Finding Joe

This film was a beautiful and inspiring exploration of the Hero's Journey mythology, first explained by Joseph Campbell.

I felt that this film really pulled together elements of storytelling the Hero's Journey cycle that made it appealing and engaging for both myself, and my two children (8 and 12). There is a broad appeal across gender and age. The interviewees in the film come from a broad range of background and life experience, and I think nearly anyone could identify and really feel themselves being spoken to through the words of the different people who share their stories.

I think that this is something that explains Joseph Campbell's work in a modern, personal way, I am so glad to have seen it, and feel so excited to share this film with more people in my life.

I'm a big fan of Campbell's work and I think he would be turning in his grave at this... dumbed down, applied to white men, middle class, bliss equalling success versus meaning, and heavily ideologically alighted to capitalism. The visual asides between the speakers are excruciating. Don't bother.

Such an inspiring and interesting documentary that left an indelible impression on me. It inspires me to better face my challenges, take risks and realize my potential. I think they should show this movie to all college freshmen as they begin their adult life and are trying to figure out what they want to be when they grow up.

The unusual approach they take with using children to act out stories/myths in the beginning was a bit distracting in the beginning, but became more meaningful as the movie progressed.

I thought the people they interviewed were delightful. I loved their comments and stories which pulled me into their lives and made me want to know more.

It's a well done movie and will likely be one of the most influential to me personally that I've seen this year. Not all entertainment, so don't expect it to be full of action. But expect to learn, and to be touched on a deep level.

I saw some poor reviews and thought that I should add my $0.02. This movie is very inspiring and I highly recommended it to everybody.

This is definitely a diamond-in-the-rough type of movie. Just get it, watch it, and you will be inspired to follow your bliss.

One of the scenes talked about Joseph Campbell advice to his graduating students. He said "Don't do what Daddy says". Because Daddy has one interest in mind for you - your security. And if you bargain away your life for security now, you will NEVER find your bliss.

Joseph Campbel quote: "The job of science is to give you an image of the universe - what it's like, what it actually is like. This changes from decade to decade. There's no science that says, "I've found the truth." It's a working hypothesis and the next season we'll have another structure. The problem of mythology is to relate that found truth the the actual living of a life. The myth has to deal with the cosmology of the day and it's no good when it's based on a cosmology that's out of date. That's one of our problems. I don't see any conflict between religion and science. Religion has to accept the science of the day and penetrate it to the mystery. The conflict is between the science of 2000 BC and the science of 2000 AD. This is one of the problems with our tradition, where our inherited mythology, the Judeo-Christian tradition, relates to the near east in the first millennium BC and has nothing to do with life here. Everything has to be explained. A mythological image that has to be explained to the brain is not working. When you move through a culture field that is so alien to your own that the images don't click on a response and a recognition then you're out of sync."

If you want to know about Campbell's work you'll need to look elsewhere.

Some basic aspect it are mentioned, however, as many have noticed, it's not really about him, neither about his biography nor his works about mythology. His fictional works are not even mentioned.

It's more about how Campbell's insights inspired a series of people (whom you might like or not) in their lives and work. And it's also about how narratives can impact how we view our life and change our attitude to it.

The documentary is well crafted and knows how to keep the viewer interested. It's basically a mixture of imagery, interviews and little performances by children intermingled.