Download Joseph Campbell's Influence on Science Fiction: Modern Mythologies and the Duality of Time and more Study notes Grammar and Composition in PDF only on Docsity!
Joseph Campbell’s Functions of Myth in Science Fiction: Modern Mythologies and the Historical and Ahistorical Duality of Time Laurel Ann Smith
Thesis submitted to the faculty of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in partialfulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Masters of Arts In English
Karen Swenson, Committee Chair Shoshana Knapp Ernest Sullivan May, 8 2013 Blacksburg, VA Keywords: mythology, science fiction, Joseph Campbell, Carl Jung, Claude Lévi-Strauss
Joseph Campbell’s Functions of Myth in Science Fiction: Modern Mythologies and the Historical and Ahistorical Duality of Time Laurel Ann Smith ABSTRACT
This document explores the relationships between science fiction and mythology, utilizing the theories of Joseph Campbell and Carl Jung in particular. Conclusions are then drawn that argue that science fiction performs the same functions as mythology in the modern world. The author provides examples of these functions being performed in science fiction by analyzing two novels: The Forest of Hands and Teeth , and Strange in a Strange Land. Finally, the document explores the narratives' uses of time in historical and ahistorical modes as a vehicle for its functions, and argues that the various uses of time are key to science fiction acting as modern mythology.
Introduction: Why Science Fiction? In the past century there has been increasing interest in speculative fiction as the genre branched from primarily novels and short stories into additional media. In more recent decades, the technological revolution has jump-started the cultural imagination and led to further development of the genre. Television series and adaptations such as Game of Thrones , The Walking Dead , and Battlestar Galactica have become enormously popular, even gathering cult classic followings. The entertaining, action-packed plots may initially draw people to these series; however, they remain popular because they draw on basic human needs. Speculative fiction is generally divided into two categories, science fiction and fantasy. On the surface level, fantasy is usually set in the past, and focuses on elements of medieval romance. Science fiction, on the other hand, tends towards settings in the future or on distant worlds not bound by our current technological limits. Joanna Russ, in her article “Towards an Aesthetic of Science Fiction,” describes the distinction between subgenres based on the works of Darko Suvin^1 , Stanislas Lem, and Samuel Delany: …standards of plausibility—as one may apply them to science fiction—must be derived not only from the observation of life as it is or has been lived, but also, rigorously and systematically, from science. And in this context “science” must include disciplines ranging from mathematics…through the “hard” sciences (physics, astronomy, chemistry) through the “soft” sciences (ethology, psychology, sociology) all the way to disciplines which as yet exist only in the descriptive or speculative stage (history, for example, or political theory)…
(^1) Darko Suvin was one of the first people to attempt a definition of science fiction for critical study in his essay “On the Poetics of the Science Fiction Genre,” published in “the literature of cognitive estrangement ” (372). Most other critics continue to draw from his original definition College English in 1972. Suvin describes science fiction as with variations.
Science fiction is not fantasy, for the standards of plausibility of fantasy derive not from science, but from the observation of life as it is—inner life, perhaps, in this case. (112) While both genres have become increasingly popular in past decades, science fiction in particular responds to current cultural needs, adapting to the changing situations of the readers. These needs are often responsive to questions that have existed for millennia: what is my place in the universe? What is death? What is morality? While fantasy works may seek to address some of these questions, they do so from a perspective limited to an inner space. This inner space allows authors to draw from fantastic settings that do not need to address reality in a physical sense (think for example of Tolkien’s fantasy masterpiece The Lord of Rings , and the prevalence of Orcs, Hobbits, and Elves living in Middle Earth). Science fiction is bound by different limitations because there is an expectation of plausibility: “Science fiction must not offend against what is known. Only in areas where nothing is known—or knowledge is uncertain—is it permissible to just ‘Make it up.’ (Even then what is made up must be systematic, plausible, rigorously logical, and must avoid offending against what is known to be known.)” (Russ 114). Because science fiction must respond to current scientific knowledge (at the time of authorship), it is able to communicate with the readers in different ways by drawing on the context of their current environments. Primitive mythology generally relied on information that was readily observable by the audience, such as the relationship between thunder and lightning, making the stories seem as though they were based on a logical progression of conclusions. Because these myths drew from natural phenomena, they were necessarily reliant on a plausible description of the universe. Therefore, there are many similarities between these contemporary works and much older mythologies which are also based upon a foundation of real-world plausibility.
works, mostly through his concept of the hero cycle, or monomyth^3. Recently, such critics as Donald Palumbo^4 and Samuel Kimball^5 have recognized the impact that myth theory has on our understanding of science fiction in all mediums, whether film or print. Though Campbell’s theories can be applied to many modern works, for the sake of this discussion, we will focus on two works of science fiction: Stranger in a Strange Land and The Forest of Hands and Teeth. These works exemplify many of the elements of mythic narrative while establishing a range of contrast within the science fiction genre. Robert Heinlein's 1961 classic, Stranger in a Strange Land , centers on a young man’s philosophical awakening and the impact he has on his community. Heinlein’s work has widely been acknowledged^6 as one of the great novels of science fiction, having sold over five million copies (and that was in 1991). There is a wealth of criticism addressing Heinlein’s novel, ranging from sexual controversy^7 to Messiah symbolism^8. The second novel, The Forest of Hands and Teeth , by Carrie Ryan, is a contemporary young adult novel that focuses on a single girl's journey through a plague-ridden world. It has yet to receive academic criticism but provides a contrasting narrative to Heinlein that helps show how the principles of myth theory continue to apply to science fiction fifty years
(^3) Campbell summarizes the monomyth as a series of actions or events that proceed in the following order, with various complications occurring along the way: Flight, Conflict (brother-battle, dragon-battle, offering, charm,dismemberment, or crucifixion), Tests and Helpers, Supreme Ordeal, Reward (sacred marriage, father atonement, apotheosis, or elixir theft) (plot of mythology, while we are concerned more with the functions of myth and the impact on the audience. Hero with a Thousand Faces 210-11). The monomyth forms the basic structure for the (^4) Palumbo has written several articles that apply myth theory to specific works of science fiction, including but not limited toseveral science fiction-oriented journals. Flowers for Algernon , Dune , The Stars My Destination , and The Terminator. He has been published in (^5) “Not Begetting the Future: Technological Autochthony, Sexual Reproduction, and the Mythic Structure of The Matrix (^6) "Heinlein Gets the Last Word.".” Journal of Popular Culture The New York Times 35.3 (2001): 175-203. Electronic.. (December 9, 1990 , Sunday, Late Edition - Final ): 1372 words. LexisNexis Academic. Web. Date Accessed: 2013/04/25. (^7) Posited as a possible reason for the delay in publishing by Carole Cusack in “Science Fiction as Scripture: Robert A. Heinlein’s (^8) See Julia List’s “ ` Stranger in a Strange Land Call me a Protestant and the Church of All Worlds.”’: Liberal Christianity, Individualism, and the Messiah in Stranger in a Strange Land , Dune , and Lord of Light .”
later. Both novels have vastly different themes and questions that they attempt to answer, and both fulfill all four functions of myth, as defined by Campbell, effectively. There is one final element that one needs to consider when examining science fiction as a new mythology: the way that time can function within the text. Though the examination of time in science fiction has generally been limited to the temporal anomalies of the plots, science fiction as a genre utilizes time differently than most other genres, and represents a critical similarity to mythology. In both science fiction and mythology, time works in historical and ahistorical modes. In order to illuminate this essential characteristic, the dual functioning of time, one may draw from the work of theorist Claude Lévi-Strauss^9. He argued that mythology works in both historical and ahistorical ways and that it is the duality of time that allows the many different versions of myth to successfully tell the same story. It is the same dual function of time in science fiction that allows the reader to experience all four functions of myth fulfilled, as different functions utilize different aspects of time. This division is usually drawn on the line between the plot of the story and the situation of the reader who interacts with the text. Science fiction’s creation of a plausible physical world, while still utilizing fantastic elements, creates a dynamic in which time acts differently within the text than it does with the reader. Most science fiction is set in an imagined future, while drawing upon the context of the reader’s present environment. Though other works of fiction outside of the speculative fiction genre may use time in dual modes as well, it is especially important for science fiction because it affects the works’ ability to fulfill all four functions of mythology. In other genres, the functions of mythology may still not all be present despite the fictions’ utilization of historical and ahistorical modes.
(^9) Lévi-Strauss’s work The Structural Study of Myth explains a method by which the critic applies linguistic principles to the understanding of mythology in order to reconcile multiple versions of myth, from all different cultures, intoan essential story. See pages 48-50.
Joseph Campbell devoted his life to studying the mythologies of various cultures and applying their lessons to the lives of modern people. He believed that there are some psychological problems (reconciliation with death, personal growth from dependent to individual, etc.) that are constant, and that these problems can be reflected in the myths of various cultures. Campbell believed that by examining these similarities, distilled from the less important differences in myths, we could find “the common strains of a single symphony of the soul” ( Mythic Dimensions 221). Though Campbell was a professor at Sarah Lawrence College, he published a large body of work in an effort to inform the general population about mythology and how it ought to be applied to our lives today.^10 Because the lessons that he found in mythology applied to large populations, he did not restrict his work to scholarly study. Campbell described the field of myth theory as being divided between those theorists who focus on the differences among myths and those who focus on the similarities. Campbell’s work places the importance of myth primarily on the similarities. He emphasizes that each myth is individually constructed; that is, the myths were primarily developed by minds without the influence of similar myths in other cultures. Though we do not know who those individuals were, geography alone supports the isolation of several cultures with similar mythologies. In fact, despite their individual authorship, myths are so similar in nature and message that Campbell has boiled them down into the monomyth: the essential elements of mythology that constitute common features of the human mind. The approach that Campbell advocated when examining mythology required a psychological and sociological perspective. He drew on Jung’s
(^10) Amongst the most well-known of his works are The Hero with a Thousand Faces , The Masks of God , and The Power of Myth College and hosted a number of symposiums and published a series of lectures as well, all intending to educate the, a television interview conducted with Bill Moyers. Campbell was a professor at Sarah Lawrence public about the ways that myth informs our lives. After his death the Joseph Campbell Foundation was formed,one aim of which is to publish and disseminate his enormous body of work for the enrichment of individuals’ lives.
theory of archetypes to help express the social construction of myths and the influence that symbols have on the unconscious mind^11. Essentially, Campbell teaches that mythology provides a set of rules for understanding the universe and our individual places within it. These rules in turn help to guide societies so that they can grow into functional communities. As this thesis examines the functionality of myth and science fiction, it is important first to formulate a clear understanding of what those functions are. In this case, an examination of the four functions defined by Campbell is most critical. Those functions are the psychological, sociological, cosmological, and metaphysical. Each of these purposes acts as a guide for people on an individual level, whether in understanding their universe or their place within a smaller society. In addition to describing these functions, in many of his works Campbell discusses change in these functions due to the influence of science. As science has influenced the ways that people view the universe, mythic narratives have had to evolve in order for their messages to remain relevant to communities. The influence of science has also changed the ways that we construct rituals in modern societies. Campbell says, “A ritual is the enactment of a myth. By participating in a ritual, you are participating in a myth” ( Power of Myth 103). The increasing dominance of science over religion in our construction of rituals causes many of the old processes of myth to be turned upside down. In The Masks of God: Creative Mythology , Campbell outlines a series of historical events that eventually led to Christianity’s inability to function as an effective mythology due to conflict with science (611-20). He “think[s] of the year 1492 as marking the end—or at least the beginning of the end—of the authority of the old mythological systems by which the lives of men had been supported and inspired from time out of mind” ( Myths to Live By 6). Included in the list of significant events
(^11) See chapter on Carl Jung, following.
become necessary for people to write new versions of myth that can help carry them through life. Science fiction, due to its necessarily plausible universe and reliance on scientific invention, has acted as modern mythology, fulfilling all of the same roles and functions without conflicting with what people already know about their physical world. Each function of myth is centered on a different sphere of a person’s life: universe, world, society, self. The metaphysical function of myth is meant to “evoke in the individual a sense of grateful, affirmative awe before the monstrous mystery that is existence” ( Pathways to Bliss 6) or to reconcile “consciousness with the preconditions of its own existence” ( Mythic Dimensions 219). The mysteries of the universe include most profoundly those relating to the existence and worship of deities, and the role that they play in continuing human existence. One of the great mythologies that serves the metaphysical function is what Campbell calls “The Great Reversal.” These myths tell the story of mankind’s fall from grace, or greatness, depending on the culture. Each of the myths, the most well-known of which in the West is the fall of Adam and Eve, addresses the problem of why life is difficult. The brutality of existence cannot be denied, regardless of advances in survival. The Great Reversal myths are meant to provide some reconciliation for why survival is difficult, while instilling mystery in the universe by the proposal that there are higher beings that control our world. Creatively, the metaphysical function of myth inspires curiosity. Science has had a great impact on how people view the universe, in many ways removing the mystery. Campbell states that science has not had a negative effect on this function, however, citing the experience of man’s exploration into space.^14 Though many myths utilize the moon as a symbol or character,
(^14) In Myths to Live By pages 233-37, Campbell discusses the affect that the moon walks had on people’s perceptions of the universe, and how it inspired different, but no less potent, awe.
and men had now set foot upon the moon and revealed it as rock, the powerful awe evoked by the images of earth from space far outweighs what was lost. People can be inspired by the questions that remain unanswered, and science has revealed that there is much more of our universe to stand in awe of than what is present on our planet. In The Mythic Dimension, Campbell tells us that “the marvels of our universe, and even of man’s works today, are infinitely greater both in wonder and in magnitude than anything reported from the years B.C. of Yahweh” (224). The questions that are inspired by the mysteries of the universe can serve as a creative stimulus, as is seen in the advent of science fiction as a genre and the many stories centered on exploration into space. Closely tied to the metaphysical function, the cosmological function of myth “present[s] an image of the cosmos, an image of the universe round about, that will maintain and elicit this experience of awe [or]…present an image of the cosmos that will maintain your sense of mystical awe and explain everything that you come into contact with in the universe around you” ( Pathways 7-8). These two functions work together to foster a sense of wonder, while allowing people to make sense of the world they inhabit. In other words, interacting with the physical mysteries of the environment can inspire mystical awe while allowing for exploration of world phenomena. Primitive cultures constructed several myths in order to explain natural phenomena, for example. These myths may have maintained that thunder was the clashing of the gods. The thunder is explained by the fulfillment of the cosmological function, while wonder and reverence for gods espouses the metaphysical. As our understanding of science increases, mystical awe is not diminished, but instead rests on the various questions that arise from scientific discovery. The cosmological function is meant to provide an image of our world, often very specific and concrete in nature, which acts as the vehicle for metaphysical thought.
The third function of myth is the sociological. This is the function that Campbell sees as being most changed by the implementation of science. The sociological function is meant to “validate and maintain a certain sociological system: a shared set of rights and wrongs, proprieties or improprieties, on which your particular social unit depends for its existence” ( Pathways 8). Before the shift towards scientific ways of thinking, people were encouraged to believe whatever authorities told them. The acceptance of authorities created a dynamic where people discouraged questioning and therefore helped to maintain the status quo. Scientific ways of thinking generally prominent in the twenty-first century encourage questioning what you are told, rather than emphasizing the importance of the group over one’s self. This can be seen in universities’ emphasis on critical thinking as a primary goal of education. Though there are a range of responses between individual and group mentalities, modern Western thinking has shifted along that continuum in favor of the individual. This way of thinking fundamentally undermines the primitive function of myth to “authorize[e] its [society’s] moral code as a construct beyond criticism or human emendation” ( Mythic Dimension 221). Here too, creative mythology serves the greater purpose. Creative mythology has adapted this function by reversing the role of authority. Traditionally, authority lies with society, as myth helps to indoctrinate the individual as part of the group, expecting the individual to maintain the established order. This was especially true in primitive societies, where the cohesion of the group was necessary for survival. In creative mythology, which Campbell sometimes refers to simply as art as a distinction between creative mythology and primitive mythology, the authority lies with the individual and then echoes outward: “Not the forms first and then the experience, but the experience first and then forms” ( Mythic Dimension 226). So art allows people to have a thought, idea or belief and then share it with society, possibly producing echoes in other individuals until
it becomes part of the accepted doctrine. This removes authority from society, and undermines the sociological function of myth. As the necessity of unity within communities is diminished, a greater emphasis is placed on individualism and each person’s effect on society. A good example of this would be movements towards tolerance. In the past, society sought to maintain homogeneity and strictly enforced taboos against mixing races or homosexuality. However, the influence of individuals who stood in protest has created echoes that have since changed society. Now tolerance is expected, and the lack of tolerance has become socially unacceptable. In the final function of myth, Campbell describes the psychological function as “carry[ing] the individual through the stages of his life, from birth through maturity through senility to death” ( Pathways 9). Because myth acts as a guiding philosophy that governs man through developmental stages in life, it is therefore also known as the pedagogical function. This function must help the individual to make sense of the other three, since the stages of life cannot be understood without some reflection on one’s community and larger universe. Mythology helps people to consider their places within communities, and to identify their places within them. As put by Richard Kradin, “from a psychological perspective, it may be argued that tribal and family myths tend to devalue autonomous thinking and decision-making, as these may be at odds with the prescribed mores” (227). Whereas the sociological function of myth has changed with the times and typically does not unquestioningly support the established social order, the psychological function of myth focuses on those aspects of community necessary for personal growth. The constancy of the psychological function has resulted in its being the least changed by advances in science and technology. Regardless of these advances, people still are born and die in the same cycle, and they struggle with the same basic issues of existence. It is in examining this function that Campbell finds the common strains of mankind’s soul. The primary
allow for all aspects of Homo sapiens. Differences in gender, age, and profession clearly place each person as part of a whole. Rituals help people to understand their place as part of a whole, and therefore feel the support of the “superindividual” and cope with changes in life. Death is easier to accept as a certainty when you know that the world will continue, possibly changed by your presence in it. Campbell’s work intersects with that of Carl Jung, a psychologist and myth theorist in his own right, leading them to even partner in authorship on occasion. In his introduction to The Portable Jung, Campbell remarks that “Jung was not only a medical man but a scholar in the grand style, whose researches, particularly in comparative mythology, alchemy, and the psychology of religion, have inspired and augmented the findings of an astonishing number of leading creative scholars of our time” (vii). Jung’s work not only helps to explain the psychological function of myth in particular, but has influenced our interpretations of Campbell’s theories in a number of ways, as seen in the following chapter. Jung’s work with archetypes illuminates Campbell’s ideas about the origin and purpose of myth, and helps to define his concept of the hero. Meanwhile, the integration of anima and animus is an essential aspect of the hero’s journey in Campbell’s monomyth. Examining the connections between Campbell and Jung makes it increasingly clear that one cannot study myth theory without some base of psychological knowledge as well.
Chapter 2: Jung’s Theory of Archetypes and The Collective Unconscious "The collective unconscious—so far as we can say anything about it at all—appears to consist of mythological motifs or primordial images, for which reason the myths of all nations
are its real exponents. In fact, the whole of mythology could be taken as a sort of projection of the collective unconscious” (“Structure of the Psyche” 39). Jung’s theories of archetypes and the collective unconscious constitute his major contribution to the field of myth theory, though he also applied what he learned to clinical psychology. His theories also impacted the work of other theorists, especially Campbell’s psychological function of myth, which serves as the foundation for the other three. Jung’s work can therefore be directly applied to the psychological function of myth, while indirectly influencing our understanding of the metaphysical, cosmological, and sociological. Campbell and Jung agreed that there were aspects of human experience that transcended culture and time. Jung described these aspects as manifested in archetypes of the unconscious, and they can be found in mythology. Jung breaks the psyche into two broad categories: the interior unconscious and collective unconscious. The interior unconscious is concerned with aspects unique to each individual. Most clearly the interior unconscious controls how we perceive our surroundings and how we respond to them based on a double axis. On one axis lie thought and feeling; on the other intuition and sensation. Each person leans towards one end or the other for each pair, and this in turn can describe how the person interprets surrounding sensory information. The interior unconscious forms as a direct response to those stimuli and therefore is affected by the experiences of the individual. The collective unconscious relates to mythology. The collective unconscious is “a part of the psyche which can be negatively distinguished from a personal unconscious by the fact that it does not, like the latter, owe its existence to personal experience and consequently is not a personal acquisition” (“Concept of the Collective Unconscious” 59-60). The collective unconscious is unaffected by the experiences of individuals, but instead indicates consistencies
