Transcript ARCHETYPES - Vernon Hills High School

ARCHETYPES
Around Us, Within Us
What are archetypes?
 original
patterns, perfect examples
(“archos”=first, “typos”=model).
 character
types, symbols and relationships that
recur throughout stories.
 amazingly
constant throughout time and culture
on the personal and the collective level.
Archetypes at the personal level
 Biological:
 Dream
“hard wired” into every human being.
symbols are archetypal.
Archetypes at the collective level
 Part
of the universal “language” of storytelling.
 Ancient
patterns of personality that are the
shared heritage of the human race (Jung).
 Products
of, and evidence of, a “collective
unconscious.”
Some basic examples
 Hero
 Mentor
 Threshold
Guardian
 Herald
 Shapeshifter
 Shadow
 Trickster
HERO
 Description:
Someone who grows, takes action,
takes risks and makes sacrifices; someone
recognizable (with flaws, ambitions, etc.)
 Function:
Provides a reader or moviegoer with a
character to identify with, someone whose eyes
we look through for a while, etc.
 Types:
Willing heroes, reluctant heroes, antiheroes, tragic heroes, and more.
HERO

Examples:
Edward in
Pretty
Woman,
Rambo in
First
Blood.
MENTOR
 Description:
the hero.
 Function:
A positive figure who aids or trains
Teaches, motivates, gives gifts to, the
hero; acts as a conscience, guiding the hero to
live up to his nobler, wiser, more godlike aspects.
MENTOR

Examples: Jim
Dugan (Tom
Hanks) in A
League of
Their Own.
Mr. Miyagi
(Pat Morita)
in Karate Kid.
THRESHOLD GUARDIAN
 Description:
Someone or something that
temporarily blocks the hero; an obstacle to be
overcome, bypassed, or turned into an ally.
 Function:
Challenges and tests the hero.
THRESHOLD GUARDIANS

Examples: Border
guards, sentinels,
doormen,
lookouts,
bouncers,
editors,
bodyguards,
sometimes even
secret helpers.
HERALD
 Description:
A character who brings a
challenge to the hero, delivers a call to
adventure, or announces the need for
change.
 Function:
To get the story rolling, to
alert the hero (and audience) that
challenge and change are coming.
HERALD

Examples:
the Voice in
Field of
Dreams, the
telegraph
clerk in
High Noon.
SHAPESHIFTER
 Description:
a character who changes appearance,
“wears a mask,” misleads the hero (and
audience), his/her loyalty and true nature are
often in question; often the hero’s love interest;
could be helpful or destructive.
 Function:
brings doubt and suspense into a
story, is a catalyst for change and
transformation.
SHAPESHIFTER

Examples:
Memo Paris
in The
Natural);
Snape in
Harry
Potter.
SHADOW
 Description:
a villain or antagonist; someone
who represents the dark side, the unexpressed, or
rejected aspects of something or someone; traits
that linger and lurk within though we renounce
and try to root them out.
 Function:
challenges the hero, brings out the
hero’s best.
SHADOW

Examples:
Hannibal
Lector in The
Silence of the
Lambs,
Captain
Hook in
Peter Pan.
TRICKSTER
 Description:
Someone who embodies mischief or
change; ally of hero (or shadow) or out for
himself/herself, stirs things up; clowns, comical
sidekicks.
 Function:
to cut big egos down to size, bring
heroes down to earth, point out folly, hypocrisy,
absurdity, bring about change and
transformation, bring comic relief.
TRICKSTER

Bugs Bunny;
Donkey in
Shrek.
Review: some basic archetypes
 Hero
 Mentor
 Threshold
Guardian
 Herald
 Shapeshifter
 Shadow
 Trickster
Keep in mind…
 One
character may manifest more than one
archetype (wear more than one mask), or may
change from one archetype to another.
 Archetypes
represent aspects of our personalities;
individuals incorporate all the various archetypes
into themselves.
Primary Source
 Christopher
Vogler’s
The Writer’s Journey:
Mythic Structure for
Writers (1998).
That’s all,
folks!