45 Master Characters (44 page)

So what does all this mean? Only that there are some gender issues that writers need to be aware of. You may never once talk about any of these issues in your story but they may still find their way in through the subtext. Readers live these issues everyday, and they'll love and believe in a character who acts or reacts in tune with current gender issues. Think of how well
The First Wives Club
and
High Fidelity
did. These stories resonated with the male and female experience and audiences loved them.

T
he feminine journey is a journey in which the hero gathers the courage to face death and endure the transformation toward being reborn as a complete being in charge of her own life.

Her journey starts by questioning authority, then gaining the courage to stand up for herself and finally embodying the willingness to go it alone and face her own symbolic death. The nine-stage process is represented in three acts mirroring classic story structure.

The nine stages of her journey are:

Act I: Containment

Act II: Transformation

Act III: Emergence

Stage 1: The Illusion of a Perfect World

A woman named Sarah sits staring through a window watching clouds glide freely across a perfect blue sky and tells herself, “Things are fine just the way they are.”

Sarah has spent years building a perfect glass bubble around herself to shield her from the pain and uncertainty of taking risks for her own growth. Like “Sleeping Beauty,” she is asleep to the real world around her and ignorant of the power she has to awaken herself. Sarah buys into the belief that if she plays by the rules she'll be rewarded for it. As time goes on the glass walls close in on her, closer and closer until she can't stand up anymore without hitting her head on the glass ceiling that has formed above her.

Rather than confront the glass ceiling that holds her down, the hero decides not to stand up. She uses her creativity to make do with her situation and avoid the truth that she lives in a world that works against her growth as a person.

She has a false sense of security about her future and thinks everyone will like her if she keeps it up. This is a safe world of things known to her; repetition brings her the illusion of security.

She may live naively in denial, hoping that others will take care of her, or she may play the martyr and accept her fate. She doesn't possess the motivation to explore an alternative option for herself.

She can't imagine risking everything to rescue herself from this world. She doesn't know there are better worlds out there to explore. “Doesn't everyone suffer?” she asks. She wants to make this world work so she can avoid the pain of change and growth.

What she cares about may be holding her in this place as well — supporting a family, waiting for that promotion, trying to save everyone else but herself or caring about what others think. These are just excuses to remain passive so she doesn't have to see the opportunities that surround her.

In order for the reader to believe the hero wouldn't be better off returning here when things get tough later on in the story, this world has to be set up as a negative place the hero can't function in. She may try hard to explain away the bad things that happen to her, but sooner or later she'll run out of excuses.

This “perfect world” must be shown as the negative place it is in order to motivate the hero to wake up. She must endure her quest for something better throughout the story because it's clear she can't function in her current world.

There are five coping strategies the hero may use to get by in the “perfect world.” Through one of these five ways of dealing with the world the hero allows herself to remain blind to the reality of her situation. She learns how to fit in and establish herself using the traits her archetype has given her to her advantage.

The five coping strategies are:

The Naive Strategy:
This woman has the view, conscious or otherwise, that “Other women may get hurt, attacked or passed over but not me. Nothing bad could ever happen to me. Life is good and I'll be rewarded for my efforts. I just have to wait it out.”

For example:

In
The Wizard of Oz
, Dorothy lives in a black-and-white world where everything moves along at a steady pace. There's no color, no excitement, but plenty of repetition and comfort. She spends her time trying to find things to do. Life is boring to her and when she tries to help out with the chores, everyone tells her to go away. She seems out of place there. She doesn't realize she has a lot of growing up to do, and she'll need to get away from the farm to do it.

The Cinderella Strategy:
This woman lives in a world where she relies on male protection and guidance to survive. “My man will always be there to support me and when I'm away from him other men will always come to my aid so I don't have to worry about anything bad happening to me. Men love to take care of me and treat me well.” She may believe she has to be beautiful in order to hold on to men.

For example:

In
Gone With The Wind
, we first see Scarlett O'Hara sitting on her porch with two men doting on her. She continuously steers the conversation away from the war and onto herself in a very self-centered manner. She doesn't want to face reality outside of Tara, her estate. Her family's money brings her comfort and status. She refuses to see how she is kept in her place by the rules of this society that force women to take naps when they're not even tired. She's only concerned with attracting the attention of all the men she meets.

The Exceptional Strategy:
This woman lives life in the boys' club, or so she thinks. She feels she is just as good as a man and is often told this by her peers. “Other women can't do this but I can because I'm the exception. Men appreciate me because I can act just like them and fit in their group. I never cry or complain.” She can ignore any sexism she sees in the office because she doesn't identify herself as a “woman.”

For example:

In
Working Girl
, Katherine Parker completely suppresses everything about herself that is feminine. She is always seen with “the boys,” often making fun of the female secretaries in the office. She sees herself as the only woman who can do the job she does and is devastated when another woman — a mere secretary! — takes over. Tess McGill (Melanie Griffith) believes she's better than the other secretaries in the office; she couldn't take the chances she takes if she didn't feel this way. She separates herself from the other women completely so she can break into the boys' club.

The Pleasing Strategy:
This woman lives to please others. As long as others are happy, she's happy. Her validation comes from others. She's like a compliant innocent girl who does everything by the book, suppressing her own female intuition and strength. Her actions support the status quo, and she rejects her true desires so she can fit in. This allows her to feel like she has control over her life; she won't be yelled at because she'll just do everything right. She walks on eggshells most of the time.

In
Thelma & Louise
, Thelma takes care of her domestic duties like she is supposed to, and she stays in a destructive marriage as is expected of her, but deep down she's unhappy. Even though her house is nice, clean and upper middle class, her world is self-destructive. We watch her tiptoe around her husband's verbally abusive behavior. She seems numb to most of what he says, and we realize this must have been going on for quite a long time.

The Disappointed Type:
This type of woman is angry and depressed with her lot in life but doesn't act to change it — yet. She can be bitter and sarcastic, often the most outspoken woman in the office, or she can play the role of the martyr, sacrificing her welfare for others. Deep inside she dreams about her real goals, which seem so out of reach. She is the most aware of the five types and longs to find a positive female role model. She knows her world isn't perfect but doesn't have the desire or motive to change it.

In
Titanic
, Rose lives a very sheltered and controlled life. At first we see her as a wealthy woman with a fiance´ who loves her and servants to wait on her. Everything seems perfect but behind her eyes a hint of despair lurks. Slowly we learn her fiance´ and her mother watch her every move. Everything is decided for her down to what she'll eat for dinner. We then realize she's playing the martyr to support her family and is doomed to live her life unhappy.

Examples of Stage 1

In the myths of the goddess Inanna, Inanna one day decides that she's ready for a throne and the wisdom that comes with it. She plants a tree and passively waits ten years for the tree to split open so she can make a throne for herself, but a snake (as the symbol of renewal), an anzu-bird (as the symbol of knowledge) and Lilith (the rebellious woman) have built their homes inside the trunk and the tree will not grow. (These three symbols are similar to the heart, brains and courage Dorothy seeks in
The Wizard of Oz
.)

In order to be worthy of the throne, Inanna must seize these three aspects of herself alone, but instead she calls on her brother Gilgamesh to get rid of them. He slays the creatures and builds the throne for her. His protection keeps her from embarking on her own journey, and she remains in her safe sheltered world.