In comparing the two models of the Heroine’s Journey, it’s notable that Maureen Murdock’s version was created to help with her female patients as a psychotherapist. However, with Victoria Schmidt’s, it seems as if it follows Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey much more closely. Although both of these follow a female protagonist, Murdock’s model makes explicit connections between healing the feminine and reconciling with the masculine. In contrast, Schmidt merely sets up the stages similar to Campbell, but female identity is explored implicitly through them.
Looking at the first steps, Murdock begins her template with “separation from the feminine.” In this act, the heroine rejects her feminine identity in favor of the masculine. This could arise from imposed patriarchal beliefs or a dissonance with the female figures in one’s life, such as the heroine’s mother. We see this in Quicksand, where Helga’s biracial identity is ascribed to her mother and father, and her feminine and masculine side by proxy. Due to her resentment towards the prejudiced system while at Naxos, she wishes to escape the white image of how black people are expected to act. In her action to migrate north, she is embracing her black identity and, in turn, rejecting her mother’s side. Murdock explicitly ties in femininity into the development of the heroine.
In contrast, Schmidt starts off with “the illusion of the perfect world.” With this step, the heroine goes through her life, often with naivety and her own coping mechanisms. She has yet to be disappointed by the world around her in which she feels driven to change something about her lifestyle. If we look at Legally Blonde, the introduction sequence depicts Elle’s perfect life to the song “Perfect Day.” We see her content with her sisters and her relationship with her boyfriend. Things have worked out for Elle, giving her less motivation to embark on her own journey. However, it’s not until her boyfriend breaks up with her that this illusion is shattered. Her naivety and femininity don’t necessarily have to go hand-in-hand, but it’s through the rejection of the male that compels her to exit from her perfect world.
While Schmidt has elements that make the Heroine’s Journey female specific, I feel as if the model takes a more generalized approach to the female experience. The steps can be as closely intertwined with female identity as the reader wishes to interpret it, but Murdock’s model makes clear connections between these steps and being a female. The readers can easily find implications of the differences between the hero and heroine in both models, but Murdock compels the reader to confront the gendered aspect directly through the way her model is set up and the naming of her steps.
While both of these first steps are different, both can be applied to the beginning of the same texts—the models just focus on different aspects. In my eyes, one model makes the heroine’s journey explicitly centered around female identity, while the other is about the hero’s journey and ties in elements of the female experience. As stated, this distinction between Murdock and Schmidt’s models makes sense, given that one was created for therapeutic reasons and the other is much more commonly used in writing.