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ZorbaTHut  1yr ago (text post)   44952 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of September 5, 2022

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I ended up late with this post, with the topic being discussed on the late subreddit, but hey, let's bring it here and pretend it's original.

A lot of fiction uses the same character arc, which is called the positive character arc in the business or the hero's journey by Joseph Cambell:

  • the hero had a tragic event in the past

  • the hero has a flaw because of this event

  • the hero answers a call to adventure

  • the hero tries using the flawed approach and keeps failing

  • the hero reluctantly tries using the correct approach as a tool

  • the hero finally has some initial success, but the flaw bites him in the ass and he almost loses everything

  • the hero has a cathartic experience, rejects the flaw and adopts the right approach

  • the hero righteously wields the right approach and overcomes the opposition

This kind of arc is omnipresent: you see it in capeshit, it child-friendly comedies with Jim Carrey or Eddie Murphy, in Disney/Pixar and Dreamworks cartoons.

What I've noticed is that modern heroines do not follow the same arc. On the surface, it follows the same beats:

  • the heroine had a tragic event in the past

  • the heroine thinks she has a flaw because of this event

  • the heroine answers a call to adventure

  • the heroine lets herself be held back and keeps failing

  • the heroine tries letting herself go and starts succeeding

  • the heroine finally has some initial success, but the tragic event comes back and she almost loses everything

  • the heroine has a cathartic experience, rejects the tragic event and embraces her full power

  • the heroine righteously wields her full power and overcomes the opposition

When I look at this version of the heroine's journey, which I have tried to express in the most charitable terms, it does still look a lot like the hero's journey. Yes, the flaw being thinking you have a flaw is a weird one, but it's still a flaw. The heroine still overcomes it and the adversity, what's wrong with this arc?

I think it's the duality of the flaw that is missing. In the beginning of the hero's journey the tragic event is in the past. The hero is one with the flaw. He might not be living in the best possible world, like Shrek or Earl from Up!, but everything he has he has achieved with the flaw. The flaw is not pure weakness. You can reasonably construct a reverse story, a story of downfall or corruption:

  • the hero is pure

  • the hero answers a call of seduction

  • the hero tries using the righteous approach and keeps failing

  • the hero reluctantly tries using the flawed approach as a tool

  • the hero finally has some initial success, but his idealism bites him in the ass and he almost loses everything

  • the hero has a traumatic experience and embraces the flaw

  • the hero wields the flaw and obtains a victory that he learns all too late is hollow

You cannot do this with the heroine's journey, the reverse heroine's journey is just gaslighting that ends with a mental breakdown. The hero goes down and up in his journey (and up and down in his reverse journey), the heroine just goes up and up, there's no moral lesson beyond "don't let yourself be trod upon".

Your heroine version of heroine's journey definitely fits Captain Marvel movie. Now I had some discussions around Galadriel character in latest Rings of Power TV show. Some people defend it as hero's journey:

  • Galadriel had her brother die tragically

  • Galadriel is now raging and obsessed with revenge which is her flaw

  • Galadriel listens to the call for adventure to find Sauron and enact her revenge on him at all costs. And she has success finding various clues about him

  • Galadriel is too hardcore, pushing everybody away from her due to her single-minded focus on revenge, this is her flaw

Now there are some not so subtle hints that the character of Halbrand is the Sauron and he will use her rage to actually enact his plan. Which will cause Galadriel to almost lose everything. Then she gets rid of the flaw, gives up the whole "warrior Guyladriel" shit and becomes protector/enchantress Galadriel from the books. Now I'd actually love this arc, although I would definitely had it described differently. It would be good if in prologue Galadriel was not warrior-princess but more measured wise woman. Only death of her brother driving her to embrace the flaw.

Another potential version of this character arc using your heroine arc:

  • Galadriel is the bestest ever: the wisest, fairest, smartest and best warrior out there. She is pure

  • Galadriel will have her wings clipped in some future episode, maybe being tricked by Halbrand/Sauron and other male characters who will be successful at putting her down.

  • Galadriel will fail to attain as much success as before with this tactic.

  • Galadriel will be in the end forced to use actual force to save hobbits and other main characters. Only to be chastized for it so she returns to her pacific ways

  • Saurons takes advantage and kills loads of people - including weakling men that held her down

  • Galadriel is pissed, picks up her sword and decapitates sauron Arya Stark style in 5 seconds

  • All the men who offered any criticism will bend their knees to her and proclaim her as the true Elven Warlord for the end of times

  • The End

I am actually "looking forward" to seeing where the show moves with her story.

I would agree that "I am only fighting as a warrior because of my rage and I should be doing something else that I have more honest motives for" counts as a flawed heroine. But my confidence that a major American producer these days would have such a plot is close to zero.

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