Drawing on myths, dreams, fairytales and folktales from cultures worldwide, Joseph Campbell mapped out the hero’s journey in The Hero with a Thousand Faces.  As a narrative archetype it is most widely known as the inspiration for filmmakers working on an epic scale such as George Lucas, Stanley Kubrick and George Miller. Deploying archetype these storytellers activate universal structures of meaning in order to make their work resonate with global audiences.

That said, The Hero with a Thousand Faces is dense and difficult to penetrate for the average reader. Campbell’s language is steeped in the rhetoric of mysticism and requires a familiarity of Freud’s theorizing on the Oedipus Complex to truly understand. In a series of four interactive lectures each covering a phase of the hero’s journey The Hero Unmasked will render Campbell’s narrative accessible to the uninitiated. 

Telling a compelling story in any context is a function of its engineering. Narrative structure which mobilizes intent in order to realize a desired outcome requires good design. I believe communication necessarily involves questions of narrative structure. Great communication, great storytelling is a function of sourcing meaning in the vital affect of the unconscious. The hero's journey shows us how to access that living energy.