On the Monomyth

[hidden_urchin]

Since Joseph Campbell's monomyth occasionally comes up in our discussions, here's a critical Twitter thread on the topic that the comm might find interesting.

https://twitter.com/sentantiq/status/1389565106200121347

Comments

[ultimate_cheetah]

Couldn't there be confirmation bias there? Like, if you specifically look for elements that fit the monomyth, you'll find them, even if you have to really reach for it.

[cmdrnemo]

Sort of, the original 17 steps range from so hella vague as to be borderline meaningless. Like step 1: The Call to Adventure, wherein something new happens. Okay sure, time passes in stories just like real life. There's no way to avoid that one. To the super specific and extremely rare in particular the entire third set labelled "Return" with steps 12-17 are very much optional and you never see more than 2 of them unless someone was specifically trying to make this work.

[ultimate_cheetah]

There's no way to avoid that one.

Exactly. It's literally a fixture of stories. And sometimes it's not a call like that. I've read short stories where the moral/turning point is at the end. (Like "The Displaced Person" by Flannery O'Connor.)

To the super specific and extremely rare in particular the entire third set labelled "Return" with steps 12-17 are very much optional and you never see more than 2 of them unless someone was specifically trying to make this work.

Yeah. The monomyth seems to think that the hero goes through a dark point, emerges from it, defeats the bad guy, and returns. But sometimes the hero never returns. A lot of times, things are completely different for them, or there's not anything to return from. Or they could never emerge from that dark point. (Like Breaking Bad.)