I was sent a screener of the movie Finding Joe. This is a movie that visually explores the principles and influence that Joseph Campbell has had on interpreting Mythology. I watched the movie twice, in the same night. I wanted to really absorb the movie for a couple of reasons. I’ve always had a fascination with Mythology and I’ve wanted to learn more about Joseph Campbell. I studied Mythology for a semester in college but beyond college I have read more books on Arthurian legend than I can count and I am a fan of movies, comic books and books, all things that draw upon what Campbell calls “The Hero’s Journey”

The movie is a series of stories and insights from people like Chungliang Al Huang, Rebecca Armstrong, Deepak Chopra, Alan Cohen, Mick Fleetwood, Akiva Goldsman, Laird John Hamilton, Catherine Hardwicke, Tony Hawk, Gay Hendricks, Brian Johnson, Rashida Jones, Lynne Kaufman, David Loy and Joseph Marshall. It is a very basic introduction to Joseph Campbell and his teaching. The movie focuses mostly on Campbell’s book ‘A Hero’s Journey’ and breaks down the book to some of the basic teachings. It is an introduction to Joseph Campbell after watching it twice I want to read more of what Campbell has to say.

I liked how the movie used other movies to illustrate key points in Campbell’s work. Each movie can be broken down into the Hero’s Journey. I tended to think that action movies would be most likely candidates for the Hero’s Journey but each movie, story, cartoon, comic book where there is a person who undergoes a shift/change/challenge is undergoing the hero’s journey. Ultimately the movie was less about Joseph Campbell and more about about the journeys of the people in the film and even more so about our own personal heroic journeys.

You can learn more about the movie at the Finding Joe press release