William C. Wagoner
Joseph Campbell was perhaps the most important scholar to describe myth as a metaphor of human and societal transformation. In his book
A Hero With a Thousand Faces
he outlines the features of what he calls the Monomyth, a circular trajectory heroes from all cultures from all times are depicted traveling, from the ordinary world into the supernatural realm to be tested, and back again. He argues that all heroes journey through this same basic structural adventure, one symbolic of the actual path of real human growth and achievement in history, from the ordinary into the unknown and a return to the community with new insight or power. At its most basic level, the "standard path of the mythological adventure of the hero is a magnification of the formula represented in the rites of passage: separation - initiation - return: which might be named the nuclear unit of the monomyth" (Campbell 35). These three major phases are further broken down into about twelve distinct steps, or phases, to every adventure.
Slightly modified and simplified versions of Campbell's monomyth cycle have proliferated in the entertainment industry and educational institutions. George Lucas is famous for using the Hero's Journey explicitly in writing Star Wars. Almost as famously, Christopher Vogler, a Hollywood producer, wrote a seven page memo describing the Hero's Journey in simplified form. Its influence can be seen in countless Hollywood films, including
The Matrix, The Lion King, The Hunger Games
, and many more. Various versions of the Hero's Journey have sprouted up as graphic organizers and are available on the internet.
Along with a tremendous popularization of Campbell's theories, there have come to the fore a number of criticisms of his work which should be addressed, especially when one of the main teaching strategies of the unit revolves around his body of work.
One criticism of Campbell is that his theories overly stress the similarities between cultural myths, to the exclusion of important differences which lead to an over-generalization and simplification. It is indeed true that Campbell attempts to universalize different mythologies into a coherent unity of form. This is the entire thesis of
The Hero With A Thousand Faces
and it is important for students to learn about the forms of unity and points of contact between cultures. One can expound ad-infinitum, for example, on the important cultural differences between white and black people, or one can stress the underlying unity of the two, and note the invention of "race" as an arbitrary social category that does not exist in any real biological or genetic sense. It is worth quoting Campbell at length on this issue;
-
"Perhaps it will be objected that in bringing out the correspondences [of different myths] I have overlooked the differences between the various Oriental and Occidental, modern, ancient, and primitive traditions. The same objection might be brought, however, against any textbook or chart of anatomy, where the physiological variations of race are disregarded in the interest of a basic general understanding of the human physique. There are of course differences between the numerous mythologies and religions of mankind, but this is a book about the similarities; and once these are understood the differences will be found to be much less great than is popularly (and politically) supposed. My hope is that a comparative elucidation may contribute to the perhaps not-quite-desperate cause of those forces that are working in the present world for unification, not in the name of some ecclesiastical or political empire, but in the sense of human mutual understanding" (Campbell viii).
The most relevant criticism revolves around the male-oriented nature of the Hero, with little mention of the Heroine or her journey. This is the most relevant and least discussed of the criticisms, as the vast range of mythic stories Campbell discusses almost exclusively refer to the Hero as a male figure, and the female is mentioned primarily as a goddess to which the hero may unite, a seductive siren or succubi to ensnare him on his journey, or a bride of some sort to be rewarded with. However, from a feminist standpoint, should not the fact that an overwhelming number of myths from around the world celebrate the male as a central hero be an indictment of world history and culture, rather than of the scholarly work documenting it? For classroom purposes it is important to identify this feminist criticism of culture in general, and at the outset declare the term Hero to be interchangeable with Heroine, and encourage debate on how her journey may differ, if at all, from her male counterpart. When it comes time to have students design their own heroic journeys, it will be interesting to see how female students design their adventures, and what differences they will have with the boys. In one educational study by Kafai, when girls and boys were asked to design an adventure-based math computer game, the obstacles for the boys revolved mostly around fighting "bosses" and violence, while for the girls the trials centered around dialogue and puzzles. Such differences can also lead into a discussion or an entire unit on gender differences; whether they are intrinsic, culturally indoctrinated, or both.
