The Force from Star Wars

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Clicheophobe
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Joined: Sun Aug 24, 2014 9:37 pm

The Force from Star Wars

Post by Clicheophobe »

I discovered JC only recently after a friend said to me, "You're starting to sound like Joseph Campbell." I had just described some results from a project of mine exploring a particular theory of the brain. I've since found my friend was right (and also what an amazing and delightful resource JCF is). My goal now is to find all correspondences between my work and what Campbell describes. So I probably will need to read every major JC work ultimately. For now I could use some advice on where to best focus my attention.

My first question: I've mostly analyzed films, so let me ask, has JC described what the Force from Star Wars represents? My understanding of Star Wars (and other films) seems to match the hero's journey except for that missing piece. I understand the Force to be a five-step method of psychological warfare that disarms judgmental people by forcing (hence the name) their unconscious insecurity to the surface and using it against them. It also defuses internal self-judgments. The Force is the most common metaphor I've found in popular films, and I find it in the Bible. It's also the holy hand grenade of Antioch from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, which refers to the same method depicted in the story of Antioch in the New Testament, Acts of the Apostles. Pulp Fiction called it getting Medieval on their ass, an apparent reference to Holy Grail. Does Campbell describe anything that sounds like this in his writings? It's the only big thing that I haven't yet found a compelling correspondence with JC.

My second question: Masks of God (which I'm now reading) talks some about the possible origins of mythic themes somewhere in human instincts. So I'm curious if Jung has underpinnings in any specific instincts. I also read Moyers saying that Campbell late in life looked for a scientific explanation to supersede Jung or other psychological theorists. If that's true I'm interested in details.

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