At his return to society, the hero is also rewarded with a grand prize that was promised by an exceptional figure that he idolizes.
If a viewer is looking for high-quality entertainment, then this is probably not the appropriate feature to watch. However, we gain great knowledge of the "hero that lies within us all." Throughout the interview, Campbell relates different components of stories, such as dragons, Indians, and snakes to relate them with different aspects of life and to enliven the movie. The insightful feature fills viewers with knowledge that is often ignored by society, and his most impacting wisdom is to not let one's brain interfere with life but to "listen to your heart-life." He truly believes that everyone has the capabilities to release the hero that resides within us all.

"Live life with a knowledge of its mystery."
Joseph Campbell