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Summary: review on the Power of Myth
Review: The movie "Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth" is a movie about heroes and myths and how they can all be related to our everyday life.
When I watched the movie "Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth" I had mixed emotions. For the most part, I thought it was very good, and very educational. But on the other hand, the information could have been presented in a different way, other than an interview.
I liked it because, as I said earlier, it was very educational. I liked how they tied scenes from movies and stories into what Mr. Campbell was talking about. Before seeing this movie, I didn't know much about heroes and myths. After watching it, I felt like I had gained a lot of knowledge.
A bad side to this movie was it was boring. Besides the movie clips, the whole movie was of a man being interviewed. And maybe it's just me, but that doesn't really draw my attention. I think they could have found a much better, and more entertaining way, and give the same information.
I did like the fact that Joseph related everything he said, into something that we all go through. He made it seem personal.
Another thing I liked, which I mentioned earlier, was how the movie puts clips of movies, and told stories in it. It didn't just keep it as an interview the whole time. They showed a lot of clips from "Star Wars" and I liked that. And I also really liked the story about the girl and the snakes.
I'm not really sure if I would recommend this movie to anyone. It all depends on what you're interested in. If you are extremely interested in myths and heroes and things along that line, then I would definitely recommend it. Otherwise, I would not recommend it at all, because if you're like me, you would think it was boring.
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Summary: Changed my perception of what Mythology really is...
Review: Mythology had always interested me, but after watching this movie it gave me a whole new insight about what Mythology really is. I think this movie, "The Power of Myth," was very interesting and fascinating. I really enjoyed to hear what Joseph Campbell had to say about myths, and how he always seemed to make everything seem positive. "Myths and dreams come from the same place," is what Joseph Campbell once said. When I think about this it just opens my mind to all kinds of imagination and creativeness that I never knew I had.
From the movie, you can definitely tell that he has an incredible imagination, and is very open to his surroundings. Campbell also said that "everyone should live life with a feeling of mystery." I really like the way he expresses things. You can tell that he really devoted his whole life to studying myths and how they relate to all kinds of cultures. Since he has all this knowledge of all kinds of myths, whenever he explained it, it was much easier to comprehend. I thought that how he included many different topics, from Native American myths to Star Wars was very interesting.
Mythology used to always make me think of fairies and make believe things, but it changed greatly after watching this movie. Mythology may appear to me in this way, Campbell really helped me to understand the true meaning of it. To me, the true meaning is learning about heroes and how they are affected by their decisions. Although, the hero may go through hard times in the end his life turns out to be better than before.
Overall, I think that people should take the time to watch this movie, because it gives you a break from the everyday lives that we have. It makes you think broader and bigger, (it's like a brain exercise.) I encourage everyone to really listen to get something out of Joseph Campbell's points in Mythology, because he has a great amount to offer!
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Summary: Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth
Review: "Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth" is a very opinionated film. The whole film is just the way one person, Joseph Campbell, feels about heroes and life and such. Although I thought the film was kind of boring, there were some aspects about the film that I did like. The content was very good. I liked the way Campbell talked about people. He said that you must "find your bliss and follow it." No matter what happens or what people think you must always follow it. I also liked the way he related the dragon to your conscious. He said that if you hear a voice inside saying, "I can't do this," that's the dragon inside you speaking.
Another thing that I liked was Campbell's view on heroes. He said that a hero was someone that is just a regular person, then they get into the so called "belly of the whale" and somehow you get out of the "belly of the whale" and you are transformed as a person and when you come out you are a whole new person. I feel that view is definitely correct. People must go through something and change to become a true hero. Campbell thought that everyone was trying to find a place of peace, a place inside them of rest. I don't really agree with that because I don't think everyone is trying to find that "place." Of course there are moments when people want to be stress free and be in that "place" but I do not think that that is what people are trying to find in life.
This film didn't really impact me too much, it didn't do much for me. The film as a whole was boring. I realize that it was an interview and it's kind of hard to make it interesting but it didn't interest me at all. The one part that I did enjoy was the part when they showed clips from Star Wars. Even though I agree with some things and I like a few parts, I wouldn't recommend this film to anyone unless they are extremely interested in heroes and myths and other things like that.
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Summary: Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth
Review: About a week ago our tenth grade honors literature class began to watch the Joseph Campbell and the power of myth movie. I didn't really understand what a myth was until we embarked on this video to introduce our future studies on mythology. When out teacher informed us that we would be watching this movie I wasn't interested in the least bit but upon watching it I realized that the information Joseph addressed was quite appealing to me. This movie shows Joseph Campbell's extreme knowledge and devout studies in mythology. Not only did he explain some ancient stories but also some of his own. Bill Moyer interviews Joseph Campbell through out the movies. Campbell not only tells about the myths that have been passed down for centuries but about how Star Wars the movies has incorporated heroic characters that were derived from myths long ago. Campbell was a very spiritual man through out his life, but did not follow one set religion. He was passionately involved with mythology and theology. He felt that there were so many things that should be explored and with religious boundaries in the way, he found it to be impossible. Campbell was a very intellectual and broad man. He realized that although there were many different cultures and religions in the world, there was still unity in the fact that many of them shared the same myths. This movie was, at times, a little slow but it did actually show me that much of our culture was shaped from mythology and the myths that have been passed down over the centuries. My final thought about the movie is that it is satisfying in the fact that it broadens your outlooks and aspects in the direction of myths. It gave me a since of warmth knowing that soon I would be also embarking on such great studies which before watching the movie seemed like a horrible thing.
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Summary: Interesting and thought-provoking interwiew.
Review: Along with the rest of my tenth grade honors English class, I recently watched "Joseph Campell and the power of myth". This interview with Campell, the leading authority on mythology, was both informative and entertaining. Mr. Campell was very well-spoken and authoritative in his speech, and the interview was amusing as well as entertaining. The dialogue between Mr. Bill Moyer and Joseph Campell takes place on Skywalker ranch, owned by George Lucas. Lucas is a close friend of Campell's, and is also the creator of the well-known and popular "Star Wars" movie series.
Interestingly, Campell states that the plot of the "Star Wars" movies follows the traditional pattern of the mythological hero's journey. This journey takes place in many stories, including religious tales. Jesus, Muhammed, and Buddah(Siddhartha) are all alike in the way that they experiance the hero's journey. All depart from the life they know and venture out into a foriegn place to begin their quest. They are then tempted and endure many trials before their return home. The trials that they experiance change their conciousness and are significant to the quest and to their lives in general. After they return and choose diciples, their stories usually end with their deaths, which may or may not be tragic and symbolic.
Another aspect of the hero's quest dicussed in the video is the manner in which the hero departs on his quest. Some heroes, such as Frodo from "Lord of the Rings" venture into their questknowingly and willingly. However, in some myths, the hero chases an animal which leads him into a strange and foriegn land. One such story is the classic tale of "Alice in Wonderland".
Many heroes must defeat a monster on his quest, such as a dragon. In the myth of Heracules, he destroys many monsters, such as the Hydra and the Nemean lion. These monsters represent the hero's own fears and inner evils. He must conquer these forces within himself in order to complete his quest. By destroying these monsters, he proves himself and becomes completly and wholly good.
Joseph Campell discusses his own hero in the interview, the silent screen star Douglas Fairbanks. Though Campell confesses that he wanted to be like Fairbanks, the literary world has much to thank Campell for in the area of mythology. I am personally glad that he became the person he did. As Campell said, "A hero is someone who has given his life to something bigger than himself". I think we can all agree that Campell has indeed given his life to the study and exploration of the meaning of myth. This means, quite simply, that Joseph Campell is himself, a hero.
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Summary: Educational but Boring!
Review: In my tenth grade English class we recently watched the movie "Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth." The film is basically just Bill Moyers interviewing Joseph Campbell at George Lucas' Skywalker Ranch. The video is very educational but extremely boring. Campbell is very intelligent, knows a lot about mythology, and gives excellent examples to prove his points. In the video Campbell gives extremely good, educational information about mythology but it is very boring!
Campbell does a great job at showing how the majority of mythological heroes are basically the same. The part that really made me see that Campbell has a point is when he tells how Jesus and Buddha went through similar journeys. Both Jesus and Buddha had to go through the three tests. Campbell goes on to shows how Buddha, Jesus, Luke Skywalker, Moses, and Jonah in the whale's stomach are all very similar heroes that went through similar tests and events. It is interesting to hear Campbell talk about how modern day movie heroes relate to ancient ones.
Campbell does a great job at showing how most religions are similar. Even though I am not really religious it is very interesting to hear Campbell compare religions.
People can learn a lot about mythology, if they can stand to watch the whole video. The video is repetitive in what it is saying about mythology and it starts to get boring fast. The repetitiveness actually adds to the video from an educational stand point because it is showing that most heroes are basically the same.
I would recommend this video to anyone who is interested in mythology, history or religion. This video is good to give students an introduction into mythology because it is not hard to understand and give many key points about the hero and his journey.
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Summary: The Greatest Story Ever Told!!!
Review: I believe that Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth was a very insightful tool that has taught me about the needs of and purposes for myths. I never really considered why we had myths and to be true I never really cared. But after I watched Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth, I was stunned by the connections I could draw from the movie to my own life. This movie really opened my eyes in the purpose and course of action of human behavior. The analogies and real life situations Joseph Campbell gave in his explanation of what it is to be a hero showed me that there is a bit of hero in us all. I am in an honors English class and we were supposed to watch this movie to find out what a true hero really was. I was expecting a dull, boring movie that would make you want to fall asleep. What I got was an amazingly emotional film that made me think about my surroundings and my future. Mr. Campbell describes the life of a hero as a cycle of going away and coming back. He says that the hero starts his journey with a certain sense of consciousness and at the end of the journey he gains a greater sense of consciousness and understanding. That is what all myths deal with, the transformation of consciousness by trials. The hero shows his purity through his determination and, if necessary, the sacrifice of his life to something bigger than himself. Joseph Campbell's ability to make people stop and think about the myths on which their lives are composed of is unbelievable. Mr. Campbell is an amazing man, I am very impressed with the unfathomable amount of information on myths he has consumed over his very extensive carrier. Once again, I would like to salute Joseph Campbell on his beautiful explanation of what it is to be a hero. I am truly a different person after watching his video.
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Summary: The Power of Myth
Review: I'd never really studied mythology until I got into my 10th grade Honors English class this semester. My class opened the topic by watching part of Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth. I found it to be very confusing because Joseph Campbell ( while he may be the foremost authority on mythology) was hard to understand. While he explained the five parts of a hero's journey fairly well, he seemed to drift from one subject to another without really giving any facts about the subject. Also, he would drone on and on about one subject without really discussing it. The video was poorly made, too. While the video had some good editing (e.g. - Joseph Campbell was discussing Star Wars and scenes from Episode IV: A New Hope and Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back were shown), the camera stay focused on Campbell for long periods of time without any visual aids or changes in camera angles.
Now, Campbell's comparison of mythology to Star Wars actually did help me figure out the parts of mythology. Campbell talked about the fact that in space there are no boundaries. By comparison, in Star Wars the setting had no limits. He talked about how Luke Skywalker was the hero of the story, how Han Solo changed from mercenary to hero, how Mos Eisley Spaceport was the first threshold our heroes crossed, and how Luke, Leia, Han, and Chewie's adventure in the trash compactor aboard the first Death Star was the hero(es) crossing another threshold. Being a Sci-Fi kinda guy, this comparison helped my understanding of the levels of mythology. Overall though, even after the Star Wars comparison, I still found the video difficult to follow. Still, it was a pretty good way for my teacher to introduce mythology, especially since I have never studied it before.
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Summary: Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth
Review: When I started watching The Power of Myth: The Hero's Adventure, I was not expecting an extremely interesting experience. While I knew that the video would be informative, I was not ready for the experience I received. The Power of Myth grabbed my attention and didn't let go until it reached its conclusion. Expert Joseph Campbell did an incredible job of making his vast knowledge of mythology interesting and easy to understand.
Joseph Campbell was a man with an incredible capacity for knowledge. He devoted his life to the study of mythology, and his wisdom shines in The Power of Myth. In his interviews with Bill Moyers, Campbell explained many aspects of mythology, ranging from ancient stories to his own experiences. He delved into stories passed down by the Native Americans, explained tales from medieval Britain, and even talked about Star Wars, which he considered to be an adventure story with classic examples of heroes and other major aspects of mythology.
Campbell was an extremely spiritual person. However, he was not bound by a specific religion-mythology and theology were his passions. He believed that it was important to see beyond religious boundaries and into what things really meant. He showed that although different cultures have different religions and customs, they share many similar myths, such as the "Fire Theft," in which animals steal fire and are burned in their escape, explaining their various colorations.
The Hero's Adventure was an excellent part of The Power of Myth. It mainly focused on the heroes of mythology, but it was not a cursory interview. All aspects of a hero were examined and explained, ranging from a hero's mentor to his test. Campbell believed that all people are heroes from the beginning of their lives, simply by going through the process of birth.
The Power of Myth was an interesting look into the world of mythology. While it was a little slow, it was bursting with information. Joseph Campbell was unequaled in his knowledge of world mythology. I am much more interested in mythology now than I was before watching The Power of Myth. It was truly an excellent insight into the world of theology, spirituality, and mythology that I knew nothing of before.
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Summary: Opened my mind to a new experience
Review: I recently watched Joseph Campbell's video part one of the Joseph Campbell and the power of mythology. The movie interview between Campbell and Moyer was very intriguing and interesting. I thoroughly began to take mythology into a whole another idea. I began to see things in a new and different perspective. His beliefs on religion and mythology help me understand them better in a new way. One example is when he compares the Christian prophet Jesus to the Buddha God. In his explanation he explains that Jesus goes through three temptations while on a journey, and as does the Buddha God. This example really helps me put together that when it comes down to it all religions are a like a little in some way. I believe Joseph Campbell was a brilliant man with extraordinary gifts to help people understand mythology and other things better. The way he takes mythology and breaks it down to every little detail to helps give me a better understanding of it all. Until I recently watched this video I had never really taken it into consideration how much mythology has to do with history and cultures. Mythology has a lot to do with how a culture works and what the culture is based on. Joseph Campbell really used his brain when came up with his ideas on mythology and other things. He helped me to develop the idea that different cultures all over the world have much in common. In the video he really brought that idea out of me and helped me open my mind to different views and to be more open with my thoughts. Overall I thought Joseph Campbell was an extraordinary man, who was very smart and had brilliant ideas. This video really had an impact on me and opened my mind up to new ideas and a better understanding of the ways of life.
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