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

[epistler]

Because it's so pervasive, it's become a conceptual framework that blinkers beginner writers to other opportunities and story types.

And I've been studiously ignoring it for my entire career.

[ultimate_cheetah]

And I've been studiously ignoring it for my entire career.

We don't even study it in my english class. We instead study the structures almost all stories have. Start, rising action, climax, and falling action.

[epistler]

I didn't learn about it until I was doing my Bachelor's Degree, and I instantly hated it. It just sucked all the joy out of storytelling for me.

[ultimate_cheetah]

Oh yeah. And it's predominantly western, and ignores other kinds of story conventions. For example, the Japanese concept of mono no aware.