Monomythic Archetypal Patterns

Given this comparison between two very different characters from two very different sources of media under a monomythic lens, it is evident that the structure of the monomyth is highly widespread, being present in nearly all media. One popular form of media that typically follows the monomythic archetypal pattern is the world of comics - comic books, television shows based off comics, and movies based off comics all depict superheroes experiencing monomythic journeys, often emphasizing the Departure and Initiation stages. Whether it is one of the earliest Batman comics or the latest movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, these superheroes always tend to receive their call to adventure, have it be refused by themselves or a gatekeeper, having

At first, this question might appear puzzling and seemingly unanswerable, but the answer lies in the works of psychiatrist Carl Jung, an inspiration for Campbell’s monomyth, in his concept of the collective unconscious. In an attempt to define this idea, Jung wrote, “The collective unconscious is a part of the psyche which can be negatively distinguished from a personal unconscious by the fact that it does not, like the latter, owe its existence to personal experience and consequently is not a personal acquisition” (Jung 42). Through this, Jung is explaining how the collective unconscious is different from one’s personal memories, as the collective unconscious does not require personal experience on the topic to receive. Thus, anyone, no matter how experienced or inexperienced in the subject matter can receive information of the collective unconscious. Jung considered character archetypes part of the collective unconscious, which lead to Campbell describing the widespread monomyth. Based off Jung’s theory, it is logical to say that the reason that the monomyth is so prevalent is because a typical hero’s journey is already in every author’s or creator’s mind when they go to tell the story of a character, causing them to unwillingly fit the structure of Campbell’s monomyth. Given this assumption, one can conclude that the monomyth is neither important nor unimportant at the same time. It is important because it is a part of everyone’s mind, while it lacks importance because there is no need for people to research and talk about this structure, as it will never go away even if their conscious minds forget about it. The monomyth does not need to ever be discussed by scholars or average people, because whether they know what it is