[Comedies], in the ancient world, were regarded as of a higher rank than tragedy, of a deeper truth, of a more difficult realization, of a sounder structure, and of a revelation more complete. The happy ending of the fairy tale, the myth, and the divine comedy of the soul, is to be read, not as a contradiction, but as a transcendence of the universal tragedy of man.... Tragedy is the shattering of the forms and of our attachments to the forms; comedy, the wild and careless, inexhaustible joy of life invincible.

This widely distributed pattern was first fully described in The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949). Novelists songwriters video game designers and even amusement park ride designers have studied Campbell's work in order to better understand mythology—in particular the monomyth—and its impact. It was very eerie because in reading The Hero with a Thousand Faces I began to realize that my first draft of Star Wars was following classic motifs.

Joseph John Campbell (March 26 1904 – October 30 1987) was an American mythologist writer and lecturer best known for his work in comparative mythology and comparative religion. ". His philosophy is often summarized by his phrase: "Follow your bliss.