Every culture on the planet had its own stories, and yet Campbell picked up common themes in each one: details that go way beyond the merely cultural and could be found littered all over the pop culture landscape going back to the dawn of civilization.įrom stories of the Buddha to King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table to Anansi the Spider in Africa and Native American legends of all varieties-all of these myths share not only the same DNA, but pretty much the same skeleton. So what did it involve? As you may have guessed, it involved storytelling: myths, legends, and tales of heroes that started in caves around campfires.

He figured out a way to connect with the cosmic awesomeness of the universe that didn't involve locking yourself in a monastery and contemplating your bellybutton lint. Smarty pants philosophers like Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud have had their moments, but Joseph Campbell, who wrote the book, was interested in more than politics or religion or even human identity. It's a work of philosophy, but you can see its impact every time you turn on the TV or buy a ticket to a movie theater. (In which case, how did you get hold of an internet connection?)Īnd that means you've already been exposed to The Hero with a Thousand Faces, which was originally published in 1949 and now coming pretty close to swallowing pop culture whole. We're betting you said 'yes' to at least one of these…unless you're somehow reading this from the recesses of your hermit's cave, where you do nothing except cook over an open flame and meditate. Have you seen any of the Star Wars movies? Picked up a comic book? Read Harry Potter or The Hunger Games? Participated in pop culture at all in the last few centuries? The Hero with a Thousand Faces Introduction

Hero of the thousand faces