Rating: 
Summary: An outlook on the relationship of mythology and life
Review: "The Hero's Adventure" is drawn from Joseph Campbell's study of mythology. Joseph Campbell is one of the world's foremost authorities of mythology, which really makes the movie interesting because of his ability to tie mythology in with the every day events of people's lives. He presents the idea that a hero or heroine is not just a person that commits a supernatural act, but that we can find a hero or a heroine all around us in different shapes and forms. Joseph presents a hero as someone who has given his life to something bigger than himself or other than himself. According to Joseph Campbell, the moral objective of heroism is saving a person or idea. Also, all heroes must go through trials and tribulations in order to complete the serendipitous task asked of them. They must also under-go a near death experience.
Joseph Campbell's ability to tie in the hero's path with other things, Star Wars for example, helps to provide a relationship from the movie to the viewer. I think the Star Wars movies are very interesting and to know that they are based around Joseph Campbell's hero's path helps me to make a connection with the movie. In one of the Star Wars videos, there is a scene where three of the people are stuck in a trash compactor, which is very much like a belly of the whale experience, or a near death experience. The hero's act includes a departure, a fulfillment, and a return. The Star Wars trilogy goes through all three of these acts. Which indicates that the Star Wars videos are based on this type of hero mythology.
In other ways, however, this movie is also uninspiring as Joseph Campbell sometimes makes it seem that he is reaching in order to tie in mythology to everything in every day life. Sometimes mythology can be tied in, and other times, it can't. Overall, it was an okay movie. It wasn't life changing, but it was an informative movie and very educational.
Rating: 
Summary: Signifying nothing
Review: After all the shouting has died down, the truth is that Campbell's work looks great - as long as you're sufficiently young at heart that you cannot see how shallow his ideas are.This is a classic example of Western-style religious rebellion, especially in the 1950s and 60s - rejecting one's own traditions in favour of sanitised, homogenised, exotic Eastern teachings. It is romantic, defiant, and ultimately vacuous. Yet for many people, especially, perhaps, those with above average intellect, a flirtation with Campbell's work may be a necessary stage in their development - a part of their own "hero's journey". Though fun while it lasts, like all of Campbell's writing there is nothing here of any lasting substance. As Shakespeare so eloquently put it: "It is a tale, told by an idiot,
Full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing." It just takes some people longer than others to spot Emperor Campbell's nakedness.
Rating: 
Summary: It Gets Better Every Time I Watch It
Review: After owning the VHS of this movie for over five years, and having watched it several times I am really beginning to appreciate the narrative structure of the movie. It just flows well. The amount of ideas expressed in a mere 58 minutes is gargantuan. This is about the best overview of Campbell's overall teaching that I know of (and I have an extensive JC collection). The best parts of the movie are the footage of actual interaction between Campbell and his students (who were often his teachers in other aspects). George Lucas says in the movie that as wonderful as Campbell's books are, they just don't capture the essence of the man. This is the biggest understatement it the movie. This was a wonderful, wonderful man, a genius. Even in death, he remains a role model in an age without them. Add this documentary to your collection and you will not be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: It Gets Better Every Time I Watch It
Review: After owning the VHS of this movie for over five years, and having watched it several times I am really beginning to appreciate the narrative structure of the movie. It just flows well. The amount of ideas expressed in a mere 58 minutes is gargantuan. This is about the best overview of Campbell's overall teaching that I know of (and I have an extensive JC collection). The best parts of the movie are the footage of actual interaction between Campbell and his students (who were often his teachers in other aspects). George Lucas says in the movie that as wonderful as Campbell's books are, they just don't capture the essence of the man. This is the biggest understatement it the movie. This was a wonderful, wonderful man, a genius. Even in death, he remains a role model in an age without them. Add this documentary to your collection and you will not be disappointed.
Rating: 
Summary: Never a Disappointment
Review: Although this film covers some areas of Joseph Campbell's knowledge, it does not even begin to show his true genius. It very loosely covers all that Campbell worked so long and so hard to accomplish. But if one were looking for a very short overview of Campbell's work, this would be it.
In the film, Campbell goes deeply into only a few certain areas that he has covered. He talks about how the three major religions put emphasis on the hero's trials. He talks about Jesus Christ and His three temptations. He talks about Buddha and his might. He uses these as examples to prove his point, and it is well received.
If you are wishing to get a full understanding of Joseph Campbell just by watching this movie, you are going to be sorely disappointed. However, it is some amazing footage of one of the most ingenious men of our time. Campbell talks of things that would never occur to the normal human being unless brought to our attention. If you have been interested in myth before, but did not know where to start, this film is great for beginners.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Glimpse of the Man
Review: If you've read "The Heroes Journey," then you won't find any new information here. What you will get, however, is extensive interview footage of Campbell that, as far as I know, isn't available anywhere else. And if you haven't read the book, this is an excellent introduction into Campbell's primary insights (the religions/myths of the world aren't just false stories...they are incredibly meaningful expressions of Man's wonder before the mystery of Everything...among others), and how he managed to reach them. A nice quality production, intelligently written, with plentiful input from the man himself. One question though...Campbell claims that he saved up enough money playing saxophone in a jazz combo to go without a job for 5 years...simply living in a cottage and reading all day!!! Speaking as a semi-professional musician, how the heck did he manage THAT?!?!?!?
Rating:
Summary: The Power of Myth: The Hero¿s Adventure (Volume One)
Review: In The Power of Myth: The Hero's Adventure (Volume One), Bill Moyers, the show's host, interviews Joseph Campbell, the father of modern myth. The interview is set on George Lucas's Skywalker Ranch in Northern California. The reason for this seemingly random setting is one of the main themes in the movie, which is how George Lucas's Star Wars movies can relate to myths of old. The movie involves many various clips from the three original Star Wars movies (Episode IV: A New Hope, Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, and Episode VI: The Return of the Jedi) that depict certain aspects of myths being described in the interview. I think it is very interesting the way that the Star Wars movies are tied right into the interview and how the clips are shown along the way. Joseph Campbell does a very well job describing the myths he told about in the interview and telling how they relate to the Star Wars Clips. I believe this movie is a very complete portrayal of myths that can be a real learning experience for someone new to the world of mythology and even someone learned in the ways of myths. This movie is a bit slow at times, but a powerful movie nonetheless. I would recommend it to an older crowd, just because of the deep and intellectual level of the movie.
Rating:
Summary: To Share in a Fascinating Journey
Review: Joseph Campbell is a well-know scholar of the various mythologies which appear around the globe. "The Hero's Journey" is partly a story of his formative years and partly a history of the evolution within his ideas of myth and metaphor. Mr. Campbell was born in 1904. The program begins in New Rochelle, New York, where he was raised as an Irish Catholic and helped to serve as an Altar Boy. Very early on in his life, he felt drawn to the study American Indian anthropology and mythology. Towards Mr. Campbell's college years, however, the ideas of science and a meeting with theosophist Krishnamurti worked to extend his thinking beyond Catholicism, towards the East with studies of both Buddhism and Hinduism. In 1929, after the stock market crash, he moved to Woodstock, New York and read intensively for a period of five years, while remaining unemployed. After this reflective period, Sarah Lawrence College hired him as a teacher and he strived to make his ideas relevant to the minds of both male and female students. In 1938, he married Gene Erdman, a former student who went on to become a noted dancer and choreographer in Martha Graham's avant-garde dance theater. It was around this time that his successful work, "Hero with a 1000 Faces", was published. Mr. Campbell feels that the inspiration and intuition experienced within our interior life are perhaps the most reliable guides to interpreting this world, and that to "Follow Your Bliss" is a central strategy in the personal quest for meaning in life. He was thoroughly steeped in the perennial writing of the world's religions and mythologies by the time he came to this simple yet profound conclusion. For fans of the PBS series "The Power of Myth", this biography will help provide a fascinating glimpse at how such a talented mind was shaped by an interesting life's journey.
Rating:
Summary: To Share in a Fascinating Journey
Review: Joseph Campbell is a well-know scholar of the various mythologies which appear around the globe. "The Hero's Journey" is partly a story of his formative years and partly a history of the evolution within his ideas of myth and metaphor. Mr. Campbell was born in 1904. The program begins in New Rochelle, New York, where he was raised as an Irish Catholic and helped to serve as an Altar Boy. Very early on in his life, he felt drawn to the study American Indian anthropology and mythology. Towards Mr. Campbell's college years, however, the ideas of science and a meeting with theosophist Krishnamurti worked to extend his thinking beyond Catholicism, towards the East with studies of both Buddhism and Hinduism. In 1929, after the stock market crash, he moved to Woodstock, New York and read intensively for a period of five years, while remaining unemployed. After this reflective period, Sarah Lawrence College hired him as a teacher and he strived to make his ideas relevant to the minds of both male and female students. In 1938, he married Gene Erdman, a former student who went on to become a noted dancer and choreographer in Martha Graham's avant-garde dance theater. It was around this time that his successful work, "Hero with a 1000 Faces", was published. Mr. Campbell feels that the inspiration and intuition experienced within our interior life are perhaps the most reliable guides to interpreting this world, and that to "Follow Your Bliss" is a central strategy in the personal quest for meaning in life. He was thoroughly steeped in the perennial writing of the world's religions and mythologies by the time he came to this simple yet profound conclusion. For fans of the PBS series "The Power of Myth", this biography will help provide a fascinating glimpse at how such a talented mind was shaped by an interesting life's journey.
Rating:
Summary: Myth: The Power of?
Review: The class screening of this video was one of the most incredible experiences of my life. Campbell offers extraordinary insight into the human condition through meticulous analysis of mythology from all over the world. I found it very interesting that George Lucas's films were inspired by mythology. One can delve into all sorts of modern films and find situational, character, and symbolic archetypes that occurred in ancient mythology. Joseph Campbell possesses one of the most zealously inquisitive minds on this planet, and he proves it in this video. This does not deserve to be called a simple "video". It was an experience which will never be reproduced by another film company as long as man roams the earth.
Campbell has many interesting philosophies. One of these ideas which he portrayed in the video was that human beings should listen to the inner-voice. In this sense, we can all be dissenters (or mavericks). Joseph Campbell was a maverick of sorts until his tragic death in 1987. We could learn a lot about the art of being a maverick from this brave, intelligent man. He devoted his entire life to studying mythology, with little regard to what others thought of this practice. Campbell states in the video that every society can be evaluated to an enormous degree simply by examining what kind of stories and myths were created in said society. Also, one can see how similar all societies in the world are. Many of Campbell's statements relate to Carl Jung's theory of the collective unconscious. Frequent occurrences in mythology throughout the world show that all people might have similar basic thought processes.
The only aspect of the video that was not up to par was the interviewing style. I and a number of the other viewers felt that it was weak and not hard-hitting enough. However, the overall video was a masterpiece. I was thoroughly impressed by this pristine work of art. Joseph Campbell was a God among ants, and his contributions to society shall be remembered forever more.
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