February 08, 2016

Rey's Hero's Journey in The Force Awakens

1 hour 40 minutes

Star Wars: The Force Awakens has been a record-smashing box office success, a reinvigoration of the movie side of franchise for longtime fans, a launching point for new fans of all ages – and the origin story of a fan-favorite new character in Star Wars, Rey. The film’s plot structure and protagonist’s character arc also provide an excellent touchstone for examining one of the iconic features in discussions of storytelling: the Hero’s Journey.

In this special edition of Hyperspace Theories, we use the prominent Hero’s Journey frameworks by academic Joseph Campbell and screenwriting consultant Christopher Vogler to analyze the elements of Rey’s progression from Jakku scavenger to Jedi apprentice over the course of The Force Awakens. Along the way we compare Rey’s story to other well-known examples of the Hero’s Journey, including Luke Skywalker, Katniss Everdeen, and Dorothy Gale. This episode will appeal to fans of Star Wars intrigued by the deep storytelling themes in The Force Awakens, as well as anyone interested in learning more about the Hero’s Journey in modern storytelling.

Related Links:

Joseph Campbell’s The Hero With a Thousand Faces

Christopher Vogler’s The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers

FANgirl Blog series on the Heroine’s Journey

Entertainment Weekly interview with J.J. Abrams, Lawrence Kasdan, and Michael Arndt on creating The Force Awakens story

Daily Dot interviews with Matthew Wood and David Acord on The Force Awakens sound design

Contact Information:

Hyperspace Theories: Twitter @HyperspacePod

Tricia Barr: Twitter @FANgirlcantina; email [email protected]

J. Priester: Twitter @RedPenofLex; email [email protected]

Kay: Twitter @Geek_Kay; email [email protected]

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