(Besides which, she doesn't show up until the second half.) Even Kylo Ren offers to act as a mentor to Rey, though she's definitely not buying what he's selling. Maz certainly has her share of life lessons to deliver, but our heroes don't seem hugely open to her vibe. The first one to arrive is Han, and like a lot of mentors, he's a little rough around the edges. For a while, Rey and Finn are kind of on their own, making it up as they go and unable to turn to anyone for help. Mentors…wow, we've got a lot to choose from here, and they don't always arrive in perfect Hero's Journey order. You know what happens next? The First Order kicks down the door and starts killing everyone. Rey rejects the gift of Luke's lightsaber and insists that she has to go back to the junk heap on Jakku to wait for her family. Finn wants to keep running from the First Order and hooks up with the local riffraff to do it. Just ask Luke's Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru …or rather, their smoldering husks.īoth Finn and Rey refuse the call at about the same time: in Maz's place. The galaxy ain't gonna save itself, guys. In both cases, it's a sign that they need to put on their boogie shoes and split. Rey ends up with BB-8 at first, followed quickly by Finn. Finn decides he's had enough of the First Order and springs Poe Dameron to help him steal a TIE fighter. In any case, the "ordinary world" in Star Wars seems to involve a giant quasi-fascist government hell-bent on spoiling the party for everyone and a plucky band of rebels stepping up to stick it to the Intergalactic Man.Īll we need are a couple of anonymous souls who have no idea what they're capable of… Call to Adventureįor both Rey and Finn, the call to adventure arrives in the form of a new friend (or in Rey's case, two). The interesting thing about this one is-having already seen Anakin and Luke take that journey-we now see them shifting to the role of mentors: moving the journey to a new generation and placing the hero in a new role. When it comes to pop culture, you just can't get any Hero's Journey-er than Star Wars. Want more? We have an entire Online Course devoted to the hero's journey.) Ordinary World We're working with those 12 stages, so take a look. He wrote The Hero with a Thousand Faces, in which he outlined the 17 stages of a mythological hero's journey.Ībout half a century later, Christopher Vogler condensed those stages down to 12 in an attempt to show Hollywood how every story ever written should-and, uh, does -follow Campbell's pattern.
#Journey to star wars the force awakens wiki movie
Ever notice that every blockbuster movie has the same fundamental pieces? A hero, a journey, some conflicts to muck it all up, a reward, and the hero returning home and everybody applauding his or her swag? Yeah, scholar Joseph Campbell noticed first-in 1949.