Reading: A Practical Guide to Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces (Christopher Vogler)

In reading the article breaking down Joseph Campbell’s The Hero With a Thousand Faces, Vogler asserts that “In his study of world hero myths Campbell discovered that they are all basically the same story – retold endlessly in infinite variations.” I would apply this idea to modern mythical figures; namely, Superman, arguably the most famous of modern fictional heroes. Though the story of Superman has varied over the years due to different comic book series and movies, I will focus on the film Man of Steel. In this movie, Superman’s story parallels the heroic monomyth and many of the symbols and images within it are in fact references to mythical heroes and religious subtexts. Following the path of the Campbell’s monomyth, Kal is initially resistant to embracing his abilities (REFUSAL OF THE CALL), but is motivated to become a savior to mankind by an AI version of his father (MEETING WITH THE MENTOR). In the main crisis of the story, he battles against General Zod, a Kryptonian who seeks to destroy humanity and terraform Earth for surviving Kryptonians (SUPREME ORDEAL). He defeats Zod (REWARD), and is becomes Superman to planet Earth (RESURRECTION, RETURN). Regarding parallels to mythical religious themes, Kal-El is an alien born on Krypton that sent away from his home planet to save him from certain destruction, just as Moses was placed into a stream by his mother to prevent the Egyptians from killing him. Additionally, the name Kal-El contains the suffix “el”, often used to denote God in Hebrew. Superman in this film is also implied to be a Christ-figure, as there are multiple references to Jesus in a few of the scenes.