Comparing Gilliam's Essay 'Myth And Education'

In his essay, “Myth and Education”, Ted Hughes argues about the relationship between the outer and the inner world. Terry Gilliam’s The Adventure of Baron Munchausen is a fantasy movie that highlights perfectly Hughes’ arguments on both worlds. Hughes discusses how people tend to ignore the inner world because they are afraid; they don’t know what is on the other side. He states, “The inner world is not so easily talked about because nobody has ever come near to understand it” (Hughes 44). Taking place in the Age of Reason, The Adventure of Baron Munchausen is a tale, told by its protagonist; Baron Munchausen, about how he brings peace to a town by ending a war against the Turks. Traditions, rules, and laws are the cause of this war and the reason of an inner crisis within the town. In order to resolve the conflicts, Gilliam uses the power of imagination and

In his essay, Ted Hughes believes that “the inner world can be an extension of the outer world” (Hughes 44). He says that people should interact with both worlds, instead of living with one and shutting off the other (Hughes 44). At the beginning of the movie, Gilliam forms a pattern of three circles, from the biggest (the Turks) to the smallest (the theater). Baron Munchausen appears in the theater, which is located inside the town surrounded by the Turks. Therefore, the Baron finds himself in the smallest circle and tries to carry everyone towards the bigger one with his power of storytelling. His task is hard to complete since he is trying to convince the town that their imagination is the only way to heal the broken community. In “Myth and Education”, Ted Hughes argues, “The outer world, separated from the inner world, is a place of meaningless objects and machines” (Hughes 51). As a result, Baron Munchausen is the one trying to get the town to connect to their inner world in order to prevent both worlds from being