College Being

Finding Joe is a documentary about Joseph Campbell, the mythologist known throughout Hollywood for his theories concerning heroes. Through a series of interviews and interpretive scenes, Finding Joe takes you through the Hero’s Journey which can be applied to every day life.

In the Hero’s Journey you are the hero and you encounter challenges, fears, dragons (fears), battles, and return home changed. I am sure many college students can relate.

There are many scenes with children reproducing, on screen, what the narrator is taking about. Though the scenes are very beautifully shot, they come off as just a little cheesy.

Lots of the movies mentioned in Finding Joe as references to The Hero’s Journey like Star Wars, The Matrix, etc., were created after Joseph Campbell’s works and may have been strongly influenced by his writings. But Finding Joe is more about finding the hero in yourself with less of a focus on Joseph Campbell’s other works.

Nonetheless, the documentary is a great introduction to Campbell’s work and you could consider watching it in place of doing your English homework (not that we would condone such things…).