The Hero’s Journey

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The Hero’s Journey map

Description

Campbell's foundational work describes the narrative pattern as follows:
A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.

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Anonymous Author

Date

2009

Bibliographic Citation

Vogler, Christopher (2007) [1998]. The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure For Writers. Studio City, CA: Michael Wiese Productions.

Campbell, Joseph (1949). The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1st ed.). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691097435. (2nd ed. 1968).

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Title

The Heroine’s Journey Map

Description

The hero’s journey is a search for one’s soul and is chronicled in mythologies and fairy tales throughout the world. This quest motif does not, however, address the archetypal journey of the heroine. For contemporary women, this involves the healing of the wounding of the feminine that exists deep within her and the culture.

In 1990, Maureen Murdock wrote The Heroine’s Journey: Woman’s Quest for Wholeness as a response to Joseph Campbell’s model. Murdock, a student of Campbell’s work, felt his model failed to address the specific psycho-spiritual journey of contemporary women. She developed a model describing the cyclical nature of the female experience. Campbell’s response to her model was, “Women don’t need to make the journey. In the whole mythological tradition the woman is there. All she has to do is to realize that she’s the place that people are trying to get to” (Campbell, 1981). That may be true mythologically as the hero or heroine seeks illumination but psychologically, the journey of the contemporary heroine involves different stages.

The Heroine’s Journey begins with an Initial Separation from feminine values, seeking recognition and success in a patriarchal culture, experiencing spiritual death, and turning inward to reclaim the power and spirit of the sacred feminine. The final stages involve an acknowledgement of the union and power of one’s dual nature for the benefit of all humankind (Murdock, 1990, pp. 4-11). Drawing upon cultural myths, Murdock illustrates an alternative journey model to that of patriarchal hegemony. It has become a template for novelists and screenwriters, shining a light on twentieth-century feminist literature.

Designer

Murdock, M.

Date

1990

Bibliographic Citation

Bradley Harper MD, C. (Ret) U. A. (2019, September 6). The heroine’s journey. Medium. https://bradleyharper.medium.com/the-heroines-journey-1551d80aa55d

Murdock, M. (1990). The heroine’s journey: Woman’s quest for wholeness. Boston: Shambhala Pub.

Murdock, M. (2016). Articles: The heroine’s journey. Maureen Murdock. https://maureenmurdock.com/articles/articles-the-heroines-journey/

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Comparison Between Hero's Journey and Heroine's Journey

Designer

Prowritingaid

Date

2021

Bibliographic Citation

Yang, H. (2021). Deep Dive: Joseph Campbell’s “Hero’s journey.” Why Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey Is So Important. https://prowritingaid.com/joseph-campbell-hero#head4

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6 iconic movies that follow the hero’s journey

Description

This infographic shows the progression of the hero’s journey in six iconic movies: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (2001), Star Wars (1977), The Matrix (1999), Spider-Man (2002), The Lion King (1994) and The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001-2003).

Designer

Joanna Lu

Bibliographic Citation

McGuire, S. (2023, September 13). What your 6 favorite movies have in common [infographic]. Venngage. https://venngage.com/blog/heros-journey/