Joseph Campbell Iron man
11 February 2014
The Fate of a Hero: Ironman The Modern Hero Stories of heroes have been told, written, and passed down since the beginning of time; each unique but following a tight pattern. Joseph Campbell was the first to notice this and wrote a book called The Hero With A Thousand Faces. Campbell wrote about the similarities of every hero’s journey while breaking it down into three steps: Departure, Initiation, and Return. In his book, Campbell compares many old Greek myths and heroic tales from centuries ago, and although he focuses on ancient myths, modern hero stories follow Campbell’s stages just as closely. Ironman is a prime example of a modern story that follows Campbell’s pattern. Tony Stark (Ironman) is an eccentric billionaire who owns stark industries, the world’s leader in weapon making. He lives a bachelor lifestyle without any worries until he gets his call to adventure. The story of Ironman tells the tale of Tony Stark’s life changing adventure while closely following the stages written by Campbell which would label him a hero by Campbell’s standards. Tony’s heroism was instantly challenged in his call to adventure; an extremely harsh one with severe consequences. The call to adventure is when the hero realizes that his or her world will soon change dramatically. Tony Stark travels to Afghanistan to introduce his new weapon, The Jericho, and endures a deadly life changing call to action. After the weapon demonstration, Tony’s caravan is attacked by a terrorist group who kidnaps him. The terrorists lock him in a cave and give him the ultimatum to die or build weapons for them. Tony’s call to adventure directly follows Campbell’s description. “This first stage of the mythological journey-which we have designated the “call to adventure”-signifies that destiny has summoned the hero and transferred his spiritual center of gravity from within the pale of his society to a zone unknown. This fateful region of both treasure and danger may be
The Fate of a Hero: Ironman The Modern Hero Stories of heroes have been told, written, and passed down since the beginning of time; each unique but following a tight pattern. Joseph Campbell was the first to notice this and wrote a book called The Hero With A Thousand Faces. Campbell wrote about the similarities of every hero’s journey while breaking it down into three steps: Departure, Initiation, and Return. In his book, Campbell compares many old Greek myths and heroic tales from centuries ago, and although he focuses on ancient myths, modern hero stories follow Campbell’s stages just as closely. Ironman is a prime example of a modern story that follows Campbell’s pattern. Tony Stark (Ironman) is an eccentric billionaire who owns stark industries, the world’s leader in weapon making. He lives a bachelor lifestyle without any worries until he gets his call to adventure. The story of Ironman tells the tale of Tony Stark’s life changing adventure while closely following the stages written by Campbell which would label him a hero by Campbell’s standards. Tony’s heroism was instantly challenged in his call to adventure; an extremely harsh one with severe consequences. The call to adventure is when the hero realizes that his or her world will soon change dramatically. Tony Stark travels to Afghanistan to introduce his new weapon, The Jericho, and endures a deadly life changing call to action. After the weapon demonstration, Tony’s caravan is attacked by a terrorist group who kidnaps him. The terrorists lock him in a cave and give him the ultimatum to die or build weapons for them. Tony’s call to adventure directly follows Campbell’s description. “This first stage of the mythological journey-which we have designated the “call to adventure”-signifies that destiny has summoned the hero and transferred his spiritual center of gravity from within the pale of his society to a zone unknown. This fateful region of both treasure and danger may be
Cited: Campbell, Joseph. The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1968. Print. Iron Man. Dir. Jon Favreau. Prod. Avi Arad and Kevin Feige. By Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby, Art Marcum, and Matthew Holloway. Perf. Robert Downey, Terrence Howard, Jeff Bridges, and Gwyneth Paltrow. Paramount Pictures, 2008. DVD.