{"id":35517,"date":"2024-02-03T13:24:22","date_gmt":"2024-02-03T21:24:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=35517"},"modified":"2024-02-04T07:14:41","modified_gmt":"2024-02-04T15:14:41","slug":"all-we-want-is-life-beyond-the-thunderdome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/all-we-want-is-life-beyond-the-thunderdome\/","title":{"rendered":"All We Want is Life Beyond the Thunderdome"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

In her 1985 hit song, We Don’t Need Another Hero<\/em>, musician Tina Turner sang, “All we want is life beyond the Thunderdome.”[1]<\/a> This anti-love song is about a woman who desperately yearned for “freedom beyond the ragged dystopia”[2]<\/a> of her oppressed and loveless marriage. She finally sought and found independence and encouraged others to stand up for a better future.

Born Anna Mae Bullock, Tina was ten years old in 1949 when Joseph Campbell’s original edition, The Hero with A Thousand Faces<\/em>, was published. In it, Campbell describes mythological and cultural parallels found across the globe. While people don’t typically consider myths to be true, Campbell argues the opposite. “Myth is much more important and true than history. History is just journalism, and you know how reliable that is.”[3] His position implies that truth is a matter of interpretation rather than fact, an argument routinely held about Biblical stories.

I believe Campbell’s derived reasoning is more about identity. Who are we in a hero’s journey? Who are we in the story of Christ? “In the Bible, the stories of Jonah, Adam and Eve, Moses, Samson, and Jesus follow the hero’s journey structure as well,”[4]<\/a> said essayist Bryce McDonald.

In The Hero with A Thousand Faces<\/em>, Campbell’s comparative studies describe a monomyth lifecycle pattern: a series of steps one takes throughout life and living between ordinary and special worlds to reach one’s ultimate destiny. As told by Matthew Weber in What Makes a Hero<\/em>, Tina Turner’s life followed that natural process of Campbell’s created monomyth. Only her story was true.

Raised in an ordinary<\/strong>, impoverished Tennessee home, Anna Mae responded to the call for adventure<\/strong> in a special world<\/strong> through her gift of singing. Along the way, she met and married Ike Turner, an abusive man whose selfish desire for fame served as both her unique guide and nemesis<\/strong>. She adopted Tina Turner as her moniker in 1960 and continued the warrior’s journey toward musical success one performance at a time while battling her husband’s jealous manipulation. Overcoming numerous crises<\/strong> fueled by greed and domestic violence, Tina eventually achieved her treasure<\/strong> of international stardom. In the result phase, Tina divorced Ike and forged a new life<\/strong> as an “even bigger solo star,”[5]<\/a> a role she continued for many years until finally settling down and returning to the status quo<\/strong> stage with ambivalence about her journey. It was here that she remained until her death in May 2023.

I believe that Tina Turner’s primary weakness was giving away the power of agency bestowed upon her by Christ Jesus. She forgot her identity \u2013 a battle that many modern heroes face. Who are we? What do we believe and why? How do we know our belief is true? Plenty of rhetoric exists to argue either side.

For Joseph Campbell, growing up in the Catholic Church was part of his roots; however, those foundations began to crumble when early modernism arrived. The traditional Latin language that guided the familiar weekly sermons shifted. A new era was upon him, and Campbell felt it sucked away the theological soul of the religion, stripping it down to a mere science experiment.[6]<\/a> As a result, he became frustrated and searched for life’s meaning and purpose elsewhere. The mysticism and intrigue of cultural tales captured his attention, and it was there that he found a new sense of passion. Shouldn’t we all be so passionate about our studies?

In today’s world, the modern hero must overcome the darkness to bring light to the lost so humanity can have hope again. Courage and resolve are crucial characteristics. But to be admired by others, one must show love above all else. “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends,” John 15:12-23.[7]<\/a> This is how we will get to life beyond the Thunderdome.<\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n

[1] \u201cLyrics | Tina Turner | We Don\u2019t Need Another Hero (Thunderdome) [Extended Version],\u201d accessed February 3, 2024, https:\/\/lyrics.lyricfind.com\/lyrics\/tina-turner-we-dont-need-another-hero-thunderdome-2.<\/p>\r\n

[2] \u201c1985: Tina Turner, \u2018We Don\u2019t Need Another Hero (Thunderdome),\u2019\u201d SIXTYEIGHT2OHFIVE, accessed February 2, 2024, https:\/\/www.68to05.com\/essays\/1985-tina-turner-we-dont-need-another-hero-thunderdome.<\/p>\r\n

[3] Joseph Campbell, Bill D. Moyers, and Betty S. Flowers, The Power of Myth<\/em> (California: Turtleback Books, 2012).<\/p>\r\n

[4] Bryce McDonald, \u201cFinding Christ in the Hero\u2019s Journey,\u201d The Harvard Ichthus<\/em> (blog), March 26, 2020, https:\/\/harvardichthus.org\/2020\/03\/finding-christ-in-the-heros-journey\/.<\/p>\r\n

[5] Eric Deggans, \u201cTina Turner\u2019s Life Explored In New Documentary,\u201d NPR<\/em>, March 28, 2021, sec. TV Reviews, https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2021\/03\/27\/979683306\/tina-turners-life-explored-in-new-documentary.<\/p>\r\n

[6] Joel Pelsue, \u201cArt & Dangerous Ideas Joseph Campbell,\u201d Arts & Entertainment Ministries<\/em> (blog), May 18, 2023, https:\/\/a-e-m.org\/art-dangerous-ideas-joseph-campbell\/.<\/p>\r\n

[7] Katie Taylor, \u201c30 Bible Verses about God\u2019s Call to Love Others,\u201d World Vision Advocacy<\/em> (blog), August 30, 2019, https:\/\/live-advocacy.d2.worldvision.org\/2019\/08\/30\/30-bible-verses-about-gods-call-to-love-others\/.<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In her 1985 hit song, We Don’t Need Another Hero, musician Tina Turner sang, “All we want is life beyond the Thunderdome.”[1] This anti-love song is about a woman who desperately yearned for “freedom beyond the ragged dystopia”[2] of her oppressed and loveless marriage. She finally sought and found independence and encouraged others to stand […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":193,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2979,789],"class_list":["post-35517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dlpg03","tag-campbell","cohort-dlgp03"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/193"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35517"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35517\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35534,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35517\/revisions\/35534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}