Monomyth in Star Wars a New Hope Essay

Monomyth or hero's Journey in narratology and comparative mythology is the common template of a broad category of tales or in our case the movie Star Wars a New Hope (1977). That involves the journey full of adventure by the hero which involves multiple challenges along the way, but at the end of the adventure, the hero returns home a changed or transformed person (Vogler). In our analytical movie review, we get to analyze our hero Luke Skywalker, the son of Anakin Skywalker. He takes a magnificent journey where he encounters countless obstacles and hardships but manages to manoeuvre through them and in return gets a transformation due to the encounters he faces during the whole adventure. The analysis explores the heroes journey in depth and critically focuses on the impact the adventure has on him and all the other people he encounters through the journey. Star Wars a New Hope (1977) was one of the best movies of the time and had such an interesting storyline that was easy to relate to by many. The movie had a simple laid out story which involved the both good and evil that a hero was needed to help save the world from the darkness of the evil villain.

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This brings us down to the movie's hero Luke Skywalker; we are introduced to him in the movie as a simple man who has been brought up by his uncle and aunt in his home planet Tatooine. This is seen as an ordinary world of moisture farmers although the planet is more of a desert. He yearns for adventure and less settle for what his uncle would have wished for. His character of curiosity the taste for danger kicks off the movie, and as the viewer, we are convinced he is to become one of the most significant characters in the movie. His curiosity is seen when he is cleaning R2 - D2 after his uncle buys it in the company of C-3PO from the Jawas traders. They had been earlier captured after their escape from an attack by the evil Darth Vader. After Luke receives the robots his curiosity pushes him to clean them and, in the process, he comes across the message coded in R2 - D2. We had earlier established that curiosity was one of his traits and due to this he comes into contact with such sensitive information that needs one to act upon (McDowell). In the monomyth setup, this is the point where our hero gets his call to adventure. At this point, it is evident that Luke has no clue that his entire life has reached a changing point. This is due to the fact that the message is not directly addressed to him but its addressed to Obi-Wan by Princess Leia. The message states that the princess needs help from him and has to act fast. His personal trait for the yearning of adventure he sets off to find Obi-Wan.

This leads the hero to find his actual quest, after finding Obi-Wan he is introduced to the current quest which involves the saving of the princess namely Leia. But we find Luke refusing since he had work to do back at his home. This shows his determination and loyalty to his uncle and aunt. He also is not certain if he is of any help to the course and argues that it is such a long way from where they lived. Before this Obi-Wan explains to Luke all about the Jedi, the Force and as well as his father. It had been hidden from him the true identity of his father and what had happened to him. Luke finds a wise person to look up to who is in a position of teaching him all that is needed of him, but he declines since he has his home to return to.

He stands firm to his decision and returns home only to find his uncle and aunt murdered and their farm ruined. This dramatically aggravates him and becomes one major motivating factor in joining the quest that he had previously declined. For many narratologies, the hero always has an underlining reason behind his or her quest, and from our case, the murder of his family and the farm leaves him with nothing to hold on to. This is the point in his journey where he leaves home and starts his adventure. Obi-Wan is with him al the way and teaches him what he needs to master in his new journey; he crosses the threshold of his journey in the form of Eisley spaceport which is entirely a new world for him (Wars, Star). Different characters of the hero are also realized at this point, he has the mindset focused on his goal and the training shows signs of paying off. He can be termed as a fast learner since the things that Obi-Wan teaches him takes him little time to perfect.

For every hero, there need to be tests, allies, and enemies and so far, we have identified the mission that awaits Luke but to reach this point he had to get allies to his cause (Vogler). This is where we are introduced to two of his allies in the movie Chewbacca and Han Solo. He is forced to hire them at first so that they can help him get off Tatooine and in the attempt to leave they are attacked by the Stormtroopers. His newly acquired allies help him defeat the attack by the stormtroopers who attempt to stop them. This shows the enemies he is to face and also helps the viewer learn the magnitude of the journey. After the escape, the team and Luke are off to Alderaan. Luke so far shows his leadership skills as the leader and the applied knowledge he acquires from Obi-Wan. Heroes have the ability to withstand all the challenges that face them on their journey, and this does not make them deviate from their purpose.

Due to his little knowledge of the new life he has found himself in Luke receives teachings from Obi-Wan, he learns about the force as well as more about self-defense specifically how to use the lightsabre. The heroes journey is filled with surprises and mostly being deadly surprises. On their way they don't make it to Alderaan since the forces have destroyed it and replaced it with the Inmost Cave, this is a place of great danger with deadly conflicts happening and represented by the Death Star (Wars, Star).

At some point the bravery of look is challenged, he feels that this may overwhelm them and his company knows that he has a bad feeling about this. Alderaan has been destroyed by order of the commanding officer Grand Moff Tarkin. This act is a show of power by the commander which shows the imminent danger they are about to face.

The journey takes a wrong turn when Luke's spaceship is captured by the death starts tract beam which brings them to the enemy territory. By the look of things, our hero is at a point where he has to formulate a way out of the situation, and this has to happen fast. Obi-Wan goes to deactivate the beam, and as he does this the hero and his team are engaged into serious fights with the forces trying to capture them and, in the process, Luke discovers that in the Death star there is a captive on board. This is a recommendable trait of the hero within the movie, he is keen to detail, and in return, they are able to free the Princess. The escape back to the Millennium Falcon which is their ship, Obi-Wan is left behind facing the deadly villain Dearth Vader (McDowell). This buys them time to escape, within a hero's journey the heroic acts do involve not only the hero but also those around him. And in this case, Obi-Wan sacrifices his life so as to give Luke and the crew a chance to escape. This is the greatest ordeal in the hero's Journey. He losses his best ally and friend.

This gets Luke to another phase of his journey; it involves him returning back to his ordinary world although he has to choose whether to return to his ordinary world since the princess has been saved or join the rebellion for a greater good. Heroes always go for the greater good in every situation, and this is seen in Luke. He joins the rebellion. Events lead to the final battle in the movie which involves the attack of the Death Star (McDowell). At this point, the limits of the hero are measured to their maximum where if he fails then the rebels will be destroyed by Darth Vader and the empire will rule the whole galaxy in fear.

An in-depth analysis of the heroic journey is evident of emerging challenges that the hero has to overcome and already Luke has managed to overcome several of them. So far, the next challenge requires him to input is whole. All odds in the fight are against him as the rebellion losses most of its pilots during the empire attack living Luke and a few more pilots (Lucas). Before the attack is complete and Darth Vader wins Hon Solo shows up and helps save the hero who in return manages to destroy the Death Star.

Conclusion

The journey finally comes to an end, and the changes can be seen in our hero. First, he has made his first steps in becoming a Jedi. He also returns a hero for helping and playing a huge role in saving the princess and destroying the Death Star and Darth Vader. He manages to also save the rebels and ensures they live to fight another day. The analysis of Luke as the hero within Star Wars a New Hope (1977) gives us an account of the monomyth events. This gives a good example of a hero's experiences for the viewers.

Works Cited

Lucas, George. Star Wars, Episode IV: A New Hope. Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, 2006.

McDowell, John C. The Gospel according to Star Wars: faith, hope, and the force. Westminster John Knox Press, 2017.

Vogler, Christopher. "The Hero's Journey Outline." The Writer's Journey (1985).

Wars, Star. "Episode IV-A New Hope." Dir. George Lucas. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation (1977).