We need an alternative to the Hero’s Journey

Dear Nobody,

Our fixation on the Hero’s Journey is causing problems. I propose that we look for alternatives.

The alternative I’m looking for isn’t the Fool’s Journey, because in most Hero’s Journey stories the hero starts as a fool.

And I’m not looking for the Anti-Hero’s Journey either because that’s just a Hero’s Journey story flipped around. Every hero needs an anti-hero, and vice versa.

The problem I have with the Hero’s Journey is that the hero is biased to only address problems that they can solve, and to deny that anything else is a problem.

What if not all problems are solvable? The hero will throw up their hands and walk away. Why should we worry about problems that aren’t solvable? Surely every problem can be addressed at least in part! We just need the right hero, is all.

We’ve come to see the world through the Hero’s Journey lens, and only through the Hero’s Journey lens.

“Do or do not. There is no try.”

We don’t have very good words for stories that a hero can’t solve.

But these problems do exist! There are many real-world problems that a hero can’t solve. They exist under the cut line of our budget and priorities. They exist in the shadows of our collective psyche. They’re called wicked problems and they are everywhere once you start looking for them.

A wicked problem is a problem that is…