April
2008
The Slayer’s Journey: Buffy as Monomythic Hero3
The Slayer’s Journey: Buffy as Monomythic Hero
By Mara
Introduction
Joseph Campbell’s seminal 1949 work on mythic structure, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, postulated that there was only one myth in the world (the “monomyth”) which was told and retold with endless variations by every culture on earth. Heavily influenced by Freud and Jung, he argued that the monomyth is universal because it presents and solves the various crises of the unconscious that must necessarily be overcome by each individual in order to move from an infantile state into a higher realization of self. “The Hero archetype represents the ego’s search for identity and wholeness. In the process of becoming complete, integrated human beings, we are all Heroes facing internal guardians, monsters, and helpers.” (Vogler 35) Bruno Bettelheim, who explored similar ideas as Campbell, but studied fairy tales instead of myth, described it thus: “the fairy tales’ concern is not useful information about the external world, but the inner processes taking place in an individual.” (Bettelheim 25)
Campbell’s work has been widely influential in scholarly and literary circles, and although it was written as a work that attempted to explain why all mythic structures bear similarities, it was eventually used as a blueprint for stories that were written subsequently. For example, it was the basis for Christopher Vogler’s 1998 book The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers, which is a staple screenplay handbook in Hollywood. What was once the explanation for the organic growth of fiction has become the topiary form into which the fiction is cut.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a television show developed by Joss Whedon, which ran in the United States from 1997 until 2003. The show, which was based around a female hero, inspired deep devotions from its fans, and has also become a sub-genre for pop culture studies in academia. It deals with the mythic structure with both devastating maturity and light-hearted humor, which is equally valid: “Humor is the touchstone of the truly mythological as distinct from the more literal-minded and sentimental theological mood.” (Campbell 180)
I would like to compare and contrast the main character in the series, Buffy Summers, to the monomythic hero described by Campbell. Buffy both conforms beautifully to the archetype presented, while at the same time rebuking and rejecting portions of it. Campbell’s work focused almost exclusively on male heroes, relegating female heroes to a more passive role within the myth, that a masculine hero’s journey is “the son against the father for the mastery of the universe,” while the female hero’s journey is “the daughter against the mother to be the mastered world.” (Campbell 136) As Buffy is both a woman and a warrior, her subconscious crises lead her to have a unique reaction to her hero journey.
I am looking at Buffy’s journey through the entirety of the seven seasons of the series as one continuous story arc, which roughly follows the five-act structure that was used for both individual episodes, and season-long arcs. These five acts may be roughly defined as Act I: The Call to Arms, Act II: Frustration and Opposition, Act III: Nightmare, Act IV: Climax and Act V: Resolution. I have overlaid these five sections with the three-part (or three act) rites of passage explored by Campbell: Separation or Departure, The Trials and Victories of Initiation, and The Return and Reintegration with Society. Figure 2 shows roughly how these different criteria apply to the seasons and dramatic arc of the journey.
The Separation or Departure
At the beginning of the monomyth, the hero must leave the ordinary world and journey into a new and frightening reality. The five subsections within this beginning portion are the Call to Adventure, the Refusal of the Call, Supernatural Aid, Crossing of the First Threshold, and the Belly of the Whale. This first and brief portion of the hero myth is mostly exposition, a way to introduce the character of the hero and to incite him or her into action. In Buffy the Vampire Slayer, this portion is covered within the first season.
The Call to Adventure
In the first episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer we see Buffy attempting to be a normal teenage girl, even though she knows through previous (unseen) adventures that her future is to be a Slayer. Buffy believes she has escaped this future by changing locations, but destiny will not be subverted. It’s already too late. Campbell explains, “…the call rings up the curtain, always, on a mystery of transfiguration– a rite, or moment, of spiritual passage, which when complete, amounts to a dying and a rebirth. The familiar life horizon has been outgrown; the old concepts, ideals, and emotional patterns no longer fit; the time for passing the threshold is at hand.” (Campbell 51)
For Buffy, the call is given by Rupert Giles, whose role as a mentor and advisor will be discussed later. In her attempt to emulate outmoded norms of teenage behavior, she goes to the library for a textbook. Instead, she is presented with a large book with the word “Vampyr” engraved on the cover. Frightened, she says, “That’s not what I’m looking for.” Giles asks, “Are you sure?” (Welcome to the Hellmouth)
In actuality, Buffy is fairly committed to her calling within the first season, as long as the danger to her person is not too great. She has not yet reached the true mark of the hero, which is the sacrifice of self to the greater good. “People commonly think of Heroes as strong or brave, but these qualities are secondary to sacrifice– the true mark of a Hero. Sacrifice is the willingness to give up something of value, perhaps even her own life, on behalf of an ideal or a group.” (Vogler 38) Instead, she is still fighting to keep her life as “normal” as possibly, which delays a final decision in response to her call. “Thereafter, even though the hero returns for a while to his familiar occupations, they may be found unfruitful. A series of signs of increasing force will become visible, until… the summons can no longer be denied.” (Campbell 56)
Buffy cannot ignore her calling completely, as her new home, Sunnydale, is located on a “Hellmouth,” or a portal between a place of high mystical energy (demon dimensions) and low mystical energy (the human world.) In addition to making this area attractive to supernatural creatures, it is also constantly threatening to open, which would create, as Campbell put it, “the shocking transformations that take place when the insulation between a highly concentrated power center and the lower power field of the surrounding world is, without proper precautions, suddenly taken away.” (Campbell 225) The threat of opening the Hellmouth by an ancient vampire called The Master is the cataclysm which eventually forces Buffy to choose once and for all if she is going to accept her call to arms. Read the rest of this entry »