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

[lostboy_lj]

1. The goal wasn't really to use the TV show, just to flesh out Buffy's actual story (of which Hemery is part of). Like I mentioned elsewhere in the comments, there is significant overlap in the Departure phase, probably due to the fact that not everyone who was tuning in to the show would have watched the movie, but the events of the movie are referenced as canonical on the show. That's why I've mixed together show and movie images on several Departure steps. I've thought a bit about the similarities before, and a agree that S1 is a semi-reboot, but not a complete one. One thing I might consider doing, though is, coupling a series image with the second step, as I did for steps 3-5. But as far as I can tell the first step belongs to the film alone, because that's when she actually receives her calling. As Merrick's replacement, Giles is insisting that she resume her journey, not begin it.

For Supernatural Aid, I included several examples of the supernatural aids / guides/ magical helpers she receives in her story, including Angel. She receives them at different times chronologically (first Merrick, then Giles, then Angel, etc), but as story elements they serve much the same purpose to the hero, from a Campbellian viewpoint). This is one of those criss-crossing arrow, interlapping circles and mini-journeys I mentioned in my comments, so I decided to just go with multiple portraits all located on that stage to show how the guides continue to be revealed throughout the story.

2. I mostly agree; Buffy's escape is the apostasis of a micro-journey, as far as I'm concerned, just as seasons 1-3 can be said to constitute one full permutation of the monomyth (for instance, the faces on the yearbook in the final shot of S3 is remarkably similar to the final shot of season seven, in tone theme and composition.) But, just as with the inclusion of Hemery, my goal for this image was to trace on the "full" journey as presented to us. The story didn't stop at season 3, and in the context of the whole story looks like a trial (and one that our hero semi-failed, due to her attack on Faith). I think the chart definitely could be separated into two distinct journeys (one encompassing S1-S3, the other encompassing S4-S7), but that's a little outside the scope of what I was trying to do here.

(to be continued...)