I think the series does an excellent job of showing the fallacy of the Prince mythology that's so romanticized and prevalent in the developed world.  Women are taught to wait for and hope for rescue, and endure whatever comes along because rescue is just around the corner, right?  But if there's any lesson out of the exploding of the Prince Myth, it's that one cannot rescue anyone else -- everyone has to rescue themselves.  If someone can't rescue herself, then all external "rescue" is temporary.

brian wrote:

This requires more deep thought than I can give at the momemt. But if nothing else Be-Papas have done a better job of tapping into Campbell than George Lucas has done.

OMG THIS.

The Seventeen Stages of the Monomyth

Not all stories have all 17 stages and don't have to in order to fit the pattern...but I think Utena fits many of them.

Departure (or Separation)

The Call to Adventure

The adventure begins with the hero receiving a call to action, such as a threat to the peace of the community, or the hero simply falls into or blunders into it. The call is often announced to the hero by another character who acts as a "herald". The herald, often represented as dark or terrifying and judged evil by the world, may call the character to adventure simply by the crisis of his appearance.

Campbell: "A blunder – apparently the merest chance – reveals an unsuspected world, and the individual is drawn into a relationship with forces that are not rightly understood."

Two possibilities --

1. Utena's resolution to "become a Prince" and save Anthy when she meets Dios/Akio and sees Anthy's suffering as a small child.
2. Utena's decision to challenge Saionji to a duel because of Wakaba.

Refusal of the Call

In some stories, the hero initially refuses the call to adventure. When this happens, the hero may suffer somehow, and may eventually choose to answer, or may continue to decline the call.

Campbell: "Refusal of the summons converts the adventure into its negative. Walled in boredom, hard work, or 'culture,' the subject loses the power of significant affirmative action and becomes a victim to be saved."

Two observations:

1.  You can see Utena's intent to throw her second duel as a refusal.  But it lasts only for a short moment, so it does not result in many consequences.
2.  HOWEVER, Utena wavers in her dedication to her goal on several occasions and suffers for it.  Most of these occasions occur when she puts her desire to be a Prince second to some other concern. 
- For example, the duel Utena loses to Touga. 
- Or episodes 33, 35, and 37.  "The Prince who runs in the night"?  Isn't it Utena turning away from her goal to be a Prince and running away from the sacrifices she will have to make to fulfill that desire?

Supernatural Aid

After the hero has accepted the call, he encounters a protective figure (often elderly) who provides special tools and advice for the adventure ahead, such as an amulet or a weapon.

Classic example: In Greek mythology, Ariadne gives Theseus a ball of string and a sword before he enters the labyrinth to confront the Minotaur.

Both Dios and Anthy qualify here.  Dios/Akio gave Utena the ring, which reminds Utena of her goal and seems to be the key to the dueling arena.  Anthy (who, incidentally, is shown as disguising herself as a crone once in episode 34) provides Utena with a sword to use until Utena begins to use her own.

The Crossing of the First Threshold

The hero must cross the threshold between the world he is familiar with and that which he is not. Often this involves facing a "threshold guardian", an entity that works to keep all within the protective confines of the world but must be encountered in order to enter the new zone of experience.

Utena crosses a threshold on several occasions...
- When she enters her coffin and is shown Anthy.
- When she leaves her coffin.
- When she enters the dueling arena.

I would suggest that Utena's departure from her coffin is the true first threshold, confirmed by the later threshold--just like how her original call to adventure is confirmed by a later call.

Belly of The Whale

The hero, rather than passing a threshold, passes into the new zone by means of rebirth. Appearing to have died by being swallowed or having their flesh scattered, the hero is transformed and becomes ready for the adventure ahead.

Utena has a symbolic rebirth when she enters and then leaves her coffin.
She is also baptized (and therefore reborn), in a sense, by the water drop at the entrance of the dueling arena.

Initiation

The Road of Trials

Once past the threshold, the hero encounters a dream landscape of ambiguous and fluid forms. The hero is challenged to survive a succession of obstacles and, in so doing, amplifies his consciousness. The hero is helped covertly by the supernatural helper or may discover a benign power supporting him in his passage.

The succession of duels building toward revolution is the road of trials and there are various obstacles and special challenges that build.  You hsould note especially those events in the arena that Akio put some extra effort into (like the "rescue" of the sleeping Anthy from the coffin after Saionji kidnaps Anthy).

Mother as Goddess

The ultimate trial is often represented as a marriage between the hero and a queenlike, or mother-like figure. This represents the hero's mastery of life (represented by the feminine) as well as the totality of what can be known. When the hero is female, this becomes a male figure.

Utena's increasing closeness to/eventual rescue of Anthy and the symbolic consummation of their clasped hands.

Woman as Temptress

His awareness expanded, the hero may fixate on the disunity between truth and his subjective outlook, inherently tainted by the flesh. This is often represented with revulsion or rejection of a female figure.

Anthy, Anthy, and Anthy.  She is certainly a temptress.  But as far as rejection/disillusionment...Episode 37 much?

Utena: I seem really feminine tonight. Akio-san said that.
Utena: What does it mean to be feminine?
Anthy: Girls...girls are all like the Bride of the Rose in the end.

Rejection followed by eventual acceptance.  (Put Mother as Goddess AFTER Woman as Temptress).

Atonement with the Father

The hero reconciles the tyrant and merciful aspects of the father-like authority figure to understand himself as well as this figure.

This is an interesting one.  Utena has to reconcile the fact that her Prince, the one she's been seeking, is also the Villain she's sworn to fight.  I don't think she makes atonement to Akio.  But her new awareness (if you feel she did come fully to grasp with it) of Akio would necessarily lead to greater understanding of Utena herself and what princeliness means.

Apotheosis

The hero's ego is disintegrated in a breakthrough expansion of consciousness. Quite frequently the hero's idea of reality is changed; the hero may find an ability to do new things or to see a larger point of view, allowing the hero to sacrifice himself.

The end of episode 36 and episode 37 are a major turning point here again--but so is Utena's childhood experience.

But the major scenes of change here could be: Utena's retrieval of her sword and the following the revelation of the projector.

The Ultimate Boon

The hero is now ready to obtain that which he has set out, an item or new awareness that, once he returns, will benefit the society that he has left.

For Utena, when she begins the duel of revolution, that boon is princehood and the power of revolution...but will actually ultimately be given in a form she may or may not expect.  (I didn't at first watch, so I doubt Utena expected it)

Return

Refusal of the Return

Having found bliss and enlightenment in the other world, the hero may not want to return to the ordinary world to bestow the boon onto his fellow man.

Utena leaves the world, but may not fit this step.

The Magic Flight

When the boon's acquisition (or the hero's return to the world) comes against opposition, a chase or pursuit may ensue before the hero returns.

I don't see an application for this, but you might!

Rescue from Without

The hero may need to be rescued by forces from the ordinary world. This may be because the hero has refused to return or because he is successfully blocked from returning with the boon. The hero loses his ego.

A definite possibility--"Now it's my turn to go to you.  No matter where you are, I'll find you for sure.  Wait for me, Utena."

The Crossing of the Return Threshold

The hero returns to the world of common day and must accept it as real.

The themes of SKU are such that it seems like rather than returning to world Utena knew, she breaks out of the illusions of the world she knew and entered a more "real" world.

Master of Two Worlds

Because of the boon or due to his experience, the hero may now perceive both the divine and human worlds.

Now I'd say Utena sees the illusion in the truth and the truth in the illusion.  Sounds silly, I know.  But not only did Utena manage to depart Akio's manipulated world, she was also able to act on the imagery the gate and of Anthy's coffin to speak to the "real Anthy." 

Freedom to Live

The hero bestows the boon to his fellow man.

This is very much what Utena (both via her inspiration and via Anthy in my interpretation) was able to do for the students.

It's been a while since I've read Campbell, so forgive me, but I'm wondering if anyone has any ideas about the other characters besides Utena and this thread? Perhaps where along their journey they get "stuck"?

Every story which follows "epic" themes will draw, sometimes heavily, from this formula. Via culture and heritage this formula in all its variations is familiar to us. And in someway fits comfortably into the myth category in the collective cultural conscience. A prince wouldn't be a prince without a dragon to slay. Who ever heard of a fairy tale involving a prince who stayed home and worried about taxes?

Myths involve action, involve pain (usually for the main character), and ultimate growth through the pain of overcoming the sweeping quest/challenge/rescue the protagonist must complete. Utena has these themes in spades, all the while quietly prodding viewers to question those themes. From the first episode the series asks us "But was that such a good idea?"

Utena's characters also benefit from having a level of human depth that is lacking in many animes. These characters have flaws. Personal, deep seated, therapy required flaws. It's those flaws which allow us the viewer to engage the character. Cheering for Mr. Perfect Prince Charming is one thing, but when the prince has hang ups and foibles similar to your own. Suddenly the character is real, his struggles are more personable, and his characters growth more applicable to the reader.

Is Utena a myth to live by? Absolutely in my book! By continually analysing character development and growth, one can learn masses about him/herself.

Campbell was born and lived much of his life in a time that wasn't known for liberated women.  It was in the latter half of his life that the biggest strides toward gender equality were made.  Furthermore, he researched ancient mythology--not known for its strong female characters and most often emerging from cultures even more patriarchal than America in Campbell's youth.

Accepting that, we can take some of Campbell's personal statements on women with a grain of salt.  However, his cultural conditioning and personal preferences can't negate the truth of his analysis.  Why do I say that?

Well, ever read a relationship-help book, like "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus"?  These books often separate actions by gender, ie: "Men have a tendency to do this and think this, which can clash with women who have a tendency to do this and think this."  As a female reader, you may find yourself in a situation where you are actually doing what the book says "men" do and your boyfriend is doing what the book says "women" do.  Does that make the female reader a man and her boyfriend a woman?  Hell, no.  But for the purpose of writing, it's necessary to generalize and let the reader take it from there.

Much of what Campbell says about women in myth should be taken as analysis of the actual content of the great body of mythology.  Feminism or no, mythology and symbolism do separate traits according to "masculine" and "feminine."  When we compare Utena to the male sky god Uranus and Anthy to the female earth goddess Gaia, we aren't literally saying that Utena is a man...just that she is embodying a masculine principle in relation to Anthy.

I don't know if I've read the quote you're referring to.  But the way I read it based on other readings is...the masculine principle acts, it undertakes action while the female principle exists and receives.  Uranus descended to Gaia.  The man sales away to sea while the woman waits on the widows walk.

But that's not always going to be the case (the genitalia aren't necessarily going to match).  The important part with the hero's journey is that the hero becomes a hero when he undertakes the quest, when he *acts.*  Women can certainly be heroes.   It's just that...traditionally the heroes were men.  And traditionally a woman's role in mythology and fairy tale was to wait for the male hero, etc.

Joseph Campbell wrote:

"All of the great mythologies and much of the mythic story-telling of the world are from the male point of view. When I was writing The Hero with a Thousand Faces and wanted to bring female heroes in, I had to go to the fairy tales. These were told by women to children, you know, and you get a different perspective. It was the men who got involved in spinning most of the great myths. The women were too busy; they had too damn much to do to sit around thinking about stories. [...]

In The Odyssey, you'll see three journeys. One is that of Telemachus, the son, going in quest of his father. The second is that of the father, Odysseus, becoming reconciled and related to the female principle in the sense of male-female relationship, rather than the male mastery of the female that was at the center of The Iliad. And the third is of Penelope herself, whose journey is [...] endurance. Out in Nantucket, you see all those cottages with the widow's walk up on the roof: when my husband comes back from the sea. Two journeys through space and one through time."

"The hero, therefore, is the man or woman who has been able to battle past his personal and local historical limitations to the generally valid, normally human forms. Such a one's visions, ideas, and inspirations come pristine from the primary springs of human life and thought. Hence they are eloquent, not of the present, disintegrating society and psyche, but of the unquenched source through which society is reborn. The hero has died as a modern man; but as eternal man - perfected, unspecific, universal man - he has been reborn. His second solemn task and deed therefore... is to return then to us, transfigured, and teach the lessons he has learned of life renewed." (pp.19-20)

"Woman, in the picture language of mythology, represents the totality of what can be known. The hero is the one who comes to know." (p.116)

"The modern hero, the modern individual who dares to heed the call and seek the mansion of that presence with whom it is our whole destiny to be atoned [reconciled] cannot, indeed, must not, wait for his community to cast off its slough of pride, fear, rationalized avarice, and sanctified misunderstanding. 'Live,' Nietzsche says, 'as though the day were here.' It is not society that is to guide and save the creative hero, but precisely the reverse. And so every one of us shares the supreme ordeal - carries the cross of the redeemer - not in the bright moments of his tribe's great victories, but in the silences of his personal despair." (p.391)

None of this is incompatible and is actually quite fitting.  Utena herself is the major hero.  Utena undertakes the quest and acts.  Utena is the creative individual casting off the traditional role her society has allotted for her.  Utena learns lessons and comes to know Anthy.   Anthy, while she does have a fascinating hero's journey of her own, is Woman.  Anthy waits and endures.  Anthy is the mystery that must known.

These things are true :-)  At the same time other things can be true.  The Monomyth is a filter through which we can look at a story and come to a new or deeper understanding of certain aspects of that story.  It isn't a complete, unbiased, or even necessarily the predominant interpretation.  Though I love it, personally...gives me shivers.  Especially when I give special attention to how and when the characters switch from one role (passive) to the other (active).

Last edited by rhyaniwyn (01-27-2009 09:24:48 AM)

This may not be apropos but the Ruka-Shiori duel strongly hints that all the duels are purely symbolic. The sudden flash from the dueling ground to that scene where Ruka is publicly dumping Shiori implies that no time has passed and no space traversed. Everything was there in the bright sunlight and grass all along.