Joseph Campbell

Nascido em New York, em 1904, em morto em 1986, Joseph Campbell bacharelou-se em artes em 1925 e tirou seu mestrado também em artes em 1927 na Universidade de Columbia. De lá saiu para estudar Francês medieval e Sânscrito nas Universidades de Paris e Munich e, nesta cidade, tomou conhecimento dos trabalhos de Jung. Voltando para os Estados Unidos nos anos 30, da Grande Depressão, ele visitou a California, onde conheceu John Steinbeck e o biólogo Ed Ricketts. Lecionou na Canterbury School e em 1934, juntou-se ao departamento de literatura da Sarah Lawrence College, posição que reteve durante muitos anos. Nos anos 40 e 50, ele ajudou Swami Nikhilananda traduzir as Upanishads e Os Ensinamentos de Sri Rama-krishna.

Adquiriu grande popularidade tanto nos EUA como no resto do mundo após a publicação do livro "O Poder do Mito", que é a transcrição de uma série de programas de entrevista que ele fez com Bill Boyers na televisão pública americana dois anos antes de morrer.

Joseph Campbell e O Poder do Mito é leitura essencial para qualquer pessoa suficientemente madura para apreciar seus ensinamentos vitais. Uma das entrevistas mais longas já gravadas, este encontro de 6 horas dificido em 6 partes entre o professor mitologo e o estudante jornalista Bill Moyers cobre uma galaxia de topicos relacionados com os temas centrais de Campbell.

A mitologia é o método universal da humanidade para procurar o transcendental e a fórmula "siga o que te traz bem aventurança" é a formula eterna de satisfação espiritual.

O próprio Campbell é a materialização destes temas, como professor erudito e contador de historias, através dos mitos presentes ha historia japonesa, dos indios americanos nativos, dos egipcios, dos maias e muitos outros, que ilustram a eterna busca da humanidade para captarl os misterios da criação.

Artefatos historicos e ilustrações trazem à vida estas historias eternas.

Bill Moyers, como astuto entrevistador, forma um par perfeito de acólito(coroinha ajudante)/mentor com Campbell, propondo questões com profunda penetração numa dança intelectual que atinge niveis exilariantes de satisfação e sentido.

A introdução da saga do filme de Star Wars de George Lucas dá a tônica (existe um DVD do George Lucas sendo entrevistado a propósito), uma vez que ele reconhece que "Eu não criei novos mitos, apenas recontei de forma moderna os mitos antigos".

Ocorre o mesmo para a obra posterior de Matrix e a recente do Senhor dos Anéis, onde tanto os irmãos Wachowski como Tolkien seguem a mesma saga de George Luccas. Ver a comparação entre Matrix e Star Wars e sua lógica à luz da mitologia de Campbell.

Sobre Matrix os estudos:(não se esqueça de voltar pela seta do Explorer, pois se fechar o arquivo, fecha a sequencia): Exiles e The Matrix e a comparação

O sucesso destes filmes não se deve apenas à tecnologia computadorizada, mas ao fato de que, como concluiu Campbell, "nós precisamos de mitos para sobreviver como de oxigenio para respirar, como uma força vital através da qual nos entendemos nossa existencia, passada, presente e futura."

Ver mais sobre o assunto abaixo.

Outros livros seusincluem numerosos títulos, salientando-se: O Heroi Das Mil Faces, Mitos Pelos Quais Vivemos,O Vôo do Ganso Branco, um estudo de quatro volumes intitulado As Máscaras de Deus e A imagem Mitica.

Além do Jung Portátil ele editou As Mil e Uma noites portátil.

Em Português creio que só temos dele "O Poder do Mito", editado pela Palas Athena.

Voltar para Metáforas, Simbolos e Mito

In 1949 Joseph Campbell began a revolution in anthropology (the study of people and culture) with his book The Hero With a Thousand Faces. This book built on the pioneering work of German anthropologist Adolph Bastian (1826-1905), who first proposed the idea that myths from all over the world seem to be built from the same "elementary ideas." Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung (1875-1961) named these elementary ideas "archetypes," which he believed to be the building blocks not only of the unconcious mind, but of a collective unconcious. In other words, Jung believed that everyone in the world is born with the same basic subconcious model of what a "hero" is, or a "mentor" or a "quest." (Jung developed his idea of archetypes mostly as a way of finding meaning within the dreams and visions of the mentally ill, a category in which he included himself!)

Campbell's contribution was to take this idea of archetypes and use it to find the common underlying structure behind all religion and myth. He proposed this idea in The Hero With a Thousand Faces, which provides examples from cultures throughout history and all over the world. Campbell eloquently argues that all stories are fundamentally the same story, which he named the "Hero's Journey," or the "monomyth." This sounds like a simple idea, but it suggests an incredible ramification, which Campbell summed up with his adage "All religions are true, but none are literal." That is, all religions are really containers for the same essential truth, and the trick is to not mistake the wrappings for the diamond.

Lucas had already written two drafts of Star Wars when he rediscovered Joseph Campbell's The Hero With a Thousand Faces in 1975 (he had read it in college). This blueprint for "The Hero's Journey" gave Lucas the focus he needed to draw his sprawling imaginary universe into a single story.

This page generates an enormous amount of reader feedback: everyone agrees with the basic structure, but most have a different interpretation of exactly which story elements embody which archetypes. Great! I don't believe there are "correct" and "incorrect" interpretations: the capacity to accomodate multiple viewpoints is part of the secret of Star Wars' incredible ability to connect with people.

Note that the Wachowski Brothers' wonderful film The Matrix is built with the same blueprint:

Campbell Star Wars The Matrix

I: Departure

The call to adventure Princess Leia's message "Follow the white rabbit"
Refusal of the call Must help with the harvest Neo won't climb out window
Supernatural aid Obi-wan rescues Luke from sandpeople Trinity extracts the "bug" from Neo
Crossing the first threshold Escaping Tatooine Agents capture Neo
The belly of the whale Trash compactor Torture room
II: Initiation
The road of trials Lightsabre practice Sparring with Morpheus
The meeting with the goddess Princess Leia Trinity
Temptation away from the true path1 Luke is tempted by the Dark Side Cypher (the failed messiah) is tempted by the world of comfortable illusions
Atonement with the Father Darth and Luke reconcile Neo rescues and comes to agree (that he's The One) with his father-figure, Morpheus
Apotheosis (becoming god-like) Luke becomes a Jedi Neo becomes The One
The ultimate boon Death Star destroyed Humanity's salvation now within reach
III: Return
Refusal of the return "Luke, come on!" Luke wants to stay to avenge Obi-Wan Neo fights agent instead of running
The magic flight Millennium Falcon "Jacking in"
Rescue from without Han saves Luke from Darth Trinity saves Neo from agents
Crossing the return threshold Millennium Falcon destroys pursuing TIE fighters Neo fights agent Smith
Master of the two worlds Victory ceremony Neo's declares victory over machines in final phone call
Freedom to live Rebellion is victorious over Empire Humans are victorious over machines
Common Mythic Elements
Two Worlds (mundane and special) Planetside vs. The Death Star Reality vs. The Matrix
The Mentor Obi-Wan Kenobi Morpheus
The Oracle Yoda The Oracle
The Prophecy Luke will overthrow the Emperor Morpheus will find (and Trinity will fall for) "The One"
Failed Hero Biggs In an early version of the script, Morpheus once believed that Cypher was "The One"
Wearing
Enemy's Skin Luke and Han wear stormtrooper outfits Neo jumps into agent's skin
Shapeshifter (the Hero isn't sure if he can trust this character) Han Solo Cypher
Animal familiar R2-D2 The Sentinels are the only metaphorical animals, and Neo hasn't befriended one (yet?)
Chasing a lone animal into the enchanted wood (and the animal gets away)2 The Millenium Falcon follows a lone TIE fighter into range of the Death Star Neo "follows the white rabbit" to the nightclub where he meets Trinity

Lucas draws on his Personal Myth

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1 In 1949 Campbell called this mythic element "woman as temptress," but both Lucas and the Wachowski Brothers (as well as countless others) have managed to imagine compelling temptations away from the Correct Path which didn't cast woman as the villain. Campbell's idea that woman represents impurity was probably influenced by his Judeo-Christian upbringing, which shifts the responsibility for Adam's fall to Eve. Although Campbell's book is scrupulously cross-cultural, the one exception is his chapter on "Woman As the Temptress," which draws examples exclusively from Judeo-Christian myths.

2 Mythic heroes are nearly always lured into the enchanted wood by chasing a single animal, and the animal almost always escapes. I find this one of the most fascinating, difficult-to-understand commonalities of myth. For instance, in Le Morte D'Arthur (the most "official" version of King Arthur), the king chases a stag into a strange forest, his horse falls dead from exhaustion, the stag escapes, and Arthur meets "the strangest beast that ever he saw or heard of," Pellinore's Questing Beast. What the heck are we supposed to learn from that?!?! I'm still not sure, though I've found two clues: One, the hero usually thinks the chase will be easy: Han doesn't consider a single TIE fighter a threat, the White Rabbit Girl implies that she's sexually available to Neo, and Arthur forsees no difficulty catching the stag. But the animal always escapes! Two, if there's a single consistant "moral law" in myth, it's this: "People who are nice to helpless little bunnies are always rewarded." (And people who are mean to helpless little bunnies are always punished.) In fairytales and myth, animals represent the instinctual self (unless they can talk, in which case things get more complicated). So is the hero trapped in the enchanted wood as... punishment for dishonoring his instincts? A reward for following his instincts?

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