Ah, the hero. Heroic stories are so important and so prevalent throughout the history of storytelling that the word “hero” itself has become all but synonymous with that of “protagonist.” That the Hero Arc is in fact but one of many important archetypal character arcs does not lessen its importance within the cycle.
The Hero’s Journey came to popular consciousness in the last century with Joseph Campbell’s exploration of the monomyth in The Hero With a Thousand Faces. The ideas in this book were famously utilized to create one of our most influential modern myths—George Lucas’s Star Wars. Later, the ideas would be more explicitly codified as a tool specifically for writers, most notably in Christopher Vogler’s The Writer’s Journey. Writers, viewers, and readers alike have clamorously embraced the Hero’s Journey for the obvious reason that it resonates and resonates deeply.
The Writer’s Journey by Christopher Vogler (affiliate link)
However, in more recent years, the Hero’s Journey has come under scrutiny for a number of reasons, including:
Over-emphasizing masculine agency at the expense of feminine agency.
Creating problematic social narratives around violence, saviorism, and even narcissism.
Indicating that it is the only—or at least the best—model for structuring a story.
These are all valid criticisms, but I find that most of them arise out of the simple problem that the Hero’s Journey has been asked to hold the spotlight alone, without reference to the other equally vital archetypal character arcs that can be seen to define the human life.
The Hero Arc is primarily a character arc of youthful initiation. Although it can be taken (or re-taken) by people later in life (particularly if they failed to properly fulfill the arc’s lessons in their younger years), the Hero Arc is one of the two “youthful” arcs belonging to the First Act, or approximately the first thirty years, of the human life.
As we discussed last week, the first of these youthful archetypes is that of the Maiden, which is properly a coming-of-age arc that lays the foundation for the independent “questing” of the Hero Arc. The Hero Arc itself then finishes the early initiatory phase of the First Act by asking the protagonist to complete his individuation and reach a level of maturity that allows him to reintegrate with the larger tribe or kingdom as an adult. If the Maiden Arc is about claiming one’s personal power, the Hero Arc is about learning to use that power in service to a greater good. The Hero will arc into the great responsibility of the first of the midlife or Second-Act arcs—that of the Queen—which we will discuss next week.
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