Pop Mythology Pop Mythology: Movie, Book, Comic reviews & commentary
The Journey of Luke Skywalker: An Analysis of Modern Myth and Symbol is an interesting scene-by-scene close reading of the original Star Wars trilogy from a Jungian perspective.
Jung is a logical theoretical lens to use for these films because of his focus on mythology, and Galipeau persuasively argues that Star Wars functions as a modern myth. In addition, Jung influenced Joseph Campbell who influenced George Lucas.
Personally, though, I think Jung is a better folklorist than a psychologist and got tired of seeing all of the Star Wars characters put on the couch. But on balance, this was a thought-provoking analysis of my favorite movies.
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Cool! George Lucas used heavily on Mythology and the concepts ushered in by Joseph Campbell!
Put through Jungian analysis though? Thats interesting. Jung is another personal hero of mine… definitely one to put on my ever-expanding reading list.
Hey, SkyMan! Yeah, both Jung and Campbell are heroes of mine as well and though I myself haven't read this book, our book reviewer Matt seems to have liked it well enough and it's certainly on my super-long reading list too! Thanks for the comment!
Skyman and Daniel, if you like both Jung and Star Wars, this is definitely worth reading. I'm a little more ambivalent toward Jung, but I enjoy pretty much anything that takes a scholarly approach to Star Wars. Thanks for your comments.