Since publication of The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Campbell’s theory has been consciously applied by a wide variety of modern writers and artists. The best known is perhaps George Lucas, who has acknowledged a debt to Campbell regarding the stories of the Star Wars films. In 2011, Time placed the book in its list of the 100 best and most influential books written in English since the magazine was founded in 1923.
Campbell explores the theory that important myths from around the world which have survived for thousands of years all share a fundamental structure, which Campbell called the monomyth. In a well-known quote from the introduction to The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Campbell summarized the monomyth:
“A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.”
This one page outline details the stages of Campbell’s hero’s journey created by the University of California at Berkeley. The download also includes a graph that visualizes the journey. Click this link to open the PDF in a new tab or browser and save your copy of the one-page description of The-Heros-Journey.
You may also be interested in the download titled “The Memo That Started It All” which features the Campbell journey stages based on Chris Vogler’s guide to Campbell and “The Memo That Started it All”. It was written in the mid-1980s when he was working as a story consultant for Walt Disney Pictures and had discovered the work of mythologist Joseph Campbell a few years earlier while studying cinema at the University of Southern California.
‘The Memo’ is recognized for its ‘blunt’ view of story, writing and Campbell’s work and inspired Vogler to write The Writer’s Journey, a must-read book for any creator. Click this link to open the PDF in a new tab or browser and save your copy of The Heros Journey Memo That Started It All.
