I was brought this up earlier today, but then got to thinking about it in more depth. I was talking about the book "The Hero With a Thousand Faces" and how it deals with archetypical heroes. The basic format of most heroic narratives is the call to adventure, the road of trials, the goal or boon, the return to the ordinary world and the application of the boon. As an example of this could be most Batman stories-
Call to adventure - Bruce Wayne sees the Batman symbol, to the Batcave!
The road of trials - Surviving the trap set out by the Joker
The goal or boon - Justice is done
Return to the ordinary world - Back to Wayne Manor for 500 pushups and 30 minutes of sleep.
Application of the boon - One less villain on the street, one step closer to a crime-free Gotham
The book has been given quite a lot of credit by others, most notably George Lucas, though it serves also as a somewhat generic blueprint for people writing adventure type of stories. The question though as I see it, is the role of the female heroine in the mix. It is not my intention to make this a pro-women or misandrist post, I am just curious as to how others think that this model applies to female characters and myths (though the myths are somewhat lacking.) Is the role of the heroine the exact same? Or does the unconventional gender for the main character make the needs of the character different? In some sense character like Lara Croft seem to fit almost exactly the male model (though maybe not surprisingly as she was originally intended to be a male character.) Others do not as much, or the boon or goal they seek is quite different. Any thoughts?
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