{"title":"The not so universal hero’s journey","authors":"G. Hambly","doi":"10.1386/josc_00056_1","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Since the 1990s, Joseph Campbell’s research into mythology has become a cornerstone of the most influential and deeply entrenched model of screenwriting practised and taught internationally. Campbell’s finding that the quest myth, the hero’s journey, is ubiquitous\n around the globe, across human time, and therefore universal is constantly cited to prove the universality of what Robert McKee calls ‘classical design’; the story of a protagonist facing obstacles in pursuit of a goal. However, a close analysis of three of the myths and rituals,\n which Campbell cites to prove his theory, demonstrate he misinterpreted the meaning of the myths. Knowingly or not, he projected Anglo-Western storytelling and cultural values onto Indigenous mythic narratives, which in fact have very different storytelling norms and serve a very different\n purpose to the individualistic striving for self-fulfilment which he identified. Given this, it is time for practitioners and teachers to stop claiming that the hero’s journey and by default classical design are universal. Given the current struggle for inclusion of diverse, multi-cultural\n and marginalized voices into mainstream storytelling, this corrective is well overdue.","PeriodicalId":41719,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Screenwriting","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4000,"publicationDate":"2021-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"7","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Screenwriting","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1386/josc_00056_1","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"FILM, RADIO, TELEVISION","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 7
Abstract
Since the 1990s, Joseph Campbell’s research into mythology has become a cornerstone of the most influential and deeply entrenched model of screenwriting practised and taught internationally. Campbell’s finding that the quest myth, the hero’s journey, is ubiquitous
around the globe, across human time, and therefore universal is constantly cited to prove the universality of what Robert McKee calls ‘classical design’; the story of a protagonist facing obstacles in pursuit of a goal. However, a close analysis of three of the myths and rituals,
which Campbell cites to prove his theory, demonstrate he misinterpreted the meaning of the myths. Knowingly or not, he projected Anglo-Western storytelling and cultural values onto Indigenous mythic narratives, which in fact have very different storytelling norms and serve a very different
purpose to the individualistic striving for self-fulfilment which he identified. Given this, it is time for practitioners and teachers to stop claiming that the hero’s journey and by default classical design are universal. Given the current struggle for inclusion of diverse, multi-cultural
and marginalized voices into mainstream storytelling, this corrective is well overdue.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Screenwriting aims to explore the nature of writing for the moving image in the broadest sense, highlighting current academic thinking around scriptwriting whilst also reflecting on this with a truly international perspective and outlook. The journal will encourage the investigation of a broad range of possible methodologies and approaches to studying the scriptwriting form, in particular: the history of the form, contextual analysis, the process of writing for the moving image, the relationship of scriptwriting to the production process and how the form can be considered in terms of culture and society. The journal also aims to encourage research in the field of screenwriting and the linking of scriptwriting practice to academic theory, and to support and promote conferences and networking events on this subject.