The Monomyth and women in superhero stories
On 4 Dec. 2016 at Malta Comic Con, Jessica Arena led a roundtable discussion titled “Women in Space.” In order for superhero stories to work, Arena says that they must reflect the viewer’s values, be a relatable story and the view should be able to see him or herself in represented in the story. Arena finds Iron Man relatable because of his flaws.
Arena looked at Joseph Campbell’s idea of the monomyth and how it portrays women. Campbell’s idea of the Hero’s Journey is one of the influences on George Lucas’ original Star Wars. While Campbell sets up 17 stages of the monomyth, he basis the idea of the hero’s journey on Jung’s archetypes and almost completely ignores women in the process. Arena asks the question, if writers are using a 70 year old theory to write stories, how does that affect how they represent women?
“The women are basically the same as men but with bikinis,” says Arena.
In 2012-2014, “Hawkeye” went against this stereotype and presented a female character who trained with Hawkeye. However, the title of the story wasn’t plural. The 2 archers needed each other to be relevant in a universe where the fight could be against technology, aliens and gods.
“You need to reconcile male and female traits,” to start with,” says Arena. All too often, women end up wearing scant clothing with some looking like they fell into a belt shop and had to make the best of it. Creators should be aware of the characters they create and make all of them 3 dimensional.
Arena looked at Joseph Campbell’s idea of the monomyth and how it portrays women. Campbell’s idea of the Hero’s Journey is one of the influences on George Lucas’ original Star Wars. While Campbell sets up 17 stages of the monomyth, he basis the idea of the hero’s journey on Jung’s archetypes and almost completely ignores women in the process. Arena asks the question, if writers are using a 70 year old theory to write stories, how does that affect how they represent women?
“The women are basically the same as men but with bikinis,” says Arena.
In 2012-2014, “Hawkeye” went against this stereotype and presented a female character who trained with Hawkeye. However, the title of the story wasn’t plural. The 2 archers needed each other to be relevant in a universe where the fight could be against technology, aliens and gods.
“You need to reconcile male and female traits,” to start with,” says Arena. All too often, women end up wearing scant clothing with some looking like they fell into a belt shop and had to make the best of it. Creators should be aware of the characters they create and make all of them 3 dimensional.