Luke Skywalker: 12 Steps to Individuation

Luke Skywalker in A New Hope.
Image from the website Geek Tyrant.

From Adolescence to Maturity: How Luke Skywalker Symbolizes Emotional Growth.

I can remember it like yesterday. Sitting in the historic Penn Theatre, a single-screen theater house in my hometown of Titusville, PA. The Penn, like many of the theatre houses that rose up in the 1930s, had once been a luxurious structure. But by June of 1977, less than a decade before it would be torn down for good, it had fallen to disrepair. 

The Penn Theatre in Titusville, PA.
Image from the website NWPA Stories.

Beneath the smell of popcorn and soda syrup that filled the air was a vague yet pervasive smell of dust and mildew. Strips of its once decadent red and gold wallpaper curled and lifted away from the wall or were gone completely, leaving exposed plaster covered by wallpaper paste that had long ago dried up to a brittle brown crust. The floor, always sticky from forty years of spilled drinks and trampled candy, made little ripping noises as shoes shuffled across it, as if it were trying to hold on to each visitor for just a few more minutes. 

My brother and I sat dead-center of the theater--the middle seats of the middle row. We had arrived an hour early just to get those seats, the best seats in the house. I was seven years old; he was twelve. We sat anxiously awaiting the new movie that had everyone talking: Star Wars (Lucas, 1977). We stared at the crush velvet curtains that covered the screen, listening to people chattering around us. Finally, the lights dimmed, the curtains began to draw apart, and this epic, orchestral score began. We knew, in that moment, that this movie was going to be something we would never forget. 

We were right, of course. Star Wars was an instant phenomenon. To this day, when adjusted for inflation, it remains the second-highest grossing film of all time, second only to Gone with the Wind (Fleming, 1939)(CBS News online). With this story, George Lucas changed American cinema and culture forever.

How, you may ask, has Lucas managed to have such an impact on modern storytelling? It is because of his uncanny understanding, and dogged use, of Joseph Campbell’s monomyth. The monomyth, also referred to as the "Hero's Journey," is a story structure that dates back even before written language. Although there are many interpretations of the monomyth, Campbell discusses it in his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces as consisting of twelve basic steps: the hero in everyday, the call to action, the rejection of the call, the advice of the sage, the acceptance of the call, the crossing of the threshold, the gathering of friends and foes, the trials and tribulations, the seeking and losing of the prize, the final battle, and the return (Campbell 245 – 246; “Joseph”; Sparks; McDowell; Frey). While one might argue that Lucas’s use of the monomyth was coincidental or unconscious in nature, it seems unlikely when you consider that not one, not two, not three, but nearly every movie he has ever made has followed the monomyth: the Star Wars saga, the Indiana Jones movies, Labyrinth, Willow, The Land Before Time, even American Graffiti can all be fit into the basic structural storyline of the monomyth.

To illustrate this, we will take a look at the movie that put George Lucas on the map and made him the icon he is today: the original Star Wars. The original Star Wars (now referred to as Star Wars IV: A New Hope) was filmed early in Lucas’s career, long before he was a household name. It is rumored that Lucas used Campbell’s monomyth intentionally and consciously to write the plot line of the film. Whether or not this is true is the subject of some debate, but what does seem apparent is that Lucas was at least aware of the concept of the Hero’s Journey when he wrote Star Wars. Furthermore, it seems likely that the reason this movie has had such a lasting impact on our culture is because Luke Skywalker represents the rite of passage that we all move through as we mature from adolescence to adulthood.

The Separation:

1. Hero in the Every Day

Luke challenges Uncle Owen.
GIF from the website Full Dinosaur.

The Hero’s Journey can be broken down to reflect the three rites of passage frequently present in literature: separation – initiation – return (“Joseph”; Sparks). The journey begins with the separation. We see the hero in his everyday life (Campbell 245 – 246; “Joseph”; Sparks; McDowell; Frey). In Star Wars, we see Luke at work on his uncle’s farm. It is interesting to point out that even though it is not necessarily a part of the monomyth, frequently the hero is unhappy or restless with his every day existence, much as adolescents often become frustrated with their parents' rules and long for independence.  For Luke, we see this in his life on Tatooine. Luke lives on a farm with his Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru. He is a fairly typical teenager when we first meet him: whiny, dissatisfied, and a bit defiant. The GIF above is taken from an early scene in the movie. In this scene, Luke's uncle has just purchased two new droids (R2 D2 and C3PO) from the Jawas.  Uncle Owen has told Luke that he needs to clean and reprogram the droids. Luke argues with his uncle, stating that he already has plans for the day. Uncle Owen, however, does not care about Luke's plans. They live on a farm, and their farm chores come first. As a result, Luke goes skulking off, angry and upset. As he begins cleaning the droids, he whines to C3PO, a protocol droid, about how unfair his life is and how his aunt and uncle don't understand him. This scene represents a fairly common occurrence in the life of any teenager. As they mature, teenagers often enter a stage where they feel the need to push boundaries and assert their own personality. They also begin to separate their needs from the needs of their parents, with their needs taking precedence. This scene is also important, as it leads to Luke's feelings of guilt later and his resolve to fight after his aunt and uncle are killed by the Empire. 

During the separation, it is also frequently discovered that the hero has some sort of exceptional birthright or extraordinary skills, but lacks the knowledge, courage, conviction, or control to develop them. Luke, of course, is the son of Anakin Skywalker (Darth Vader) and Padme (Queen Amidala). Vader is one of the most powerful Sith Lords in the galaxy and was once a formidable Jedi Master. In this first step of the monomyth, the extent of Luke's exceptional birthright is not known to the audience (and won't be until the sequel), but several allusions are made to it, including the scene below, where Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru discuss the decision to hold him back from the Academy for another year.

2. The Call to Action

In the next part of the separation, while in his everyday world, the hero then receives a call to action and refuses the call (Campbell 245 – 246; “Joseph”; Sparks; McDowell; Frey). This receiving and refusing occurs over and over until the hero eventually receives advice from a sage and accepts the call to action (Campbell 245 – 246; “Joseph”; Sparks; McDowell; Frey). In Star Wars, Luke receives the call to action several times. His first call to action is his own desire to leave the farm and go to school. Luke knows he has greater things in store for him than working on a farm for the rest of his life. Although he may not realize what it is, his destiny stirs a restlessness in him, even while his loyalty keeps him tied to his everyday world. Luke must refuse the call when his uncle tells him he cannot go. He then receives the call again when he finds Leia’s message, seen in the clip to the right. This message is a literal "call to action," although it is for Obi Wan not Luke. Still, Luke attempts to find out more, but he again must reject the call when it disappears and he can no longer find it. Luke is then presented with a third call to action when he must go find R2D2 after R2 disappears. Although he does go after the R2 unit, he refuses the call yet again by planning to return home with the droids rather than continuing on to find Obi Wan Kenobi.

R2D2 runs away on Tattooine
Picture taken from the blog Heidi's Wanderings

Works Cited

• Campbell, Joseph. The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Princeton University Press, 1968.
• Cowden, Tami. “Archetypes.” Tami Cowden. Copyright 2003 – 2008. 1 May 2010. http://www.tamicowden.com/archetypes.htm.
• Frey, James N. The Key: How to Write Damn Good Fiction Using the Power of Myth. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2000.
• “George Lucas.” The Internet Movie Database (IMDb). Copyright 1990 – 2010. 1 May 2010. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000184/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1.
• “Monomyth: Hero's Journey Project.” Berkeley Orias, UC Berkeley. Copyright 2018. https://orias.berkeley.edu/resources-teachers/monomyth-heros-journey-project.
• McDowell, M. “Joseph Campbell’s Monomyth.” Portland Community College. 13 Oct 2003. 1 May 2010.
• Sparks, Dr. Elisa Kay. “The Hero’s Journey in Campbell’s Hero With a Thousand Faces and Star Wars." Clemson University. 27 Jan 1998. 1 May 2010.
• Star Wars. Dir. George Lucas. Perf. Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford, Alec Guinness. Lucasfilm, 1977.
• Star Wars: The Legacy Revealed. Dir. Kevin Burns. Lucasfilm, 2007.