The worlds of Percy Jackson, Harry Potter, and other modern epics feature the Chosen One--an adolescent boy who defeats the Dark Lord and battles the sorrows of the world. Television's Buffy the Vampire Slayer represents a different kind of epic--the heroine's journey, not the hero's. This provocative study explores how Buffy blends 1990s girl power and the path of the warrior woman with the oldest of mythic traditions. It chronicles her descent into death and subsequent return like the great goddesses of antiquity. As she sacrifices her life for the helpless, Buffy experiences the classic heroine's quest, ascending to protector and queen in this timeless metaphor for growing into adulthood.

The worlds of Percy Jackson, Harry Potter, and other modern epics feature the Chosen One--an adolescent boy who defeats the Dark Lord and battles the sorrows of the world. Television's Buffy the Vampire Slayer represents a different kind of epic--the heroine's journey, not the hero's. This provocative study explores how Buffy blends 1990s girl power and the path of the warrior woman with the oldest of mythic traditions. It chronicles her descent into death and subsequent return like the great goddesses of antiquity. As she sacrifices her life for the helpless, Buffy experiences the classic heroine's quest, ascending to protector and queen in this timeless metaphor for growing into adulthood.

The Heroine’s Journey describes contemporary woman’s search for wholeness in a society where she has been defined according to masculine values. Drawing on cultural myths and fairy tales, ancient symbols and goddesses, and the dreams of contemporary women, Murdock illustrates the need for—and the reality of—feminine values in Western culture. This special anniversary edition, with a new foreword by Christine Downing and preface by the author, illuminates that this need is just as relevant today as it was when the book was originally published thirty years ago.

Many are familiar with Joseph Campbell's theory of the hero's journey, the idea that every man from Moses to Hercules grows to adulthood while battling his alter-ego. This book explores the universal heroine's journey as she quests through world myth. Numerous stories from cultures as varied as Chile and Vietnam reveal heroines who battle for safety and identity, thereby upsetting popular notions of the passive, gentle heroine. Only after she has defeated her dark side and reintegrated can the heroine become the bestower of wisdom, the protecting queen and arch-crone. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.

Director, producer and screenwriter Joss Whedon is a creative force in film, television, comic books and a host of other media. This book provides an authoritative survey of all of Whedon's work, ranging from his earliest scriptwriting on Roseanne, through his many movie and TV undertakings--Toy Story, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly/Serenity, Dr. Horrible, The Cabin in the Woods, and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.--to his forays into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The book covers both the original texts of the Whedonverse and the many secondary works focusing on Whedon's projects, including about 2000 books, essays, articles, documentaries and dissertations.

The Virgin's Promise demystifies the complexities of archetypes and clearly outlines the steps of a Virgin's Journey to realize her dream. Audiences need to see more than brave, self-sacrificing Heroes. They need to see Virgins who bring their talents and self-fulfilling joys to life. The Virgin's Promise describes this journey with beats that feel incredibly familiar but have not been illustrated in any other screenwriting book. It explores the yin and yang of the Virgin and Hero journeys to take up their power as individuals, and includes a practical guide to putting this new theory into action.

Faith is told her destiny by Diana Dormer because she is the Chosen One who will stand alone against the vampires, the demons, and the forces of darkness.

The Harry Potter phenomenon has created a new world: one of Quidditch in the park, lightning earrings, endless parodies, a new genre of music, and fan conferences of epic proportions. This book attempts to document everything - exploring costuming, crafting, gaming, and more, with essays and interviews straight from the multitude of creators. At last, this groundbreaking moment of pop culture is brought to light, from the amazing philanthropic triumphs of the Harry Potter Alliance to the many camps and classrooms that have welcomed Harry into their halls. Today's internet age has formed a new kind of reader: one who devours 800-page books and then creates fanfiction, art, videos, real-life adventures, and more, reimagining the series to reflect a new growing consciousness. From children to adults, fans are delighting the world with an explosion of captivating activities and experiences, all based on Rowling's delightful series.

The villain's journey is rare in popular culture--most characters are fully-formed tyrants with little to no story arc. However, a few particularly epic series take the time to develop complex villains, including Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, Smallville, Babylon 5, Game of Thrones, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Increasingly, villains' origin stories have found new popularity through films like Wicked, Maleficent, and Despicable Me, alongside shows starring serial killers and Machiavellian schemers. This book examines the villain's decline and subsequent struggle toward redemption, asking why these characters are willing to cross moral lines that "good" characters are not. The first half follows characters like Loki, Jessica Jones and Killmonger through the villain's journey: an inverse or twisted version of scholar Joseph Cambell's hero's journey. The remainder of this book examines the many different villainous archetypes such as the trickster, the outcast, the tyrant, or the misunderstood hero in greater detail. Written for writers, creators, fans, and mythologists, this book offers a peek into the minds of some of fiction's greatest villains.

An Unexpected Parody: The Unauthorized Spoof of The Hobbit revisits the film with mayhem, mirth, and magic missiles-or at least, crumpled newspaper missiles. Torn Teepeeshield, the Hot Prince of the Dwarves, puts aside his developing stardom in dwarf cabaret to quest to the Lame Old Mountain and destroy the dragon Erpolushun, or in the common tongue, Smog. Gonedaft the Grey, formerly known as Gonedaft the Grizzled and Gonedaft of the Rainbow Tie-die that He So Can't Pull Off, recruits Bumble Baglunch, country gentleman and professional coward, since as an avid comic book fan and all-around geek, Bumble's too smart to fall prey to obvious fantasy clich�s. Together with Bobbin, Noggin, Rover, Clover, Sloppy, Ploppy, Frappe, Hottie, Spottie, Quaff, Sloth, and Ezekiel the dwarves, they journey across Renfair Earth to revive their franchise. Destiny may be a word writers use to pave over plotholes, but Bumble is determined to triumph nonetheless and play as good a game of goblin golf as his ancestors.