The Hero’s Journey: Joseph Campbell on His Life and Work: The World of Joseph Campbell

April 21, 2014
by jaklumen Leave a comment

A Hero’s Journey: Norrin Radd, the Silver Surfer

The trial period for the spinal cord stimulator is over; the leads have been out for three days now. Since I’m waiting to see about the permanent implant and I’m not sure how much wrestling I’ll do with pain until then, I’ll be reworking and reposting some series I’ve done earlier. This week I am reposting, reworking, and continuing the Silver Surfer and the Hero’s Journey series.

He is sometimes called “Christ on a surfboard”, but I have yet to see many writings that tie this Jack Kirby comic book character to Joseph Campbell’s Monomyth.

Especially compelling is his origin story, which fairly quickly traces elements of the Hero’s Journey in his transformation from Norrin Radd to the Silver Surfer.

The Silver Surfer gazing on the world he dared to protect

But even in extended stories such as the Infinity Gauntlet (which is said to really be about the Surfer, despite affecting all characters in the Marvel universe at that time), there are still emphases of the Monomyth.

Both ideas will be explored in future posts. Previous articles from this blog will rise to the present again (some have already), to show that the current focus I have taken here has had seeds planted in musings of the distant past. Perhaps eventually I will show you, dear readers, of why I find the Silver Surfer such a personally compelling figure…

NEXT POST IN THE SERIES: A Hero’s Journey: Summary of the Silver Surfer

February 8, 2014
by jaklumen 1 Comment

Zero to Hero officially ended, but I’m still on the Journey

Zero to Hero officially ended when the month of January did. I was late in getting started, and I just had too much difficulty churning out a post every day (there were thirty days in the challenge). I posted when it felt right, and sometimes I decided to do maybe a little more than was asked for, especially if I wasn’t satisfied with previous results.

And then there were days where I just totally stalled out.

On February 4th, I got an email with a link to a quick survey. I decided to answer those three questions, as well as the 10-question survey:

Screenshot of 3-question survey

Screenshot of 10-question survey

Just to summarize (if you’re too pressed for time to click to see the images full-size), the 3-question survey asked if Zero to Hero worked well for me, while the 10-question survey asked for more specific feedback (say, if WP did this challenge again in the future).

I decided to send Michelle Weber a quick note as well, since she works on the Photo challenges I’ve really been enjoying, too:

Hey Michelle,

I just wanted to give you a quick note of thanks for this Zero to Hero challenge, and for many engaging Daily Writing/Photo challenges. I was especially inspired by your Cambodian prison photo for the Juxtaposition photo challenge… it looked a lot like a photo my daughter took when she was getting started in photography.

to which I got this lovely reply:

Aw, thanks so much for the note! I’m glad you enjoyed Zero to Hero, and that The Daily Post is helpful.

See you ‘round the photo challenge comments 🙂

Cheers,

Michelle

I’ll keep working on Zero to Hero challenge elements, but I’ll devote a little more time to some other projects that are still kicking around my brain. It’ll be a shifting gears of sorts. What all that might be… well, you’ll just have to stay tuned, and see!

Zero to Hero Day 25: Custom Touch

December 27, 2013
by jaklumen

Exercise #63: The Oracle’s Dilemma

Cimmorene has come up with another story as we slowly reveal our hidden world of the Four Kingdoms, an epic fantasy that speaks of social justice, mercy, and redemption. Like many stories of high fantasy, we touch on many elements of the Monomyth cycle, or “Hero’s Journey”, expounded by Joseph Campbell.

Cimmy's Stories

Exercise 63 Instructions

WARNING: This post is more than 1700 words long.

Ashsula walks down a path lined with granite slabs. Trees stand around her at intervals, seeming to beckon her forward with their branches. A light breeze catches at the long, brown tresses beneath her hood and plays with the hem of her gray robes. At the end of the path stands a marble courtyard in which two small, white marble basins stand. Light reflected in them tells her there is water in both. A small girl child stands between the two basins also garbed in a long gray robe, identical in all respects to the one worn by Ashsula, save that the hood rests against the child’s back rather than being up, as is the custom. The breeze tugs at the blond curls she has allowed to obscure her face and at the fabric of the gray…

View original post 1,798 more words

November 10, 2013
by jaklumen 2 Comments

The Inner Journey

Looking back, I suppose it was only a matter of time before I stumbled over references to Christopher Vogel and “The Writer’s Journey“. This is the guy that wrote the studio memo titled “A Practical Guide to The Hero with a Thousand Faces”, and I gather that his interpretation of Joseph Campbell’s work and its influence on the motion picture industry (he was working for Disney at the time), was what also spawned some criticism I kept running into online. Apparently, not all screenwriters employ the idea of Monomyth while still flourishing skill and talent for good storytelling.

The Inner Journey

The following diagram is from Vogler’s Writer’s Journey site, on the page “Hero’s Journey”. Masterful! I wish I’d seen this when writing about the Silver Surfer– it might have made those posts about the inner conflict he experienced (according to Stan Lee) easier.

Of course, my immediate thought was that it would make fitting the Monomyth to my day-to-day struggles much easier as well. I have gotten a little feedback that all this Monomyth stuff is not easily and quickly digested, so I hope that incorporating this will be helpful, dear readers, or at least easier to skim, as I know many of you are wading through many blogs and posts… you know how it is.

I will probably highlight this diagram much as I have the other one. Hopefully I can successfully claim fair use, and that Mr. Vogler and his associates will not try to squeeze lawsuit blood from stony impoverished me as I express admiration for his work.

April 11, 2013
by jaklumen Leave a comment

A Hero’s Journey: Norrin Radd, the Silver Surfer

He is sometimes called “Christ on a surfboard”, but I have yet to see many writings that tie this Jack Kirby comic book character to Joseph Campbell’s Monomyth.

Especially compelling is his origin story, which fairly quickly traces elements of the Hero’s Journey in his transformation from Norrin Radd to the Silver Surfer.

The Silver Surfer gazing on the world he dared to protect

NEXT POST IN THE SERIES: A Hero’s Journey: Summary of the Silver Surfer

QotD: Fictional Friend (jaklumen.wordpress.com)
The Silver Surfer (philipscottwikel.wordpress.com)

August 23, 2012
by jaklumen 6 Comments

The Hero With A Thousand Faces

by Joseph Campbell. I am reading it.

I am not sure what to say except that at times I was absolutely stunned reading it, because with the epic fantasy novel I am working on, I am using symbolisms he refers to over and over… some I was very much aware of, and some… no, not really. Incredible stuff.

I don’t think I can express to you all how personal this is, how… I can’t. I don’t seem to be able to express how much this is moving me without seeing who is ready and willing to dig down in a much more esoteric way. Not even sure a blog is appropriate for such things.

It was a natural extension after reading “Iron John” (by Robert Bly) and “King, Warrior, Magician, Lover”.