Abstract:

Focusing on universal myths, Campbell examines the hero's journey, which he calls the monomyth, in three stages: departure (separation), initiation, and return. According to him, in all heroic stories, there is a specific path that the hero follows. These three stages are divided within themselves and constitute the journey of the archetypal hero, consisting of seventeen steps. Cinema, the dominant cultural production medium of the modern age, has become the new form (medium) of storytelling. Cinema produces new fairy tales and epics by utilizing the elements and archetypes of the traditional narrative that parallel fairy tales. Mainly Hollywood cinema, which utilizes Campbell's monomyth model, uses the formal possibilities of the fairy tale in every field. While reproducing myths, it also strengthens the cinematic narrative language by creating new myths. The films in which Clint Eastwood, one of the most prolific directors of the recent period, both acts and directs, often shape the narrative within the monomyth framework. The protagonists played by Eastwood conform to the stages of the monomyth, regardless of the genre of the film. This article aims to analyze how the protagonist in Clint Eastwood's films is transformed not on a film-by-film basis but throughout the actor's long career. The films The Rookie and Million Dollar Baby, both directed and acted by Eastwood, are analyzed within the framework of Campbell's monomyth model, the implicit and explicit meanings of the signs involved in storytelling are brought to light, and the change that director Clint Eastwood has undergone in the context of storytelling through heroes is revealed.