Sarah Connor and Campbell's Hero's Journey Monomyth

Introduction

The hero monomyth, as discussed by Joseph Campbell and others, is a concept and storyline that dates back to the tragedies and tales of the ancient Greeks. However, to suggest that these basic storylines and archetypal traits are absent from contemporary storytelling would be incorrect. Indeed, the plots of many movies, plays, and stories incorporate some or even all of the traits of the monomyth pattern as Campbell described it. One such example — the films to be analyzed in this report — is the first two installments of the Terminator movie series. Specifically, the character examined here is Sarah Connor, the heroine of those films. While some may not immediately see it, her ascendancy and eventual victory is by no means linear; it follows Campbell's monomyth pattern almost to the letter.

Greek Mythology and the Terminator Universe

As far as which mythological example best parallels Sarah Connor and her plight, there are many candidates. However, perhaps the most fitting one does not center on Sarah Connor specifically but rather on what gives rise to the burden placed upon her and her son, John. Greek mythology offers The Creation, a narrative in which humanity was formed anew — and in which that act of creation led to terrible consequences. In the case of the Titans, those consequences included cruel treatment, ambushes, and infighting among the gods, culminating in a final battle where Heracles and Zeus subdued the Giants who had emerged as villains. In the Terminator films, the parallel act of creation similarly leads to catastrophe: nuclear devastation and a war between humans and machines when Skynet and its robots become self-aware and autonomous (Greek Mythology, 2016).

As a brief review of the Terminator timeline: a company called Cyberdyne eventually develops chips and computers that culminate in humanoid robots wielded as military weapons. Things go catastrophically wrong when Skynet becomes "self-aware" and turns on its human creators. Because Skynet is so deeply embedded in military infrastructure and other vital systems, it is able to wreak havoc on a global scale, with "Judgment Day" as its ultimate salvo — inducing all nuclear weapons in the United States to launch. Adhering to the principle of mutually assured destruction, the targets retaliate, and much of the world is destroyed. What remains is a small population of humans who have taken up armed resistance against the machines. That resistance, at a crucial point, is led by John Connor — Sarah Connor's son.

In the first Terminator film, a cyborg (portrayed by Arnold Schwarzenegger) is sent back in time to kill Sarah Connor. The film concludes with the cyborg unsuccessful and Sarah escaping. In the second film, a similar plot unfolds with a significant twist: a far more advanced cyborg is sent to kill John Connor as a teenager. At this point, Sarah is confined to a psychiatric facility because her knowledge of cyborgs and Judgment Day has been dismissed as mental illness. A second cyborg — the same model as the one from the first film, again portrayed by Schwarzenegger — is sent to protect John. Ultimately, both John and Sarah survive the second film, and both Terminators are destroyed (Vogler; IMDb).

Separation and the Call to Adventure

To answer the central question at the heart of this analysis: Sarah Connor is absolutely an example of the monomyth as laid out in Greek mythology and systematized by Campbell. The timeline of The Creation and the general pattern described by Campbell are followed very closely. One of the three main components of Campbell's monomyth is the separation/departure phase, which includes the call to adventure, the initial refusal of the call, the eventual acceptance, supernatural aid, crossing of the first threshold, and entering the belly of the whale.

In the second film, many of these facets are clearly present. When Sarah Connor is first broken out of the asylum with the help of John and the Terminator, their immediate response is to flee toward the border to escape the T-1000 — a directive that comes from the Terminator himself. Prior to the breakout, John Connor had to persuade the Terminator to rescue Sarah, which functions as a form of "supernatural aid," given that the Terminator had calculated the T-1000 would target John's adoptive parents and his mother. He was correct on both counts, but the rescue succeeds. Nevertheless, Sarah recognizes that fleeing is not the ultimate solution.

In a pivotal scene, Sarah sits at a picnic table and dozes off. She visualizes the coming Judgment Day — which has not yet occurred at this point in the story — and snaps awake with sudden resolve. John discovers that she has carved the words "No Fate" into the wood of the picnic table. He immediately understands this as shorthand for "No fate but what we make," and realizes — simultaneously with the Terminator — that Sarah has gone back to her hometown with the intention of killing the scientist most responsible for Skynet and destroying the relevant equipment. In short, she initially resists the call by allowing the Terminator to shepherd her to safety. Yet her decision to return and confront the source of the problem — a man named Dyson — is what truly marks her acceptance of the heroic call (Vogler; Changing Minds).

Conclusion

There are many additional plot elements and narrative details that could be connected to the monomyth. However, the central argument has been established. Sarah Connor was by no means a perfect person, and she made mistakes — some of them during her very rise to hero status. One of the most significant, conceiving a child with a time-traveling man in the first film, created a paradox that was never resolved. Nevertheless, her actions in the second half of the second film are what truly cement and affirm her as a heroine who stands above most others, male or female. This is perhaps why the first two Terminator films remain so enduringly popular with audiences around the world.

Works Cited

Changing Minds. "Campbell's 'Hero's Journey' Monomyth." Changingminds.org. N.p., 2016. Web. 24 June 2016.

Greek Mythology. "The Creation." Greekmythology.com. N.p., 2016. Web. 24 June 2016.

IMDb. "Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) — Synopsis." IMDb. N.p., 2016. Web. 24 June 2016.

IMDb. "The Terminator (1984) — Synopsis." IMDb. N.p., 2016. Web. 24 June 2016.

Knight, Gladys L. Female Action Heroes. Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood, 2010. Print.

Napier, Gordon. "The Terminator: The Hero's Journey Breakdown." Gordon Napier Online. N.p., 2013. Web. 24 June 2016.

Vogler, Christopher. The Writer's Journey. Studio City, CA: Michael Wiese Productions, 2007. Print.