Comment by colechristensen
12 hours ago
I'm talking about something much broader than the saccharine happy ending motif of Disney movies.
I'm paraphrasing The Hero with a Thousand Faces which is a study of world mythology, not 20th century American storytelling. This hero story is found around the world but PARTICULARLY in descendants of the proto-indo-european culture, particularly ancient Greece and the western Roman empire.
It's not "happy endings" I'm talking about but the hero being taken out of their world, finding themselves and growing, and returning... a hero, the story of individual progress and success.
And I am saying that when I read western literature from Europe, a LOT of it was not hero journey thing.
I am saying that hero journey as you desribe it is absolutely NOT the only western narrative, if you include non american literature. And I am saying that when someone insist on that being the only narrative, they are typically american.
And someone else (who probably reads more american then me) told me even american literature actually contains other narratives too.