The Hero’s Adventure
1. Everything begins with a ______.
2. What film has been directly influenced by Joseph Campbell’s work?
3. Why The Hero With a Thousand Faces?
4. Why are there so many hero stories in mythology?
5. What are the ways that heroes go about leaving on their
journeys?
6. What is the moral objective of the hero?
7. Name the mythological hero used as an example. ______
Name the biblical hero used as an example ______
8. What are the three major steps of a hero story?
9. What do the stories of Jesus and Buddha’s journeys have in common?
10. Do movies create hero figures?
11. Does Star Wars fit the bill of the hero story?
12. What does the “Belly of the Whale” symbolize?
13. What are the stories of mythology trying to tell?
14. What do English Dragons represent?
What do Chinese Dragons represent?
15. Where is the real dragon?
What is it?
16. What is the real person attempting to save?
17. What do we use to raise our consciousness?
18. Mythology to come will celebrate what country?
Entertainment Executive
BIOGRAPHY
George Lucas was born in Modesto, California. The son of a stationery store owner, he was raised on a walnut ranch, and attended Modesto Junior College before enrolling in the University of Southern California film school. As a student at USC, Lucas made several short films, including Electronic Labyrinth: THX-1138: 4EB, which took first prize at the 1967-68 National Student Film Festival.
In 1967, Warner Brothers awarded him a scholarship to observe the filming of Finian's Rainbow, directed by UCLA grad Francis Ford Coppola. The following year, Lucas worked as Coppola's assistant on The Rain People and made a short film entitled Film Maker about the directing of the movie.
Lucas and Coppola shared a common vision of starting an independent film production company where a community of writers, producers, and directors could share ideas.
In 1969, the two filmmakers moved to Northern California, where they founded American Zoetrope. The company's first project was Lucas's full-length version of THX:1138. In 1971, Coppola went into production for The Godfather, and Lucas formed his own company, Lucasfilm Ltd.
In 1973, Lucas co-wrote and directed American Graffiti. The film won the Golden Globe, the New York Film Critics' and National Society of Film Critics' awards, and garnered five Academy Award nominations. Most importantly for Lucas, however, it became the most profitable film of the decade. Made for $750,000, the film grossed approximately $55 million, a return ratio of $50: $1.
Four years later, Lucas wrote and directed Star Wars -- a film which broke all box office records and earned seven Academy Awards. This intergalactic tale of good vs. evil combined cutting-edge technology with good old-fashioned storytelling, and movies haven't been the same since. Lucas went on to write the stories for The Empire Strikes Back and Return Of The Jedi, which he also executive-produced.
In 1980, he was the executive producer of Raiders of the Lost Ark, directed by Steven Spielberg, which won five Academy Awards. He was also the co-executive producer and creator of the story for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
In the mid-1980s, Lucas concentrated on constructing Skywalker Ranch, a facility custom-designed by Lucas to accommodate the creative, technical, and administrative needs of his companies. Skywalker Ranch includes a 150,000-square-foot postproduction and music recording facility as well as offices used for the research and development of new technologies in editing, audio, and multimedia. The Ranch, named after the Star Wars character Luke Skywalker, was completed in1985.
In 1986, Lucas executive-produced Disneyland's 3-D musical space adventure Captain Eo, which was directed by Francis Coppola and starred Michael Jackson. Captain Eo was shown in a theater uniquely designed by Lucas, Industrial Light &Magic, and Disney for the 17-minute spectacular. He was also the creator of Star Tours, combining the technology of a flight simulator with ILM special effects -- making it the most popular attraction at Disneyland.
His next project was the adventure-fantasy film Willow. Based on an original story by Lucas, the film was directed by Ron Howard and executive-produced by Lucas. Willow was released in 1988. Also in 1988, Lucas executive-produced Tucker: The Man and His Dream, directed by Francis Coppola. The following year, Lucas served as executive producer for Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
The company established by George Lucas in 1971 has today evolved into three entities. Lucas Digital Ltd. encompasses Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) and Skywalker Sound, the award-winning visual effects, television commercial production, and audio post-production businesses. ILM has played a key role in over half of the top 15 box office hits of all time, and was honored in 1994 with an Academy Award for its achievements in Forrest Gump, which marked a technological breakthrough for the film industry.
LucasArts Entertainment Company is a leading international developer and publisher of entertainment software, having won critical acclaim with more than 100 industry awards for excellence, consistently charting in top ten lists of best selling software.
Lucasfilm Ltd. includes all of Lucas's feature film and television production and the business activities of Licensing and The THX Group. The THX division was created to define and maintain the highest quality standards in motion picture theaters and home theater systems.
Additionally, George Lucas serves as Chairman of the Board of the George Lucas Educational Foundation; a tax-exempt charitable organization devoted to realizing the vision of a technology-enriched educational system of the future.
In 1992, after numerous awards, George Lucas was honored with the Irving G. Thalberg Award by the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
In 1999, Lucasfilm unveiled the latest installment in the Star Wars saga. After a series of premiere screenings that raised $5.6 million for charity, The Phantom Menace opened to record-breaking business across North America. It demolished the opening weekend box office records in 28 countries and ended the year with worldwide ticket sales of $922 million, making it the second-highest grossing film ever released. (Tim Dirks)
Star Wars
1977
Mark Hamill .... Luke Skywalker
Harrison Ford .... Han Solo
Carrie Fisher .... Princess Leia Organa
Peter Cushing .... Grand Moff Tarkin
Alec Guinness .... Ben Obi-Wan Kenobi
Anthony Daniels .... C-3PO
Kenny Baker .... R2-D2
Peter Mayhew .... Chewbacca
David Prowse .... Darth Vader
James Earl Jones .... Darth Vader (voice)
Written and Directed by George Lucas
Star Wars: A New Hope (IV) pays homage to sci-fi serials such as Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers.
Questions
1. Is Princess Leia a hero or simply a lady in distress? Why?
2. What do the costumes of the characters tell us about the characters personality? Give three examples.
3. Give two examples of sound effects, and explain how they help the story. Be specific.
4. What role do the ‘droids fill? How do you react to them emotionally?
5. Give an example of how the music is used in this film. Be specific.
6. What makes Darth Vader such a good villain? Give specific reasons.
The hero’s adventure
The mythological hero, setting forth from his common day hut or castle, is lured, carried away, or else voluntarily proceeds, to the threshold of adventure. There he encounters a shadow presence that guards the passage. The hero may defeat or conciliate this power and go alive into the kingdom of 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 though 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 there with 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 Hero With a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campell p.245-246
Create an adventure summary for Star Wars: A New Hope by filling in the blanks below with the appropriate information.