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ZorbaTHut  1yr ago (text post)   44945 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".

Could this not be explained by the vastly different lived-experience of man and woman?

These stories exist within a culture, with moral lessons addressing current social ills.

The heroine thinks there is a flaw. And that thought was put into her head (and the heads of other women) by an oppressive patriarchal society.

The tragic event -- it is not one specific event that happened to the heroine, but rather a continuous and systemic oppressive event that happens to all women everywhere.

As such, the heroine's story addresses a societal issue, rather than an individual one

I think this is onto something but also missing a key step. The "lived-experience" that a flaw that that a woman thinks she has but is actually reflective of a continuous and systemic oppressive event is in itself a narrative that is taught to many women (and men) who then go on to write characters that reflect the narrative that's been taught to them about their lives.

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