Joseph Campbell's Monomyth within Superman and Hercules
Joseph Campbell invented a general framework which describes the main elements in ancient stories from all over the world. He refers to this as the Monomyth, which means the One Story.
This handout describes the elements of the Monomyth, and then describes Superman and Disney's Hercules in terms of the Monomyth. A section at the bottom of the page discusses resurrection motifs in these stories. It is assumed that the reader is familiar with the story in SupermanandDisney’s Hercules.
Joseph Campbell's Monomyth
Joseph Campbell's concept of the Monomyth is a general framework which provides a description of the significant elements of the world's mythology. His theory is described in his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces. He summarizes this concept in a single sentence on p. 30:
“The 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.”
He gives a more complete summary on p. 245. This summary gives some indication of the many variations around the central theme: “The mythological hero, setting forth from his commonday hut or castle, is lured, carried away, or else voluntarily proceeds, to the threshold of adventure. There he encounters a shadowy presence that guards the passage. The hero may defeat or conciliate this power and go alive into the kingdom of the dark (brother-battle, dragon-battle; offering, charm), or be slain by the Opponent and descend in death (dismemberment, crucifixion). Beyond the threshold, then, the hero journeys through a world of unfamiliar yet strangely intimate forces, some of which severely threaten him (tests), some of which give magical aid (helpers). When he arrives at the nadir of the mythological round, he undergoes a supreme ordeal and gains his reward. The triumph may be represented as the hero's sexual union with the goddess-mother of the world (sacred marriage), his recognition by the father-creator (father atonement), his own divinization (apotheosis), or again - if the powers have remained unfriendly to him - his theft of the boon he came to gain (bride-theft, fire-theft); intrinsically it is an expansion of consciousness and therewith of being (illumination, transfiguration, freedom). The final work is that of the return. If the powers have blessed the hero, he now sets forth under their protection (emissary); if not, he flees and is pursued (transformation flight, obstacle flight). At the return threshold the transcendental powers must remain behind; the hero re-emerges from the kingdom of dread (return, resurrection). The boon that he brings restores the world (elixir). The changes rung on the simple scale of the Monomyth defy description. Many tales isolate and greatly enlarge upon one or two of the typical elements of the full cycle (test motif, flight motif, abduction of the bride), others string a number of independent cycles into a single series (as in the Odyssey).”
Superman and Hercules as Mythic Heroes
Superman is a good example of the Monomyth. For example, in the recently published Superman The Complete History, by Les Daniels(1998), p. 19, we have:
“Siegel [the creator of Superman] seems to have touched upon a mythic theme of universal significance. Superman recalls Moses, set adrift to become the people's savior, and also Jesus sent from above to redeem the world. There are parallel stories in many cultures.”
The story behind of the production of Superman is described in The Making of Superman, by David Petrou. He says on p. 10:
“It should be noted that the Superman story and screenplay draw heavily on familiar religious elements, most obviously the discovery of the baby Kal-El much like that of Moses, and the almost mystical bond between him and his father Jor-El.
The elements of religious legend which the original creators, Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster, most conceivably drew on without even realizing it - Moses in the bulrushes, the Christ story - are pulled into the open here.”
One review described the script of part of Superman as having been "ghost written by the author of the Gospel of John".
The parts of the Superman epic which are best regarded as Call Narrative are the parts of Superman from the point where young Clark is lying awake at night and discovers some green crystals in his dad's barn, up to the point where he returns, as Superman, to Metropolis.
This is how Clark's call narrative occurs: It's quiet on the plains of Kansas at night and Clark thinks he can hear some faint sound from far off. He tracks it down to inside the barn. Something within him tells him that he needs to make his way to the Arctic. He throws the crystals into the ice and a sort of sanctuary materializes. This is the Fortress of Solitude. The image of his deceased father then appears to him in a vision. Simply conceived, his Destiny has been to find the image of his father, and then to go to Metropolis, to fight for "Truth, Justice and the American way". Superman is a modern-day retelling of the classical mythic story.
There are many other modern popular stories besides Superman which incorporate these ideas. For example: The Lion King, The Prince of Egypt (based on Moses), Hercules, The Hobbit, and Star Wars. The Biblical story of Moses is a very good example of a story about Call Narrative and Destiny.
In The Lion King, Simba is led by Rafiki to find the image of Simba's own father. The image of the father in the sky, and the words spoken by the father, are very presented in very similar ways in both The Lion King and Superman. So Simba's Destiny is to find his father, to get to the bottom of the problem with Scar, and to return to Pride Rock.
Not all the stories include all the elements of the Monomyth. For example, Superman doesn't have a conspicuous guide figure. Good examples of the Guide are: Obi Wan in Star Wars, Rafiki from The Lion King, and Gandalf from The Hobbit. Rafiki is actually based on the little baboon-guide, Thoth, from Egyptian mythology, where he oversees, looks after, and mediates on behalf of the Egyptian divine king.
In Tolkien's The Hobbit, Bilbo has a classical Call to Adventure. He dropseverything, and runs off on a long, dark adventure and comes back with a load of treasure and a ring.
Resurrection Motifs
The climax of both Superman and Disney's Hercules is a scene in which the heroine dies and is brought back to life by the hero.
In Hercules, Megara dies and her body is seen floating on a lake. Hercules surrenders his own life and voluntarily dives into the lake. He ages instantly, but does not die, then reappears with Megara, both alive. Megara apparently dies, and in some way connected with the process of time, Hercules is able to bring her back to life.
All of the great myths have, at their core, beliefs about eternal life and the resurrection of the dead.
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