Part 5/13:
Campbell notes a significant deficiency in contemporary society: the lack of meaningful mythologies and rituals. When Moyers inquires about a world devoid of myth, Campbell warns that we live in such a world, filled with stories that are recognized as fictional but lack the mystique that endowed ancient myths with power.
Campbell highlights Star Wars as a prime example of modern mythology—familiar, influential, but fundamentally fiction. The issue, however, lies in our loss of the ritualized tradition that allowed ancient myths to be transformative. Without rituals, mythologies struggle to shape life transitions and personal growth meaningfully.