Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by ujames1978
The Hero With a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell
1.0
Like everyone else who's never taken a course in Mythology, the only reason that I've ever heard of Joseph Campbell or his concept of the 'Monomyth/Hero's Journey' is because George Lucas used it to finish "Star Wars." And in light of that pub quiz trivia, it's long since become little more than a 12-step blueprint for every hack writer who needs an outline for their plot. So after decades of hearing people mention it in their 'Deep Dive/Long Form' video essays, I figured that it was about time I read the book that started it all. And sure enough, the moment that I first heard the name 'Freud' and realised that Campbell's entire theory was based on the early 20th century myth of 'Psychoanalysis,' I knew that I was wasting my time.
Because while I've never taken a course in mythology, I 'Have' studied enough psychology to know that Freud worked with adults, assumed what their childhoods must have been like based on their current mental state and then twisted those assumptions to fit the Greek myths that he thought sounded cool. (I, e, 'The Oedipus Complex.') So for a mythologist to build his work on Freud and Jung who themselves based their work on their twisted and self-serving interpretation of Greek mythology is the world's biggest, most pointless and most self-aggrandising circle jerk!
As a matter of fact, when I say that I learned about Freud in psychology class, his work was literally only mentioned because it's the only thing most people know about psychology. So right at the beginning of our first introductory course, they needed to take a moment to inform us all that it's utter horse hockey and everyone should ignore it. That literally the only reason it's famous is because it sounds cool and 'Feels' true, but it has absolutely no basis or merit whatsoever if you're trying to actually understand how the human mind works. And likewise, what little mention I've found of what mythologists and folklorists think of Joseph Campbell and his 'Hero's Journey' is exactly the same; I, e, that they absolutely despise and resent them for completely poisoning the general public's understanding of their field. Because while they devote their careers to trying to understand the myths of other cultures in their own context by putting aside their own (usually white, male, European/American) perspective, Campbell was just another arrogant, 'Intellectually Imperialist' white guy who took what he wanted from other cultures and declared that it proved him right while utterly ignoring the voices and perspectives of women, queer people and what have you.
Today in fact, the only people who still have anything to gain from this navel gazing drivel are writers. But even they don't have to wade through this obnoxious pile of sound and fury, signifying nothing, because they can easily read one of the countless 'Reader's Digest' versions, charts or guides that are available online. And even then, they are probably wasting their time. Because the joke is that because it's so famous and every critic and fellow writer can spot it a mile away, even the 'Hero's Journey' as the plot of fiction has become an obsolete cliché that all but the most jaded hacks are now struggling to avoid.
Because while I've never taken a course in mythology, I 'Have' studied enough psychology to know that Freud worked with adults, assumed what their childhoods must have been like based on their current mental state and then twisted those assumptions to fit the Greek myths that he thought sounded cool. (I, e, 'The Oedipus Complex.') So for a mythologist to build his work on Freud and Jung who themselves based their work on their twisted and self-serving interpretation of Greek mythology is the world's biggest, most pointless and most self-aggrandising circle jerk!
As a matter of fact, when I say that I learned about Freud in psychology class, his work was literally only mentioned because it's the only thing most people know about psychology. So right at the beginning of our first introductory course, they needed to take a moment to inform us all that it's utter horse hockey and everyone should ignore it. That literally the only reason it's famous is because it sounds cool and 'Feels' true, but it has absolutely no basis or merit whatsoever if you're trying to actually understand how the human mind works. And likewise, what little mention I've found of what mythologists and folklorists think of Joseph Campbell and his 'Hero's Journey' is exactly the same; I, e, that they absolutely despise and resent them for completely poisoning the general public's understanding of their field. Because while they devote their careers to trying to understand the myths of other cultures in their own context by putting aside their own (usually white, male, European/American) perspective, Campbell was just another arrogant, 'Intellectually Imperialist' white guy who took what he wanted from other cultures and declared that it proved him right while utterly ignoring the voices and perspectives of women, queer people and what have you.
Today in fact, the only people who still have anything to gain from this navel gazing drivel are writers. But even they don't have to wade through this obnoxious pile of sound and fury, signifying nothing, because they can easily read one of the countless 'Reader's Digest' versions, charts or guides that are available online. And even then, they are probably wasting their time. Because the joke is that because it's so famous and every critic and fellow writer can spot it a mile away, even the 'Hero's Journey' as the plot of fiction has become an obsolete cliché that all but the most jaded hacks are now struggling to avoid.