Bill Moyers (1934–2025)

"There's an old romantic idea [...] which says that the ideas and poetry of the traditional cultures come out of the folk. They do not. They come out of an elite experience, the experience of people particularly gifted, whose ears are open to the song of the universe." -Campbell, the Power of Myth

Because "the folk" can never have their ears open to the song of the universe? What kind of unjustified garbage is this? The delight of listening to an old white man make unsupported generalizations show more about "the elite" and "the folk" palls quickly. show less

Série muito simpática de entrevistas para televisão, onde Campbell mostra-se a figura midiática do sábio que eu tomo por ser, e certamente faz lembrar-me de meu vô Azauri, que tentou instilar algum amor por mitologia em mim, na infância (ser ateu parece, em ambos os casos, algo que abre para a verdadeira fascinação pela mitologia). De resto, é um conteúdo fácil, mas prazenteiro - há nos mitos representações, mensagens, simbolismos que refletem nossa vida inconsciente, que show more preparam as sociedades para as belezas e sofrimentos da vida e lidam com os anseios do homem em sua universalidade (na sua estrutura corporal e mental profunda). Nisso, certamente é generalista e provavelmente pouco rigoroso. É o preço que se paga, entretanto, pra sorrir com o velhote. show less

As close to self-help as I'll ever get. Sometimes over-serious; I feel like his emphasis on myths as allegory and not entertainment undermines humor as one of our most basic survival mechanisms. Hey man you're live from Skywalker Ranch, live a little. Nice though to think of a time when intellectuals could talk shop on public television in the same tradition as Carl Sagan's Cosmos or John Berger's Ways of Seeing instead of today's 24/7 live stream of retards and failing restaurants.

TL;DR - If you want to pick up some convenient mental models for mythology and storytelling, you'll like this. If you're looking for a rigorous introduction to comparative mythology, you will be disappointed.

Campbell's work has footprints all across popular media and culture. It helped George Lucas shape the mythos of Star Wars, his book The Hero With a Thousand Faces was instrumental in crafting Disney's The Lion King, and his idea of The Monomyth has become Dan Harmon's modus operandi, show more allowing him to create Community and Rick & Morty. The interviews in this book, conducted by Bill Moyers, are a transcription of the television series by the same name. Two months after this series of interviews, Joseph Campbell passed away at the age of 83.

I enjoyed this book. I think what Moyers and Campbell achieved with The Power of Myth is similar to what Carl Sagan achieved with Cosmos, in terms of quality and impact. A lot has already been said about what's great about this book, so I'll concern my review with what wasn't so great.

While Joseph Campbell's erudition is obvious and his conversation engaging, in his discussions he seems more inclined towards philosophy and spirituality instead of empirical social science. This is in part due to Bill Moyers' line of questioning, who's interested in grand questions like "What is the nature of life?" and "Where does life come from?", and in part due to Joseph Campbell's own interest in philosophy (he was greatly influenced by Schopenhauer and Nietzsche). While this serves to ignite the imagination, it takes away from the pedagogical value it may have for those interested in mythological traditions.

A more serious flaw occurs when Campbell's personal beliefs as passed on as scientific ones, and no clear distinction is made between them. Moyers states that Campbell "didn't have an ideology or a theology". That's not entirely true. He was pan-theistic, extremely reductionist, and loved to paint in broad strokes ("the main teaching of Christianity is to love your enemies"). Hearing him talk is like hearing only one side of the story, with little "comparative" to the "mythology". He often employs his significant knowledge of mythology to buttress his spiritual beliefs ("follow your bliss" comes from the Sanskrit "sat-chit-ananda"), which is great. But by the end of the nine chapters I felt the only thing I knew in-depth was Campbell felt about such and such mythical tradition, and what it meant to him. To put it briefly, my issue is that instead of comparative mythology and facts of empirical interest, we're served a salad of Campbell's personal spiritual beliefs and philosophy which leads the viewer to assume that's the whole story, which it definitely isn't.

Furthermore, Campbell play too conveniently into the romantic oriental trope of the wise old guru who holds all the answers to the universe. Moyers prompts him and he obliges, never discouraging Moyers' vague line of questioning ("what is the source of life"), and instead generalizing facts at his own convenience. It gets a bit annoying.

PS: To add an interesting sidenote, the similarity between The Power of Myth and Carl Sagan's Cosmos isn't merely superficial. Both the programs were produced by PBS, televised in the 80s, concerned themselves with grand questions like the origin of life and our place in the universe, and answered these questions through the lens of their respective fields. Both Sagan and Campbell were charismatic, charming, had a flair for communication but often took liberties with scientific rigor, in favour of inspiring awe, speculation, and mystery. It was perhaps due to this they experienced a polarized reputation among their colleagues. Nonetheless, both of these series have left an indelible mark on our culture, and their influence has continued into the new millennium. show less