The Virgin's Promise, by Kim Hudson, articulates an equivalent feminine journey, to parallel the masculine hero's journey, which concerns personal growth and "creative, spiritual, and sexual awakening" rather than an external quest. According to a 2014 interview between filmmaker Nicole L. Franklin and artist and comic book illustrator Alice Meichi Li, a hero's journey is "the journey of someone who has privilege. Regardless of the protagonist is male or female, a heroine does not start out with privilege." Being underprivileged, to Li, means that the heroine may not receive the same level of social support enjoyed by the hero in a traditional mythic cycle, and rather than return from her quest as both hero and mentor the heroine instead returns to a world in which she or he is still part of an oppressed demographic. Li adds, "They're not really bringing back an elixir. They're navigating our patriarchal society with unequal pay and inequalities. In the final chapter, they may end up on equal footing. But when you have oppressed groups, all you can hope for is to get half as far by working twice as hard." Science-fiction author David Brin in a 1999 Salon article criticized the monomyth template as supportive of "despotism and tyranny", indicating that he thinks modern popular fiction should strive to depart from it to support more progressive values. See also Other mythology Allegory of the Cave Dying-and-rising deity Gregory Nagy (professor of classics) How to Kill a Dragon (1995) The Myth of the Birth of the Hero (1909) The Pilgrim's Progress (1678) Vladimir Propp (Russian folklorist) Narratology and writing instructions Dan Harmon's story circle Dramatic structure The Seven Basic Plots Vladimir Propp's Morphology of the Folk Tale The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers Genres Bildungsroman Chivalric romance Heroic fantasy Kishu ryūritan Road movie References Sources (2nd ed. 1968). Further reading External links The Romantic Appeal of Joseph Campbell Mythological archetypes Stage theories Journey