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UC Riverside UC Riverside Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title The Good Guys Might Not Wear White Hats: Positing a Shift in the American Monomyth Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/30m772cv Author Knight, Corinne Elizabeth Publication Date 2017 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE The Good Guys Might Not Wear White Hats: Positing a Shift in the American Monomyth A Dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Religious Studies by Corinne Elizabeth Knight September 2017 Dissertation Committee: Dr. Melissa Wilcox, Chairperson Dr. Paul Levesque Dr. Pashaura Singh Copyright by Corinne Elizabeth Knight 2017 The Dissertation of Corinne Elizabeth Knight is approved: Committee Chairperson University of California, Riverside Acknowledgements This has been a daunting project and process, and many, many people have been involved in its undertaking, from start to finish, in myriad ways. First and foremost is my family. Thank you to my parents Chuck and Lori for always emphasizing the value and joy of reading that has culminated in multiple literature-driven degrees and projects, to Trevor and Chelsea for providing much-needed distractions, and to the rest of my family for their support. Much love and gratitude. Next, I offer my thanks to my committee: Dr. Melissa Wilcox, Dr. Paul Levesque, and Dr. Pashaura Singh, who all helped me achieve the seemingly impossible in a short amount of time. I would also like to express my deep gratitude to the creators of Girl Genius, Professor Phil & Professoressa Kaja Foglio of Transylvania Polygnostic University, Department of Mostly True History, and Color Theorist Cheyenne Wright. It has been a joy to be allowed to play in your sandbox; I hope I’ve done your creation justice. I would also like to thank my dear friends here and elsewhere, including but not limited to Dr. Cat Chen, Ali Mushtaq, Lisa Osadchuk, James Ford, Dr. Toby Johnson, Dr. Patrick Emmett, Dr. Sean Sagan, Dr. Justin Rose, Brian and Sue, Ryan Mariano and the MDU crew, OPTI, and so, so many more. Thank you for always having my back. Additional thanks to my “unofficial committee,” my sounding board for all the other ideas that arose and for their encouragement of my professional development as well: Dr. Paul Beehler, Dr. Kathy Moore, Dr. John Briggs, Dr. Ruhi Khan, Sara Stilley, and Joseph Martinez here at iv UCR; Kathi Wilson, Leah Young, Dr. Weili Lu, and Dr. Xiaoying Xie at CSU Fullerton; Dr. Sojung Park at Seoul National University; and Drs. Warren and Nancy Kay from Merrimack College and the Southwest Popular/American Culture Association. And, finally, my most sincere thanks go to Pipe Major Mike Terry and the entire UCR Pipe Band, which has become my second family in recent years. Thank you for giving me a community to belong to, true role models for leadership and teaching, and, most of all, the opportunity to truly thrive. There’s more to life than academia, after all… v Dedication This work is dedicated to the memory of Chris Fredrickson, who believed in me no matter what. I wish you could be here to see how it all turned out. I think you would have approved. vi ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION The Good Guys Might Not Wear White Hats: Positing a Shift in the American Monomyth by Corinne Elizabeth Knight Doctor of Philosophy, Graduate Program in Religious Studies University of California, Riverside, September 2017 Dr. Melissa M. Wilcox, Chairperson The American Monomyth, first named and described by Lawrence and Jewett, has woven its way through American popular culture. This pervasive structure, with roots in Puritan captivity narratives, American westward expansion, and the creation and serialization of superhero comics and radio programs, has entertained generations of consumers and altered how they conceive of and interact with the world around them. But this structure has also had negative effects on audiences, and Jewett and Lawrence, after analyzing this monomythic framework and its effects in their 1977 and 2002 books, called for its replacement. While they do not suggest a replacement, this dissertation proposes the Transitional Monomyth, a framework reflecting changes already taking place in American pop culture, and uses the long-running webcomic Girl Genius, by Phil and Kaja Foglio, as a case study in the application of the Transitional Monomyth and its corollaries. This framework notes the shift away from abstemious heroes, two-dimensional villains, and largely unassisted successes and toward flawed protagonists, understandable antagonists, and well-rounded secondary characters, while still allowing for the persistence of certain elements from the American Monomyth, including an emphasis on salvific impulses and the liminality of protagonists. While this framework is not the only one in operation in works of pop culture, it does appear to have gained in popularity, as vii reflected in a greater number of movies and television series with flawed protagonists or outright antiheroes. The prevalence of this narrative framework may point to a shifting conception of the larger culture. The idea of flawless heroes who always emerge victorious against the villain may no longer be as appealing because reality is far more nuanced. This shift in popular culture might also be pointing away from older conceptions of American culture and historical heroes toward a more nuanced understanding of American history and religiosity—rather than sanitized narratives that have isolated and marginalized, a greater push is and has been well underway to re-build a more thorough and representative history that acknowledges, includes, and recognizes. viii Table of Contents IN THE BEGINNING: A PREVIEW OF COMING ATTRACTIONS 1 We’re in a period of what, now? 1 How do the two differ, and why does that matter? 2 So there are two monomythic structures in play? 4 Great! Where does Girl Genius come into it, though? 4 Sure, but why comics? Isn’t that just a little too… pop culture-y? 6 So, what are webcomics, anyway? 8 That makes sense. What’s next, then? 11 IN THEORY… 12 From Monomyth to Monomyth 12 The structure of and continuing need for myths 12 A functional comparison of the Campbellian and American Monomyths 14 The Place of Eden in the American Monomyth 19 Technomythic criticism, shaping tools, and other means of explication 21 Technomythic criticism 21 Mythic cuing 23 Mythic selectivity 24 Mythic alchemy 25 Mythic massage 26 Entering into Conversation with Lawrence and Jewett 27 The American Monomyth as Cultural Influencer and Respondent 30 Popular Religion and a Need for Saving 30 Tertullian Ecstasy 33 The Werther Effect and Invitation 35 Construction and Historical Origins 38 Eden 38 Masculine manifestation 40 Feminine manifestation 43 Historical/Literary Roots 46 Buffalo Bill and Heidi 47 Pop Culture Examples 50 Issues in and with the American Monomyth 54 Violence 54 Complications of Manipulation 60 Passivity/Willful Blindness 62 Flattening Reality 64 ix The Death of the American Monomyth? 69 Lawrence and Jewett’s Call to Action 69 Lang & Trimble’s Objection to the American Monomyth 72 Positing a Shift in the American Monomyth 73 The Future of the American Monomyth 73 Proposing a New Monomythic Approach 77 The Transitional Monomyth 79 Corollaries 85 From Theory to Application 88 Conclusion 88 CHAPTER THREE: MYTH IN MOTION 89 Introduction 90 “When last we saw our hero…”: A Brief Recap of the Transitional Monomyth 91 “Sparks like to hear themselves talk”: A Recap of Girl Genius 94 Some Useful Definitions 94 The Protagonists 98 The Antagonists 99 A Brief Note on Numbering and Citations 100 Feature #1: A community finds itself under threat by an antagonistic force. 101 The Other as Pervasive Threat 103 Mechanicsburg Under Threat 106 Feature #2: Normal institutions either find themselves incapable of handling the threat or unable to fully do so without assistance. 111 Feature #3: A protagonist emerges from outside the community 114 From Agatha Clay to Agatha Heterodyne 115 Co-Protagonists: Gilgamesh Wulfenbach and Tarvek Sturmvoraus 119 Gilgamesh Wulfenbach 119 Tarvek Sturmvoraus 120 A Brief Note 123 Feature #4: to battle with temptations and carry out the redemptive task 123 Teenagers and Love 124 The Redemptive Role 127 The Task at Hand 129 Get to the Castle 129 Hold the Castle 132 Save the City 138 Defeat The Other 140 Feature #5: despite the presence of institutionally-based challenges, 142 Mechanicsburg 143 The Storm King 147 The Master of Paris 150 A Brief Note on the Baron as Institutional Challenge 150 x IX. Feature #6: finding aid through various means, conventional and not, 151 Conventional Means 151 Zeetha 152 Violetta Mondarev 156 Well-Rounded Sidekicks 158 Unconventional Means 163 The Castle 163 The Citizens 169 Special Case: The Jägermonsters 172 Feature #7: his victory removes the antagonistic force: 174 Feature #8: the protagonist then falls back to a retreat or state of (temporary) seclusion 179 Features #7 and #8: A Caveat 186 Why This Concept Matters 187 Conclusion 189 COROLLARY #1: IMPERFECT PROTAGONISTS, RELATABLE ANTAGONISTS 191 Introduction 192 The Original Girl Genius: Agatha Heterodyne 194 Mostly Heroic 195 To Be Young and In Love 206 "I admit it. I'm totally one of the bad guys, okay?”—Gil and Tarvek 211 Matters of the Heart… 211 …and of Empire 218 “He does have his amusing Sparky quirks”—Baron Klaus Wulfenbach 225 It’s a Pirate Queen’s Life for Me: Bangladesh DuPree 238 Why this concept matters 251 Conclusion 252 COROLLARY #2: PURELY GOOD, PURELY EVIL 253 Introduction 254 Corollary #2: What the new framework means for good and evil 255 The Heterodyne Boys 256 “Othar Tryggvassen, Gentleman Adventurer!” 273 “Dey Sqveeze pipple’s minds.