Monomyths [Tuesday, January 26, Period 3]

[steel-not-glass.livejournal.com]

Cindy looked calm and professional today, not at all like someone who'd spent much of the weekend shooting gremlins. Hopefully, that would help people discount anything they heard on the radio. "I'm glad to see you're all here today and looking relatively undamaged," Cindy said as the bell rang for class. "I hope you're all ready to continue our discussion of monomyths, though I will accept 'the gremlins destroyed my homework' as an excuse for not having it done this week."

Mostly because she hadn't assigned any. Funny how that worked out.

"So, today we're going to discuss the coping methods used in the first act of the feminine journey," Cindy continued, going back to the blackboard and writing out the notes. "Most of the time, our heroes on the feminine journey are oblivious to the fact that their world is an illusion. This is not because they're idiots, though sometimes we feel that way as we watch or read. Instead, it's because they've internalized one of five common coping methods to deal with the reality they can't face. After all, facing that reality means dealing with it and at the beginning of the story, most of our heroes aren't ready to do that yet."

On the board she wrote The Naive Hero, The Pleasing Hero, The Exceptional Hero, The Fairy Tale Hero, and The Disappointed Hero.

"The Naive Hero has a view, conscious or otherwise, that other people get hurt, attacked, or passed over, but not her. Nothing bad could ever happen to her. Life is good and fair, and she'll be rewarded for her efforts as long as she just waits it out. Most of the heroes with this view are young or have been sheltered from reality. Much of her innocence is actually ignorance, deliberately cultivated by those around her. This hero's awakening is generally the hardest, as she usually ends up questioning her entire existence, everything she has ever been taught, and all of the people around her. This isn't always the case, though. Sometimes the hero is just young and needs some time to grow up. Even so, there is a reason that this world has the saying, 'Growing up is hard to do.' Finding out everything you believe is wrong, whether that belief comes from natural childish innocence or an intentional withholding of experience on the part of others, can be traumatic."

"The Pleasing Hero is a more adult version of the Naive Hero. She understands that bad things can happen to her, but she believes that by working very hard to please others, she can avoid those bad things. She lives to make others happy, and convinces herself that her happiness stems from theirs. She is compliant and kind, doing everything by the book, suppressing her own strength and desires to better 'fit in.' This gives her the illusion of control, because it is her own choice, but she is simply maintaining the status quo, often behaving this way out of a subconscious fear of rejection and isolation. She usually walks on eggshells, afraid not to be perfect, and slowly smothering all of her inner thoughts, feelings, and desires."

"Her opposite is the Exceptional Hero. She lives life in the boys' club--or, at least, she thinks she does. She has internalized the belief that men are superior and strives to emulate their behavior, usually at the expense of her own femininity. She considers herself 'one of the guys,' either ignoring or even actively encouraging sexism, because it cements her belief that she's better than the other women, the only one who can do what she does. She believes most of the negative stereotypes about women--they cry, they're overly emotional, they complain too much--and thinks that she's an exception to her gender. This is the only type that doesn't map over to a male hero on a feminine journey; usually when a man feels this way, he's about to embark on the masculine journey. Here, the woman has to learn that she is wrong about other women, that women can have power without 'becoming a man'--" the air quotes were practically audible there "--and that she is not exceptional simply because she doesn't engage in stereotypical behaviors."

"Next is the Fairy Tale Hero." Technically, this type of character had been called 'The Cinderella,' but Cindy had renamed it immediately, TYVM. "This hero lives in a world where she relies on the protection and guidance of others to survive. Usually, this hero is a woman who relies on men, but it can be inverted and subverted in a number of ways. It's any hero who believes that someone will always be there to support and protect them from harm. If the usual protector can't be found, the hero will find someone else to come to their aid, so nothing bad will ever happen to them. No matter what, someone will come by to dote upon the hero in question. This hero differs from the the Pleasing Hero because the Pleasing Hero feels she needs to work hard to earn her protection, whereas the Fairy Tale Hero expects it as a matter of course. If anything, the Fairy Tale Hero worries about their physical attractiveness in order to hold onto the protector, that their only worth comes from their desirability."

"Last is the Disappointed Hero. She is angry, depressed, or disappointed with her lot in life, but can't or won't act to change it. She can either be the bitter and outspoken outcast or the silent martyr, sacrificing her life for the benefit of others. Often, she has real dreams and goals but she lacks the agency to strive for them. Other times, she doesn't know what it is she wants, but she knows that what she has isn't making her happy. Of all five, she is the most self-aware and the easiest to motivate along her journey because she understands that her world is not really perfect, even if she's not sure why, or believes that it's not the world that is flawed but herself."

[OCD up! My apologies for the wait!]

Comments

Sign in #4

[steel-not-glass.livejournal.com]

Like one of the heroes listed above

Re: Sign in #4

[death-of-hope.livejournal.com]

Anemone

Re: Sign in #4

[wantstocheer.livejournal.com]

Claire Bennet

During the Lecture

[steel-not-glass.livejournal.com]

It's a lecture. You know what to (not) do. Feel free to ask questions.

Re: During the Lecture

[wantstocheer.livejournal.com]

Claire took a lot of notes, though she frowned a lot, unable to figure out which category she would fit in.

Re: During the Lecture

[notmyownage]

Claudia had the feeling she'd be the Disappointed Hero. Bitter and angry? Totally. And it had taken her a little while to figure out how to do anything about it.

Re: During the Lecture

[ancientbschamp.livejournal.com]

Gabrielle got as far as the end of the Naive Hero section before she gave a tiny little groan and slumped down with her arms folded on her desk and her head resting on her arms. She was still paying attention; she just preferred to pay attention with her face hidden so the uncomfortable expression there wasn't in plain view.

Re: During the Lecture

[justwantsquiet.livejournal.com]

Sookie certainly hoped she wasn't a fairy tale hero, though her brother would probably want her to be one. Either way, as she took notes, she figured she had time to grow up to be one of the ones she liked.

Re: During the Lecture

[nevertobequeen.livejournal.com]

Morgana had a feeling that she was a Disappointed Hero, and that was, well, very disappointing.

Re: During the Lecture

[bitchprince]

"Well, that was interesting," Arthur muttered, disinterestedly, in her general direction.

Even after a year, the idea of not living in close quarters with Morgana was weird, so he was going to determine how well she was in his own way.

Re: During the Lecture

[officetightass]

Angela was listening, but realized she didn't fit into any of the categories. Which meant everything had to be wrong.

Re: During the Lecture

[nodaintyflower.livejournal.com]

Mulan was very interested in this topic, trying to figure out if she fit any of those categories.

Activity

[steel-not-glass.livejournal.com]

Also on the chalkboard, Cindy wrote: Crimson, Left with the Breeze (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gone_with_the_wind#Part_one); Lily, Olympic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanic_%281997_film%29#Fictional_characters); Dorothy, The Wizard of Oz (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wizard_of_Oz_%281939_film%29#Plot) Inanna (http://www.matrifocus.com/LAM05/spotlight.htm); Evie Sofa, Fried Green Bananas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fried_Green_Tomatoes_at_the_Whistle_Stop_Cafe#Characters); Charity, Miss Personality (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miss_Congeniality_%28film%29); Beatrice, Much Ado About Nothing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Much_Ado_About_Nothing); and meta forEmma, meta forEmma (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma)

"Pair off and discuss which character you think falls into which category," Cindy said. "Feel free to discuss which category you'd fall into if you were a character." Yay meta!

Re: Activity

[wantstocheer.livejournal.com]

Claire still had no idea which category she would fit in but she looked around for someone to pair up with.

Re: Activity

[justwantsquiet.livejournal.com]

"Y'know, I'm having the hardest time placing myself," Sookie said as she scooted her desk over. "It's hard without flattering yourself, you know?"

Re: Activity

[notmyownage]

Claudia was mostly just glad that storytellers and academics hadn't just decided that all girls were naive little twits. She scribbled some notes in the margins of her paper regarding just how many of these types were just sitting around waiting for a man to save them.

Re: Activity

[flashesforinfo.livejournal.com]

Angela honestly didn't see herself much as hero material at all, but that didn't stop her from trying to place herself as best she could in her mind while she waited for someone to partner up with.

Re: Activity

[svetocha-blooms.livejournal.com]

Dru was still trying to figure out which type she'd be while she waited for a partner.

Re: Activity

[thatsamilkshake]

Francine with her omnipresent cookies was self-aware enough to know exactly which category she'd fall into if she were a hero, and Francine enough to know that it was kind of irrelevant because she wasn't.

Soooooo she'd just be over here waiting for someone to talk to and thinking that Evei from Fried Green Bananas really really reminded her of someone. Hmm.

Re: Activity

[asgardcreated.livejournal.com]

Jon was sitting off to the side, putting people he knew into those categories.

Talk to the TAs

[steel-not-glass.livejournal.com]

If they're here and not recovering from the gremlins!

Re: Talk to the TAs

[death-of-hope.livejournal.com]

Anemone was indeed there, and knew exactly how she fit into the categories Professor Perrault had outlined.

Re: Talk to the TAs

[kestrelswolf.livejournal.com]

Firekeeper was here, yes. Even if she was somewhat unsure as to which of the categories she fit into. Perhaps the Disappointed Hero was closest, but it still didn't seem an exact fit.

Talk to "Professor Perrault"

[steel-not-glass.livejournal.com]

She's here

OOC

[steel-not-glass.livejournal.com]

Sorry it took so long to get the OCD up. I lost the paper I'd written my examples down on. *Facepalm*