The first remarkable book of Joseph Campbell is The Hero with a Thousand Faces,
which originally named as How to Read a Myth. Though it might only want to teach the
readers something of myth originally, it turns to a summary of how a myth be made. It
collects myth stories from all over the world, including Greek, North Europe, India, Egypt,
and China, to support his theory about “monomyth”, which in my understanding is that all the
myth stories should have a same pattern, the same formula. It reveals us a journey of heroes.
Heroes begin their journey from where they begin and meet some obstacles and overcome
those difficulties and win the prize and finally back to where they begin. Many stories, for
instance, Star Wars, The Matrix, and Harry Potter, are written base on or influenced by his
theory of myth. Not only stories in films or fictions, but also games have been influenced by
his study. The core concept of game design can be extended from monomyth theory.
Another master piece Joseph Campbell published between 1959 and 1968 is The Mask of
God. It is a book continuously with monomyth but pay more attention on history and
anthropology, rather than psychology in The Hero with a Thousand Faces. It gives four
volumes of myth: Primitive Mythology, Oriental Mythology, Occidental Mythology, and
Creative Mythology.
The most popular book of Joseph Campbell is The Power of Myth. This book introduces
myth to the public by it lucid explanation and vivid stories. It is a book let people rediscover
of myth and themselves. Everything can be a story and everyone can be a hero. That is the
spirit to support modern entertainment industry and Joseph Campbell thus is the father of
modern entertainment spirit.
Work Cited
Young, Jonathan. “Joseph Campbell's Mythic Journey”, New Perspective magazine, July,
1994, Found online on March 25, 2019.
< http://www.folkstory.com/campbell/joseph_campbell_mythic_journey.html >
Walter, Robert. “ABOUT JOSEPH CAMPBELL”, On the Occassion of Joseph Campbell’s
Centennial, March 26, 2004, Found online on March 25, 2019.
< https://www.jcf.org/about-joseph-campbell/ >