Star Wars first appeared in 1977 and though initially considered a run of the mill movie later generated many sequels, and became the most influential film. George Lucas then young (29 ), and was wondering what to do next after American Graftitti. He wanted to make a sci fi movie and prepared a film   treatment to it. He failed to obtain the rights of Flash Gordon adventure movies. He, therefore, started reworking on the script. He borrowed ideas from the films he admired — The Hidden Fortress, Lawrence of Arabia, Casablanca, The Wizard of Oz and the Dam Busters. At best, the script would have been a tribute to the great moments of cinema. In this fashion, they reached the third draft. They came across Joseph Campbell’s The Hero of a Thousand Faces. This changed the whole dimension of the script. Joseph Campbell had studied mythologies such as the Ramayana and Odyssey. He derived the concept of monomyth from this. All these mythologies have a common pattern, and human brain responds to it. That endows mythologies with huge power, universal power.

Monomyth is essentially a hero’s journey, as Campbell calls it. It is an epic journey from the known to the Unknown; and back. There are many dangers, but the hero overcomes them. He finally comes back home. He is thus redeemed . There are 12 stages in this journey. A mediocre beginning, a call to adventure, and hero’s reluctance to this call. Then here meets a mentor, crosses the threshold and passes a test; and makes allies and enemies. He approaches the innermost cave, goes through a supreme ordeal, and gets the reward by confronting his  fear. On the road back he faces challenges and there is final testing, as he is on the threshold of returning home. He makes the last sacrifice and the return is with reward. He is transformed, and has the power to transform the world.

This timeless myth has been incorparated in the Lucas Star Wars series, and that explains its box-office appeal. Lucas applied even in his next movie — Indiana Jones  the same principles of a hero’s journey.

The concept of monomyth has crossed over to other fields such asadvertising, PR and popular literature,including Dan Brown novels.