The hero’s journey is usually a physical one. Joseph Campbell’s “Hero’s Journey” involves a call to adventure, travel, tests of strength, a reward and a return home at its most basic level. It is driven by movement from one place to another and the retrieval of physical objects. It may venture into the psychological pain of being away from home but does not usually solve any larger emotional problems of the hero. When questioned on the need for a “Heroine’s Journey,” Campbell declared it unnecessary, as a woman’s role in the popular mythological journey is to be the home that the hero returns to. The woman of many a classical story is an island; an idea for the hero to be motivated by.
So, what does this have to do with real life? A typical story arc has nothing to do with the real world, right? Wrong. We are all shaped by the media we consume. Myths are the roadmaps to base our lives after. If a man is taught that a woman is supposed to be an unmoving island, he will treat her as such. He will not see her as a 3D person with real desires and motivations. Women in media need to be as fleshed out, flawed and ever-changing in media as men have been.
Enter the “Heroine’s Journey”. First proposed by Maureen Murdock, it involves a descent into psychological healing. Just as the Odyssey represents the hero’s journey, the ancient Sumerian myth of Inanna is a representation of the heroine’s journey. Sometimes called Ishtar, the goddess Inanna represented love, fertility, grain, war and physical transformations including sex changes, facial differences and disguises. She was as multifaceted as any human woman to say the least. Over the course of her journey, Inanna passes through seven gates of the underworld, each of them taking something from her. Her descent is characterized by the loss of her protections and power until she is at her most bare. She faces both the physical and psychological challenges of letting go of what people see and expect of her.
Inanna’s journey into the depths of the underworld (her psyche) is about letting go. By the time she makes her ascent back up to the real world, she has realized the emotional weight of her shed armor. She has released the version of herself that other people want and is left with her true self. She completes the cycle and travels beyond the archetype of the hero’s journey.
The hero’s journey is one that most women have already taken. The danger and adventure that men are taught to yearn for is a woman’s daily experience. Her femininity is constantly being scrutinized and judged and tested visibly and physically. She is tested by random strangers in dark parking lots or bars or just being alone in public. There is a danger to existing as a woman, and everyone has an opinion on womanhood that they are all too eager to share.
With yet another recent adaptation of the epitome of the hero’s journey (the Odyssey) being brought back into cultural relevance, the idea of women as exclusively passive is once again being upheld. In Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey,” women are treated as mere accessories to the plot. In most conventual renditions, Penelope’s strategic outmaneuvering of Odysseus forces him to reveal his identity. In Nolan’s Odyssey, she simply believes that he is her husband based on a physical totem. Even the goddess Athena — who originally played a much larger role as the hero’s mentor — gets sidelined. On the other hand, if you are looking for media that follows the heroine’s journey, I would recommend “Barbie” (2023), “Lady Bird” (2017) or “Brave” (2012) as a palate cleanser. After all, life imitates art, so we should be careful to choose art that upholds realistic portrayals of women.
If you are looking for more meta media that addresses this issue, I would recommend the songs “The Hand” by Annabelle Dinda and “Draw Me a Person” by Kate Couriel. Both of these songs cover the feeling of frustration of society’s treatment of men as the default and women as the afterthought.
The hero’s journey is a tired one. It does not suit the complexities of a modern world. It teaches men that their greater purpose is to do and not to feel. The heroine’s journey is one of both external and internal movement. It is arguably more broadly applicable to all people, regardless of gender. The heroine’s journey is a more useful model for navigating life’s challenges because the “default person,” or everyman, is not a man.