The Monomythology of Buffy

[lostboy_lj]

I've been having lots of thoughts lately about the mythology of the Buffyverse, particularly in relation to Joseph Campbell's theory of the "monomyth" - a detectable pattern of the hero's journey that seems to crop up across many cultures and eras.  The theory holds that, when deconstructed, most stories about mythological and religious heroes

Comments

[bone_dry1013]

Huh, this was interesting. The last and only time I learned about Campbell was like...five years ago in a lit class, so I can't say anything constructive. But it is interesting to see the mythos in this light.
My one question is why you chose to include the film in with the show. As far as I know Joss and a lot of the fanbase don't consider it to technically be canon. Not that it doesn't fit, but I was curious about what spurned that decision.

Awesome work, as usual.

[lostboy_lj]

As far as I know Joss and a lot of the fanbase don't consider it to technically be canon.I can't speak for the fandom, but I don't think I agree with this statement. While there's a lot of formal differences between the movie and the series, the show certainly considers the events of the movie canonical. It references them as part of the story on multiple occasions -- and not just the broad strokes, but narrow ones like Merrick and Pike. Hemery happened before Sunnydale, according to the reality of the show. And while I've heard Joss complain that he didn't have enough control on the movie, I don't recall Joss disowning Hemery from a story-perspective (though I could be wrong about that... although, Author Dead, and whatnot

[bone_dry1013]

I take the movie as loosely canonical, at least in terms of major events (those being the ones mentioned in the show). It's not really that important, but the construction of head-canon is one of my compulsions, so I'm generally curious to know the things people besides me have come up with.

I don't really know much about hero's journeys beside the major obvious ones (Rise of the Guardians was one of the ones in most recent memory where I felt like I could literally slap labels on scenes and bring it into a film's study class and announce "Yeah, don't ever ever be this obvious"), but I feel like the reason there's that redundancy is because Buffy already went through the Belly of the Whale before she arrived in Sunnydale, except once she'd escaped it she'd renounced the journey and she then had to start it over. This is mostly because I think of her time between Hemery and Sunnydale in the context of Normal Again. Since I constructed my head canon around Normal Again, it really skews how I view s1 and even a lot of the series.

[lostboy_lj]

Well, I guess the thing for me is that the events of the movie really are "The Call to Adventure." I'm sure the TV team could have done it better (and in many ways I think S1 was trying to revisit it), but by the time Buffy gets to Sunnydale she has at the very least already been called -- literally "called", using the terminology of the show (which, maybe not so coincidentally is also the term used by Campbell). WttH itself could arguably encompass steps 2-4, but not step 1.

(Not sure about how "Normal Again" fits into it, except I guess as a commentary on the hyperreality of the show.)

[bone_dry1013]

By Normal Again I'm referring to Buffy being tossed into the looney bin. To me in that context I can see her having started the journey, then dropping it and having to start the whole journey again, starting with Giles calling her (for the second time) in WttH.

Not really sure if I'm making sense or if you already got what I was attempting to say or if I am in fact repeating what you already said, but in my defense, I'm like super tired and trying to think about it is making my brain flatline...

[lostboy_lj]

No worries. I think I get your meaning here; your basically saying that Buffy's journey was "rebooted" for the series, and in some ways I think you're right (which is why for some steps I have pictures of both Hemery and Sunnydale mixed together).

[local_max]

Hm, quick question: when were Pike or Merrick mentioned in the TV show? Certainly I always assumed the watcher in "Becoming, Part 1" was Merrick, but I don't think there is any dialogue that suggests this must be the case.

There are other details that suggest that the TV show and the movie are different universes -- not just the actors (obviously) but also things like Buffy being a senior in the movie and a sophomore in WttH. Of course, those details are also ones that make sense in order to turn what was meant to be a one-off into a potentially long-running series.

[lostboy_lj]

Merrick wasn't only mentioned in the TV show, he appeared on it in a flashback at the beginning of "Becoming":

[local_max]

I know -- but "Becoming" Watcher was neither identified by name (in dialogue) nor does he look all that much like Donald Sutherland. The shooting script does identify him as Merrick, though, for what that's worth.

I agree about the second paragraph though.