Comedians Jack Druce and Michael Hing talk about "Life as a movie"

As a movie buff and someone who revels in imagination, I'm an advocate for viewing life through the prism of Movies or Video Games. I've related travel feelings through Movie Tropes and have often used Cinema as a measuring stick for my life. Joseph Campbell articulated this best but its worth noting that we've been bombarded by more engrossing media since his time.

VIDEO: Joseph Campbell - Myth As the Mirror for the Ego

JOSEPH CAMPBELL: Well the ego can't reflect upon itself unless it has a mirror against which to read itself and that mirror would be the Mythological schedule that lets it know where it is...

Australian Comedians Jack Druce and Michael Hing touch on the idea of 'Life as a Movie' and the issue of Reality Inversion.

The Druce and Hing Podcast: 54 - Wolf The Movie 3D!
MICHAEL HING: (1h 3m) Presumably a lot of screenwriters and stuff are themselves dorky writer nerds who are writing stories about themselves as we all would. And in the film of the life that they're writing of course they get the girl. And so you grow up thinking that people will find this thing charming... the thing is that's not how life works. Because if that was how life worked then that movie would be very boring and their would be no element of interest or intrigue to it.

It'd just be like "Here's 90 minutes that have been directly captured from how things happen" as opposed to "This is an actual Million Dollar fantasy, not only could we not find this anywhere in the world. We had to hire actors and pay people to write this story where this series of events happened because it would never happen in real life. And now you will pay money to experience this because you know it would never happen as well"

Jack makes a great point that no matter how visceral an experience is delivered, we can never truly embody the feeling and thoughts of another person.

JACK DRUCE: (55m 50s) People in movies they're just doing stuff, you don't know what they're thinking. So when you're doing stuff you're thinking "this sucks I'm really bad at this". You don't know if people in movies are thinking like that or not. They could be. You don't know if that's in stories, you don't know whats in their heads at that time so you think you're doing it wrong. Because well I'm doing this thing and I'm in my head thinking it sucks and that's not how culture and stories have told me how people do stuff.

- Find the 'Druce and Hing Podcast' on iTunes or on Michael Hing's Libsyn page

Backpacking Round the World Trip - A modern day "Hero's Journey" (Joseph Campbell)

<< crossposted on the 'Loz in Translation' blog

Are you about to embark on a Round-the-World trip? Have you recently returned from an epic adventure and wondering what to do next? Do you have a yearning to travel, voyaging to foreign lands, exploring exotic cultures and meeting interesting people?

It's the classic template for 'The Hero's Journey' as elucidated by Joseph Campbell, found in myths around the world and mirrored in popular works such as 'Star Wars' and 'The Lord of the Rings'. Whilst our modern day travels might not have the magic of these mythical quests, what with our GPS, crowdsourced tips and online booking there remains the sense of wonder and discovery even if the roads are paved and well-trodden. Myself, I prefer traveling with as little foreknowledge of a place as possible, guided by my instincts rather than technology. Its my way of preserving some sense of adventure.

If you've read even a few travel blogs, you might be familiar with certain tropes. Posts addressing whether long-term Travelers are running away or towards something. Advice on how to free oneself from the shackles of debt or comfort. These themes recur because they are part of the human condition, torn between needing to branch out and being rooted with our comforts. A cycle that began at birth.

Comparing long-term travel and Joseph Campbell's "The Hero's journey"

Whilst our trips may not be as outlandish as those found in legend, to us they are still the stuff of fantasy. People often remark that the treasure at the end of the journey was finding themselves, for a lucky few they may have even snagged the Princess.

VIDEO: The Hero's Journey: The World of Joseph Campbell (1987)

The Hero's Journey: The World of Joseph Campbell (1987)
NARRATOR: (43m 30s) The 'Hero with a Thousand faces' was the synthesis of years of work. In his book, Campbell outlined the Hero's Journey he had seen repeated in cultures around the world. He saw the hero as a personification of a Culture's mythology. Traditionally the hero might be a warrior, the ideal of strength and courage. An explorer, a founder of civilisations. A philosopher, an adventurer of the mind. And in the modern world, Campbell would add the artist and the scientist to the pantheon of heroes but the journey is essentially the same - One shape shifting story of the vision quest that transforms the world.

Whether it is Odysseus, King Arthur or Luke Skywalker. The hero is the one who responds to the call to Adventure. The stories often open with the hero appearing restless, something is missing in life, there is a feeling of destiny. It is a time for separation, sometimes it takes a shock to make the final break from the past and gain the final courage to accept the call. But noone can go it alone, everyone needs a mentor to provide wisdom and magical power...

The descent to the underworld of adventure is often blocked by dangerous threshold guardians. They mark the point of no return. Beyond them is the region of the unknown, a dreamlike labyrinth of tests and trials. To pass his initiation, the hero must become a Dragonslayer - seize the treasure or rescue the Princess. But the decisive ordeal of the quest is when the hero confronts death, he is challenged to follow the wisdom of his heart....

Find some of my favorite Movie posts below:
- Read more about the "Hero's Journey" (aka The Monomyth)
- Coming Home from a year abroad. Reverse Culture shock and beating the travel Blues: The Hurt Locker (2008)
- Home Movies: 'Before Sunrise' - "I've never been anywhere" quote
- Find all my 'Movie' posts here

- Traveling life as a movie
- Other people's stories - Tales of: Adventure

Albert Camus on the Writer, the Actor and the Traveller

<< crossposted on the 'Loz in Translation' blog

'The Myth of Sisyphus' by Albert Camus

For as long as I can remember I've always been curious about other people's lives and being a fly on the wall. It's where my passion for documentaries, DVD commentaries and podcasts stem from. It's also what I've found most fascinating about travel, the dynamic experience and exchange of stories which I've explored through Couchsurfing and 'ego-tripping'.

Though I have a good friend who is a big proponent of French philosopher Albert Camus, I've only recently become familiar with his work. A passage on drama in his book 'Myth of Sisyphus' sheds some light on the root of my fascination.

Myth of Sisyphus
Hence the actor has chosen multiple fame, the fame that is hallowed and tested. From the fact the everything is to die some day he draws the best conclusion, An actor succeeds or does not succeed. A writer has some hope even if he is not appreciated. He assumes that his works will bear witness to what he was...

What more revelatory epitome can be imagined than those marvellous lives, those exceptional and total destinies unfolding for a few hours within a stage set? Off the stage, Sigismundo ceases to count. Two hours later he is seen dining out. Then it is, perhaps, that life is a dream... By thus sweeping over centuries and minds, by miming man as he can be and as he is, the actor has much in common with that other absurd individual, the traveller...

To what the degree the actor benefits from the characters is hard to say. But that is not the important thing. It is merely a matter of knowing how far he identifies himself with those irreplaceable lives. It often happens that he carries them with him, that they somewhat overflow the time and place in which they were born. They accompany the actor, who cannot very readily separate himself from what he has been... He abundantly illustrates every month or everyday that so suggestive truth that there is no frontier between what a man wants to be and what he is. Always concerned with better representing, he demonstrates to what a degree appearing creates being. For that is his art- to simulate absolutely, to project himself as deeply as possible into lives that are not his own. At the end of his effort his vocation becomes clear: to apply himself wholeheartedly to being nothing or to being several. The narrower the limits allotted him for creating his character the more necessary his talent. He will die in three hours under the mask he has assumed to-day. That is called losing oneself to find oneself.

'The Hero with a Thousand Faces' - Joseph Campbell

- Ego Tripping: (A vacation from yourself)
- Louis Theroux, Couchsurfing and Holland
- Other people's stories - Tales of: Adventure
- Trigger: Ego Tripping in Portugal - Sintra, Obidos, Ericeria, Coimbra
- Trigger: Ego Tripping II - England, on the road again

Update: I appeared on community radio discussing 'Myth of Sisyphus'

The Hero with a Thousand Faces

Player 1: Select a Character

"I had a professor once who used to say there were 10 different plots in all of fiction.
I'm here to tell you there is only one - Who am I?" 

- Teacher, The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)

Read more about:
- American mythologist, Joseph Campbell
- The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

- What is an Ego-Trip?
- Ego Tripping with American TG* in Portugal
- Ego Tripping with American TG* II in England
- Ego tripping with Slovakian DK* in Estonia