There's a reason the Hero's Journey is also called the "Uni Myth." It's universal. It cannot be defied. Each stage is broad and figurative enough that it can describe any well-written story.
Buffy crosses the threshold into the plane of adventure when she walks into the library for the first time. High school, the Hellmouth, life are the realm where mystical adventures take place. Buffy doesn't stay at home, minding her own business, she goes out to fight the monsters and save the world.
"The Meeting with the Goddess" isn't about meeting a goddess perse, it's about experiencing an all-encompassing, unconditional love. It's Spike telling Buffy she' a hell of a woman.
"Atonement with the Father" is not a literal meeting between the hero and his/her father, it's about facing the entity that has life or death power over the hero's life and being transformed by it. Often by being literally or figuratively killed. The most obvious example of this in BtVS is the Master season 1.
The Hero's Journey has been turned in to a formula by writers, but that's not what it was meant to be. It was meant to be a framework for understanding myths.
Myths are the most important of cultural artifacts. They are how we understand the world. Through the allegory of myth we are able to comprehend the great and incomprehensible questions of life. BtVS is truly a myth for our postmodern world.
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Date: 2007-03-11 01:35 am (UTC)Buffy crosses the threshold into the plane of adventure when she walks into the library for the first time. High school, the Hellmouth, life are the realm where mystical adventures take place. Buffy doesn't stay at home, minding her own business, she goes out to fight the monsters and save the world.
"The Meeting with the Goddess" isn't about meeting a goddess perse, it's about experiencing an all-encompassing, unconditional love. It's Spike telling Buffy she' a hell of a woman.
"Atonement with the Father" is not a literal meeting between the hero and his/her father, it's about facing the entity that has life or death power over the hero's life and being transformed by it. Often by being literally or figuratively killed. The most obvious example of this in BtVS is the Master season 1.
The Hero's Journey has been turned in to a formula by writers, but that's not what it was meant to be. It was meant to be a framework for understanding myths.
Myths are the most important of cultural artifacts. They are how we understand the world. Through the allegory of myth we are able to comprehend the great and incomprehensible questions of life. BtVS is truly a myth for our postmodern world.