The two rode on each-other's coat tails during their ascent. Lucas was happy to give a "yeah, I was totally thinking that!" when people would point out some classic hero stuff in his simple little wonderful space opera (not damning with faint praise here - Star Wars is a ridiculously wonderful film!).
And Campbell knew a good thing when he saw it, happy to agree that Lucas' film represented a hero's journey.
This was a time when Campbell's writing was entering broad pop consciousness and his speaking engagement schedule was starting to grow: the massive popularity of Star Wars was a great ship to catch a ride on.
People wanted to see a depth in Star Wars that caught Lucas off guard (remember that he just wanted to replicate the exciting, cliff-hanger kids serials of his 1950s childhood). He decided to go with it, saying it was all part of a big plan, "I have ten movies with their stories all plotted out" etc. The reality is he cobbled things together ad-hoc and kind of quickly, with no real overarching intent - something he only decades later finally admitted.
I feel for him: in his mind, he was just a nuts-and-bolts technology guy who loved the "how would I make that?" questions and work far far more than the story he had to come up with to tell. He freely admitted he hated writing. If he had it his way, he would have merely been the head of ILM, excitedly figuring out ways to use new technology to solve film making problems, but Star Wars blew up on him, becoming an over-the-top ultra-success.
The real connection between Lucas and Campbell was nearly non-existent, but it was a useful thing for each of them to strategically latch on to as their popularity began to rapidly grow.
If it wasn’t for THX-1138 you cynicism might be warranted. The other factor is that the simple matinees are just as tied to the hero’s journey as Star Wars. The hero’s journey is tied to stories from the beginning of storytelling. Lucas experienced his own hero’s journey in producing the movie.
Finally from what I know Cambell ended up living on Skywalker Ranch. I see no reason to minimize connection.
This is an interesting take. Did Lucas ever actually admit he didn’t know about *The Hero with a Thousand Faces* before he wrote Star Wars? My understanding is he read Campbell after the motorcycle accident, and then it became a big influence.
Either way, I wouldn’t be surprised if Campbell was the one making the connections—between Life of Milarepa (which, in my opinion, is the closest pre Campbell example of the hero’s journey to Campbell’s original framing) and The Wizard of Oz. Meaning the stories all have the parts of the journey but the Life Milarepa has a 1 to 1 correlation.
Can you share some links to substantiate these claims that lucas didn't have a clue as to what he was doing, and moreover hadn't been infuenced by Campbell? Because I've paid quite a lot of attention to both of them, and thats completely contrary to what I've understood. Moreover, the OP link and it's follow-on say otherwise.
> In December of 2015, audiences will once again return to the cinemas -- as ancient peoples once gathered round a fire or into an amphitheater -- and collectively partake in the magic of myth. As Lucas and Campbell sat together in front of a silver screen to share an experience, so too shall we with our friends and family. It’s time for another good story!
Well, that wasn’t to be, unfortunately.
If you're interested in storytelling and Joseph Campbell's work, Mike Hill has some excellent videos, analyzing some blockbuster movies. [1]
Just ignore his podcast / interview type videos. This would be a good start: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXU7xzYhiiQ&list=PLrsgFKqTmu...
Also worth a watch is Sukhavati, place of bliss by Joseph Campbell. I believe it can be found on archive.org.
OK, this is awesome, I had no idea they met. Big Campbell + Star Wars fan here, always assumed the influence was abstract. This was a great historical read.
George Lucas's other influences:
"George Lucas in Love" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZ49Smi2SLQ
It's a shame that Joseph Campbell was wrong about everything, because he is an entertaining writer in the pseudo-profound register.
What was he most wrong about?
One of my favorite video essays is on this subject and KOTOR! For Noah Caldwell-Gervais, it’s actually not a terrible length haha
Well worth the watch: https://youtu.be/OI2iOB8ydGo?si=hDUzjVXIzjI9zR0V
Maybe if Campbell was still alive in the 1990s, he would have been able to help Lucas with his scripts for the prequels?
We now know Lucas wasn’t really a good storyteller. He was just really great with visuals, but was surrounded by great storytellers. His first wife Marcia and people like Irvin Kershner and Campbell were the ones who were able to convince Lucas that the story mattered more than the visuals. They were noticeable absent in the prequel production.
While I generally subscribe to the idea that the editors of A New Hope helped a lot with the final product, it's massively unfair to say that Lucas wasn't a good storyteller, Campbell didn't help directly with a New Hope and it was scripted by Lucas - ie it's his story.
A New Hope was innovative visually, but it was also the weakest story wise in the initial trilogy. Lucas’s strength is primarily with visuals.
When I took my son to see Dune, he said it was a major Star Wars rip-off.
Dune (the novel) was published in 1965.
Wait till you read "Voyage of the Space Beagle"!
https://www.amazon.com/Voyage-Space-Beagle-van-Vogt/dp/07653...