Monomyths [Tuesday, January 12, Period 3]

[steel-not-glass.livejournal.com]

"We're going to start today by talking about your final," Cindy announced as soon as class began. "I know it seems like a long way away, but if you look at the syllabus I handed out last week, you'll realize it's only about fourteen weeks away and the nature of the final requires a lot of advanced prep work." The grin she flashed the class was more mischievous than evil, though they were welcome to interpret it any way they liked. "One of the things I want to stress in this class is that even though the concept of the heroic journey has its roots in works written millennia ago, it's a concept that is still at work today, influencing your own culture. Thus, to really bring that home, you final exam will consist of an essay to be handed in the final day of class. To prepare for your essay--in addition to coming to class and such--you'll be watching all seven seasons of Wendy the Werewolf Stalker. Does Wendy embark on a masculine heroic journey? A feminine heroic journey? Both? Neither? Drawing upon examples from the show and concepts we cover in class, that's the question you'll be answering." She smiled at them again. "Now you understand why I'm telling you this now. Seven seasons, fourteen weeks. You're all in high school and are capable of doing the math."

She leaned against her desk to continue. "Should you decide, for whatever reason, that you don't wish to base your final exam on Wendy that's fine. However, by the midterm, I will need a major work that you would prefer to write on instead. This will give me enough time to familiarize myself with the work in question and decide upon its suitability. Best to give me three choices, just in case your first and second choice don't work out."

She straightened again. "One last bit of prep before we get to class--Anemone? Blysse? You're the TAs for this class. Please feel free to see me after class if you'd like to discuss what that entails. That's settled; let's get to learning, shall we? Today we'll be discussing the basic the difference between the masculine and feminine journey. Now, before you start taking notes, there's something I want to stress. Just because the journey is referred by one gender or the other, it doesn't follow that the hero must be of that same gender. Men can undergo the feminine journey just as easily as women and vice versa. We clear? Good. Let's begin."

On the chalkboard before class, Cindy had written:

Feminine Journey--
*The journey where the hero must go deep inside herself and change throughout the story.
*She 'awakens' in Act I and journeys towards rebirth
*She comes into her power to realize her authentic goals and connectedness;
*Thus, her journey is the path that leads her to power and control.
*At the beginning of the story, the hero does not realize she's living a life filled with other people's goals and ambitions. They have no idea what they truly want or are capable of doing until they are forced to reexamine everything as part of their journey.
*Generally, the hero is not supported at the outset. She may face censure and public disapproval for her desire to leave the community and embark on her journey.
*Character-based stories and Lifetime Originals

Masculine Journey--
*The journey where the hero resists inner change until Act III, where he must choose to awaken and go onto victory or choose to rebel and go onto failure
*He starts with his power intact and awakens only when he realizes his power is holding him back from fully experiencing life.
*He must let go of his power to realize his authentic goals and connectedness;
*Thus, his journey is the path that leads him to give up that power and control.
*At the beginning of the story, the hero does not realize the power he has in the world only helps him reach the goals society deems acceptable. He does not realize that he must give up some of that power for him to fulfill inner goals that do are not socially approved.
*Generally, the hero is fully supported by the group and society as a whole when he chooses to embark upon his journey. He may even be assured that things will be taken care of in his absence.
*Action films, cop movies, buddy movies.

"That's a lot of information in a very few lines," Cindy said, aware her students might argue the 'very few' part. "So let's talk."

[OCD up!]

Comments

Sign in #2

[steel-not-glass.livejournal.com]

Masculine or feminine (and don't be restricted by gender!)

Re: Sign in #2

[wannabehunter]

Jo Harvelle

During the Lecture

[steel-not-glass.livejournal.com]

Taking notes is encouraged. So is asking questions.

Other activities not so encouraged, but good luck trying.

Re: During the Lecture

[ancientbschamp.livejournal.com]

Gabrielle, luckily, had at some point invested in actual notebooks even though she hated the flimsy paper and its funny lines (she ignored those anyway). She'd have run out of scroll parchment fast in this class. Her notebook, as it was, was crammed to the margins.

Re: During the Lecture

[officetightass]

Ugh. They had to do a report on Wendy? Did they realize all the stuff that glamorized? Angela supposed next they'd have to do an oral report on Barry Plodder, too.

Re: During the Lecture

[wantstocheer.livejournal.com]

Claire took notes and idly wondered if she could get away with doing her final project on Ninth Wonders. Or would that be cheating since it was based in part on her own life?

Re: During the Lecture

[kestrelswolf.livejournal.com]

Firekeeper was... not going to take notes, so much.

She was just going to squint in confusion at the marks on the board and wonder how she had managed to get chosen to be a TA for this class.

Blind Seer was just trying not to be visibly amused by the whole thing.

Re: During the Lecture

[death-of-hope.livejournal.com]

Anemone was half-tempted to put her hand up and ask if you could have both, depending on who was driving your brain that day, but figured that miiiight not be the best thing to ask after being named the TA. Making her classmates paranoid about her sanity levels would be counter-productive.

So instead, she took notes. Lots and lots of notes, with the occasional picture doodled in the margin.

Re: During the Lecture

[harper-journeys.livejournal.com]

So much of what had happened in the past few months seemed like an exact retelling of the first bit on the board thank you, Anne McCaffrey. It was almost enough to silence her into thought, wondering how such a big thing was apparently perfectly normal here.

Re: During the Lecture

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

Liir took notes, unable to keep his mind from the question of which journey was his own. To be honest, his almost sounded like the feminine journey... and the whole thing had him thinking on the nature of anger again, his own anger. Women's anger, men's anger... how he thought and how he acted.

Was this the fault of Nanny and the Witch? Perhaps just the fault of a life without a father. He couldn't say.

But he took notes to consider it later.

Re: During the Lecture

[cataclysmicluck.livejournal.com]

Zayne had his datapad out and was taking notes as quickly as his fingers could input the information.

That was pretty quick, for the record. He had survived a couple Ghanima classes, after all.

[steel-not-glass.livejournal.com]

"Going with the very basic generalizations on the board, can you categorize your life as one or the other? Have you had an experience that was a mini-journey all it's own?"

Cindy, realizing that they might appreciate a bit more of an example, gave a few of her own.

"I'd have to say that my life is more the masculine journey. The times when I think I have control or power and realize that I have to revise that assumption outweigh the times that I don't--though, this is the exact opposite of my youth, so if you're worried that you don't have any power now, don't worry. Hopefully, that'll change for you."

"As for mini-journeys, there was the first time I ever went to a party. I had grown up in a very strict and forbidding household and my social life was pretty limited. My family was invited to this big, fancy party and I had been promised the opportunity to go. Except, at the last minute, permission was revoked, and I was told to stay home. Finally I realized that I didn't have to obey--that, with a little bit of outside help--I could get there on my own and have a wonderful time. I went, I danced, and a few days later, I was out of the house for good."

"Don't be afraid to talk to one another. Ask each other questions, make comments. I can only talk so much, and I'm basically at my limit."

[life_inshadow]

Looking incredibly intimidated by the whole thing, Tara cradled Kennedy-the-hedgehog in her palms, as if drawing strength from her. "Feminine journey?" she finally ventured, as if expecting to be told she was wrong. "My -- my family told me something about me that wasn't true. Something bad. I, um. I kind of s-spent my whole life with it over my head until about three months ago. So -- n-now I have to make my way to being more in power."

She didn't sound like she was doing so great with it, but that was Tara.

[wantstocheer.livejournal.com]

"Definitely the feminine journey," Claire said. "Until I came here, I didn't realize how much other people," like her father, "were controlling my life. Now I have the ability to make my own decisions."

[ancientbschamp.livejournal.com]

Gabrielle chewed halfway through her pencil (ew) in thought before she finally ventured an answer, words spilling out of her like she'd held them in too long as it was.

"That's the thing, I don't know. I could say the feminine journey, but I always knew my life in Poteidaia wasn't what I wanted for myself. That I could do so much more than live the boring farming life. It was just a matter of getting a chance to get out. Of course, when I did get the chance Xena tried to send me back home, so you could say she wasn't very supportive at first. Now? Ha. She couldn't live without me. Figuratively, since she does all right while I'm here. And I'm not looking for power and control . . . just a chance to explore, and tell stories, and learn new ones, and help people."

She nodded, brought her pencil back up to her lips and gave it a startled look when she finally realized how chewed-up it was. "On the other hand, there's Xena, and hers seems so much more like the masculine journey -- I can't talk about my path without talking about hers. Depending on when you decide her journey starts, at least. It's a long -- no. No, wait, let me think more."

Babbly bard was babbly, at least until she dropped her chin back onto her hands and lapsed into thought. This was probably unsurprising.

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"I'm... not entirely certain," Merlin admitted. "Perhaps a mix of them both?"

Because the masculine journey seemed a lot more like Arthur than himself.

[kestrelswolf.livejournal.com]

Firekeeper frowned. "I am not so sure," she said finally assuming someone handwavily read the notes on the board to her. "Perhaps mostly this feminine, but there is times when this masculine one happen too," she admitted, tongue tripping slightly over the strange words. All of the journeys she'd undertaken, after all, had been with approval. But it had been along those journeys that she'd discovered just what had been hidden from her.

[notmyownage]

Claudia spent several moments looking over both lists a few times, then shrugged. "Uh. What if you know you've got power and goals and stuff, but the world doesn't really support you in your journey?"

[harper-journeys.livejournal.com]

Finally Menolly gathered her courage enough to ask a question: "Why is one called male and the other female?"

[nodaintyflower.livejournal.com]

"Feminine journey, I think," Mulan said after a moment of thought. "I was expected to be someone I'm not back home. I think I can be myself here and make my own decisions."

[thatsamilkshake]

"The, um, girl one," Francine said awkwardly but accurately, doing a suspiciously familiar (hi, Tara!) small-animal-cuddling thing. "Kind of literally. A couple of us in here got sick with a plague that only attacks people with some kind of magic, and I didn't expect to get sick at all, but I did."

[asgardcreated.livejournal.com]

"I think my life is made up of a whole lot of crazy mini-journeys that go either way. It just depends on which leader is yanking the chain at the moment."

Talk to the TAs

[steel-not-glass.livejournal.com]

When they sign in

Re: Talk to the TAs

[death-of-hope.livejournal.com]

Anemone was totally around, and morbidly amused at being chosen as a TA.

Talk to "Professor Perrault"

[steel-not-glass.livejournal.com]

If you're not tired of listening to her yet.

Re: Talk to "Professor Perrault"

[asgardcreated.livejournal.com]

Jon was there after class, because, well, he missed things last week. "I need to get the syllabus. I missed class last week due to an alien plague."

OOC

[steel-not-glass.livejournal.com]

Hopefully future classes will be shorter...but I can't promise anything.

Re: OOC

[ancientbschamp.livejournal.com]

Please don't. I'm geeking like a happy little geeking thing. <3

Even if it's going to take me half the day to figure this out for Gabrielle.

ETA: . . . I'm so sorry about Gab. -_-