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Chapter 2

The Virgin Archetypal Journey

The essence of the Virgin story is that she must follow her dream or authentic nature despite the wishes of others. The path to realizing that dream follows universal stages or beats. The beats form both the character arc and the actions that symbolically represent the archetypal transformation. Altogether the beats of the Virgin story are:

1. Dependent World

2. Price of Conformity

3. Opportunity to Shine

4. Dresses the Part

5. Secret World

6. No Longer Fits Her World

7. Caught Shining

8. Gives Up What Kept her Stuck

9. Kingdom in Chaos

10. Wanders in the Wilderness

11. Chooses Her Light

12. Re-Ordering (Rescue)

13. The Kingdom Is Brighter

Stage One: Dependent World

The Virgin’s journey begins with an introduction to the world on which she is dependent, the world in which a part of her is lying dormant. The Dependent World is an external authority that provides for the Virgin’s existence. It can be a parental, familial, cultural, or spiritual world that the Virgin landed in before she knew independent choice.

The Dependent World may be well intentioned or evil in nature. Even if it is well intentioned, authority has a tendency to exclude its opposite and will eventually become an oppressor (Hollis, 2004, 47). The Virgin is attached to this world in some way. It may be a tangible attachment or a memory from a past experience that governs her behavior today. This dependent attachment may also be a two-way street. People around the Virgin may be dependent on her. In either case, the Virgin finds herself in a Dependent World where others control her future.

Generally Virgin stories occur in the domestic realm, which becomes a metaphor for the influences on her decision-making process. The more control the kingdom has over her movements, the more control it has over her thoughts and values.

The Virgin doesn’t have to stay in this domestic world to undergo her archetypal journey as long as she carries its values with her. Mulan leaves home and joins the army (Mulan). The army continues the values of her culture regarding the roles and restrictions placed on women. Mulan’s safety is dependent on the army not discovering she is a girl. The penalty set by her culture, and acknowledged by her family, is death.

Alternatively, the values could be carried by a photograph (image) of an elder, as in Bend It Like Beckham and Bollywood/Hollywood. The protagonist may hear messages from the elder image and talk to the photo in times of struggle. Memories also establish the Dependent World of the Virgin in While you Were Sleeping.

The Dependent World in a Virgin story is the impediment to her self-realization, otherwise know n as the antagonist. On one level it is a force within her kingdom. On another, it is a belief the Virgin holds which keeps her attached to her Dependent World.

There are four common scenarios that establish the Virgin’s dependency. These include being dependent on others for material survival, by social convention, for protection, and by the need for love.

DEPENDENT ON OTHERS FOR MATERIAL SURVIVAL

The simplest way to establish the Virgin’s dependence on others is to have a young protagonist whose survival still rests in the hands of other people. In Billy Elliot, for example, Billy is just a kid. His mother is dead and he has to take care of his grandmother while his father and brother go to work, establishing a hierarchy of dependence. Billy has to endure masculine dominance, as portrayed by his father’s insistence he take boxing lessons, and his father and brother’s masculine communication style, because they are the only family he has left. In Little Miss Sunshine, Olive has to live within the boundaries of her dysfunctional family because she is young and depends on them for a ride to the beauty pageant. Being young automatically makes you dependent.

The connection to others for material survival can be emphasized when the character’s environment has extreme conditions such as living in poverty, being orphaned at a young age, or neglected by a parent. In these cases, the Virgin’s survival is precarious. Cinderella and Snow White, for example, have lost at least one parent and must ingratiate themselves with a servant or appease a stepmother for survival.

In Angels in the Out field, Rodger exemplifies a state of tenuous survival when his father puts him up for adoption. Rodger depends on his father growing up in order to have a biological family. He later becomes a ward of the state, depending on a stranger to choose him for a family placement.

Vivian (Pretty Woman) has limited ability to provide for herself, with no connections, no education, and low self-esteem. Vivian turns to prostitution to provide for the food and shelter she needs to survive.

The opposite extreme, living with material excess, is another scenario in which dependency is created. There is a shadow side to the pampered life. Clueless, Legally Blond, and About a Boy have protagonists who are dulled to their personal goals because everything is provided for them. They develop high material needs and depend on others to meet them.

In Legally Blond, Elle is expected to be beautiful, fun, and not serious. Her culture has instilled in her that her life goal is to marry a rich man. This belief becomes her Dependent World. Will (About a Boy) won’t risk failure or embarrassment when he c an be kept in high style by his father ’s royalties. Will’s Dependent World is his theory of being an island to avoid the humility he witnessed his father go through as an aspiring songwriter.

Geography can also be a factor in creating the Dependent World. Pocahontas, in Pocahontas, lives in a village in the woods. The communal nature of her existence, necessitated by geographic isolation, makes her dependent upon her people. Moonie, in New Waterford Girl, lives an isolated existence in the small mining town of Cape Breton, a place where people have survived for generations by sticking together. Inhospitable to diversity, her community requires her to conform to belong.

DEPENDENT ON OTHERS BY SOCIAL CONVENTION