Women Can Be Heroes Too?
Despite Joseph Cambell’s hero’s journey template being designed for a male-centered narrative, I will argue that his template can be applied to films with female main characters. One example of such a film is DC’s Wonder Woman (2017). Although Maureen Murdock and Victoria Lynn Schmitt created heroine’s journey templates for female main characters, Wonder Woman matches closer with Campbell’s template. This may be due to Wonder Woman, or Diana, playing the traditionally male role of a leading superhero. Diana plays a similar role in the movie as many male superheroes but with added dramatic hair flips, high heels, and general girlbossness.
The movie begins by telling of Diana’s childhood. She was raised on Themyscria the island of the Amazons, Olympian women warriors, where she learns how to fight. Diana experiences a call to action when a British pilot, Steve Trevor, crashes on their island. He tells Diana about the ongoing war (WW I) and the island is soon invaded by German soldiers that battle the Amazons. During this Diana becomes acquainted with Steve, who acts as her mentor throughout the narrative. Much like Luke Skywalker in Star Wars Diana knows nothing about the unknown world outside her environment and Steve acts as her Obi-wan and teaches her about the world he lives in. The crossing of the threshold occurs when Diana runs away from the island with Steve, determined to find and kill Ares (the god of war) to end the war. The final departure stage, the belly of the whale, occurs when Diana struggles to fit into the new world. She has to leave her old ways behind and get a new job, and clothes and learns new customs.
Diana faces the road of trials when she has to fight in the war and goes through “No Man’s Land”. Next, we see a swap in the expected gender roles for the Hero’s journey and we see a man as the temptress! Campbell described the step Woman as the Temptress as when “the hero faces those temptations, often of a physical or pleasurable nature, that may lead them to abandon or stray from their quest”. This occurs when Diana and Steve begin to fall in love. Diana begins to stray from her previous strong intention of killing Ares in order to help Steve’s goals. The Atonement with the Father occurs when Diana tries to kill Ares with her “god killer” sword this is where “all the previous steps have been moving into”. However, it does not kill him and he just destroys the sword. Following this Ares tries to turn Diana to his side by trying to persuade her to kill an evil scientist. Despite his strong persuasion, she reaches her Apotheosis when she reaches a “point of realization in which a greater understanding is achieved”. Finally, she reaches the Ultimate Boon when she is able to complete her initial goal of killing Ares, using his own power against him.
The return stages are not pictured in the film however we know she is eventually a master of both worlds. We know this because the film shows her working, and fitting into an office job while still maintaining a secret superhero identity.
“Hero's Journey.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 17 Nov. 2022, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero's_journey.
"Wonder Woman (2017 Film).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 6 Nov. 2022, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wonder_Woman_(2017_film).
The general girlbossness sentence at the end of the first paragraph is awesome! elaborating on what we dont see after the film is also cool. You acknowledge the assumption that she eventually is a master of two worlds. Connecting it to starwars also helped me better understand your points. great work!
ReplyDeleteI like how we've started using the Hero's and Heroine's journey somewhat interchangeably in class, and I appreciate that you extended this to Wonder Woman. Although I saw it a long time ago and don't remember anything, the points that you illustrate line up well with my vague memories. I dislike narratives where the return stages aren't pictured, but they just have a big fight and then suddenly cut to the future where everything is resolved. Boo.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the hero/heroine's journey are not limited to one gender. It's fun to see which aspects in narratives, like Wonder Woman, change the journey. The aspect that stands out to me particularly is how the man is the temptress in Wonder Woman, which is one of the stages in the hero's journey that focuses on gender, so it's fun to see the twist. I enjoyed reading your post!
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