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I see you included Maureen Murdock but don't specifically mention her book, The Heroine's Journey, from 1990. That was a breakthrough book in the field and her take on THJ was powerful for me. It is, however, dated even now as our culture continues to change. (We have to remember that Campbell was a product of the culture at that time and his lens was naturally shaped by the culture) In 2015, Jody Bower wrote a great book titled, Jane Eyre's Sisters, which continued to move this theory forward. And I'm sure you know of the recently published book by Maria Tatar titled The Heroine with 1001 Faces. Women have been updating this theory for decades and will continue to do so. It's hugely important that folks take ownership of their stories and continue to adapt theories as culture changes.

All in all, I still think THJ is a great starting place although, of course, it does not cover all stories. Certainly there was tremendous arrogance in Campbell thinking it did. I do still admire Campbell however for shaking up academia. Much of the prejudice against him, I feel, is rooted in academic snobbery. It's very hard for folks with advance degrees to hear that something they've been explaining in complex terms is actually quite simple. ;)

As for your question, can we rehabilitate The Hero's Journey for our 21st Century world - yes, absolutely. That's the thing about myth - it always adapts to the changing culture because myth is a reflection of the culture.

Love that your blog exists! (just found it and I subscribed!) Looking forward to reading more from you.

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Thanks, Jan. I’ll absolutely be adding Bower’s and Tatar’s books to my bookshelf and looking for more voices on these subjects in 2022!

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Thanks for this. Spot on. Unlike you, I have loathed the monomyth for decades, but I was not aware that others also are seeing through its arrogance. I blogged about this many moons ago and that post wasn't nearly as good as this one. So congratulations.

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Thanks. I'm not willing to abandon the Hero's Journey entirely but I'm definitely moving it to a less prominent position. I like Stephen King's writing advice about having many writing tools available and using the most appropriate ones as each story demands, which should also apply to theory and analysis.

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Sure. I like Star Wars and The Matrix. But that story pattern doesn't hold for every story.

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True. One of the consequences of overusing the monomyth is that we fall into that mindset and have to work that much harder to appreciate stories that don't fit the pattern. I've seen movies get panned by reviewers because they don't fit neatly enough into the Hero's Journey, and therefore the reviewers just don't get the story. And because Hollywood is all about playing it safe and replicating what's been "proven" to work, that's mostly what we get.

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