In the Footsteps of Ulysses

One of George Lucas' fondest images is this: a group of youngsters sitting around, their mouths open in wonder and suspense, as they hear the story of Ulysses. The adventures of Luke Skywalker bear only a superficial resem lance to the quest of Homer's "kingly man," but both draw from the same deep wells of mythology, the unconscious themes that have always dominated history on the planet.

"Myths are public dreams," according to retired Sarah Lawrence College Professor Joseph Campbell, whose books, notably Hero with a Thousand Faces, have mythology, him as one of the world's leading experts on mythology.

"Dreams are private myths. Myths are vehicles of communication between the conscious and the unconscious, just as dreams are." The myth of Prometheus, the Titan who stole fire from the great gods on Olympus and gave it to man, can be viewed as a dream of aspiration, reflecting the exuberance and almost celestial confidence of the Greeks. The contrasting and contemporary Hebrew story of Job has the opposite meaning: it symbolizes man's submission to a power above himself, cruel and incomprehensible as it may seem to be.

The myth Lucas is drawing upon in Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back is that of the hero who ventures forth into dangerous and unknown territory, who is tempted by his own dark impulses, but who eventually conquers them and emerges victorious. The story thus symbolizes man's ability to control the irrational savage that exists within him and to follow instead the path of justice and love that religions probably were teaching even in the caves from which humanity emerged all those millenniums ago. "Do ye think that ye shall enter the Garden of Bliss without such trials as came to those who passed away before you?" asks the Muslim Holy Book, the Koran.

Luke, with Artoo Detoo as his friend and companion, is the unpretentious cinematic heir to a long line of such heroes: Prometheus, Jason, Aeneas, Sir Galahad, John Bunyan's pilgrim. Luke begins his adventure and soon encounters Ben Kenobi, who, as such figures often do in traditional fairy tales and myths, offers advice and the benign protection of destiny. In classical myth such a role was played by Mercury, or Hermes as the Greeks called him; in Egyptian myth the part belonged to Thoth. After Ben is transported to that place where all good Jedi Knights go in Star Wars, Yoda takes over his function in The Empire.

Following that, however, Luke, like any other such hero, enters what Dante called the dark wood midway in the journey of our life. He must go into it alone and alone face the evils that there reside, the dark forces that are within himself. Yoda knows that, and he tells Luke to leave behind his lightsword when he steps into the tree cave in the Dagobah swamp. Luke refuses and in a dream-like sequence soon finds himself using it against what seems to be the figure of Darth Vader, whom he decapitates. Vader's mask breaks away and reveals Luke's own face; the symbol of evil was in Luke. Later, when he battles the real Vader, he is again tested, and Vader's evil has a magnetic power that is far more potent than the weapon he carries in his gloved hand. Luke, who is not yet strong or virtuous enough to resist such temptation, escapes only by letting himself fall desperately into the void below.

In the first two sagas of his series, Lucas has thus completed only half of the ancient story of testing and triumph. If he follows the common traditions of mythology and epic history, as he has up to now, Luke will eventually win, and Vader will lose. The larger fight they are engaged in will go on, of course, as long as men exist on earth--or Dagobah--and as long as they continue to invent symbols to cope with adversity and to rein in their own irrational and threatening impulses.

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