Remember the movie “The Shining” starring Jack Nicholson? Now that is a Jack tale! Film historian Geoffrey Cocks notes that this film contained many illusions to fairy tales, especially Hansel and Gretel and stories about the Big Bad Wolf. Nicholson’s character, Jack (of course) Torrance is identified as the wolf in this situation. Bruno Bettelheim says the wolf stands for “all the asocial unconscious devouring powers” that must be overcome by a child’s ego.
I prefer the Jack of the common person. Everyman. The “John Doe” of 18th century England. The good hearted boy of Appalachia. The boy with the magic beans.
A folktale can be a journey of discovery. A story familiar to all of us, like “Jack and the Beanstalk”, leads one to think more about the symbolism of the tale. A friend of mine loaned me a DVD this weekend. It was Joseph Campbell’s documentary, “A Hero’s Journey”. Campbell was an American mythologist who wrote many articles and books on his views of myths, and heroes in particular. He coined the term “monomyth”, which refers to a basic pattern he found in stories in all cultures and times. It can be a complex explanation, but refers to an ordinary person, a call to adventure, help from a supernatural source, ordeals and tests, enemies, rewards, and a new life. He calls the ending resurrection, which is an interesting concept. It means a new life, much removed from the former one. Campbell’s work can be controversial, but does have many interesting ideas.
One more part of his story is that the movie “Star Wars” was inspired in part, by Campbell’s works. George Lucas had written two drafts of his film epic, when he rediscovered the book “Hero with a Thousand Faces” in 1975. Lucas gives Campbell credit for him to create a single story from a sprawling universe of tales.
If Jack is every man, we can all be heroes. Campbell termed a phrase, “Follow Your Bliss”. A journey for each one of us to embark on, and then we all become part of the world of myth.
The saying "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" appeared first in James Howell's Proverbs in English, Italian, French and Spanish (1659).[61
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