Transcript Archetypes Story Building Blocks

Archetypes:
The
Building Blocks
of
Stories
Archetypes
• People who had no contact with each other at all
formed myths to explain natural phenomena such as
great floods and the creation of the world as well as
to answer such questions as why we die and why we
are born.
• These fantasy images of the primitive mind are so
alike for all cultures that Jung calls them the
Collective Unconscious.
• They remain part of every human unconscious mind
as dreams of fantasy and fear. They are living
psychic forces which demand to be taken seriously.
• Jung believes we can never legitimately be cut loose
from our archetypal foundations or we will go mad
and become suicidal.
Definition of Archetype
• Archetype is a Greek word meaning “original
pattern, or model.”
• In literature and art an archetype is a
character, an event, a story or an image that
recurs in different works, in different cultures
and in different periods of time.
• Can you think of any stories or image patterns
that have been repeated in movies, books, or
even commercials?
How many stories do you
encounter daily?
• Think about the number of stories you
encounter daily either reading, viewing, or
listening. This would include all of the
following categories:
• books, short stories, newspaper stories,
movies, sitcoms, tv shows, video games, news
reports, magazine stories, etc.
• They are the basic building blocks of stories
that all writers use to create a world to which
readers can escape.
• Without communicating about archetypes, all
cultures around the world use them to build
their stories. This is called the Collective
Unconscious (term coined by Carl Jung).
• Examples of archetypes are: the hero, the
damsel in distress, the battle between good
and evil, etc.
• To explain natural phenomenon such as
great floods and the creation of the world
• To answer such questions such as why we
are born and why we die
• To help us escape reality by entering a
world where the good guy wins, the forces
of evil are defeated, and love conquers all
• To help define the roles of good and evil
such as the hero and the villain so that we
might recognize them in reality
The movie opens…. the young, beautiful actress is on a
tirade about how much she hates, and she means
hates, detests, loathes and every other adjective in
between, the new guy she works with (who happens
to be drop dead good looking and single). He pokes
fun at her and frequently stops by her desk. She fumes
silently. She yells at him about how she can’t stand
the sight of him. He laughs and says he can’t stand her
either.
What’s going to happen?
How do you know this?
Archetypes are universal.
Stereotypes are regional/cultural.
ARCHETYPES :
1) are not individual, but the part we share
with all humanity
2) are the inherited part of being human
which connects us to our past and goes
beyond our personal experience to a
common source
3) are not directly knowable, but instead
express themselves in forms
ARCHETYPES (continued) :
4) grow out of man’s social, psychological,
and biological being
5) are universal. From the Roman gladiator
to the astronaut, they remain the same.
6) are recurrent, appearing in slightly altered
forms to take present day situations and
relate them to the past in order to find
meaning in a contemporary world.
3 Categories of Archetypes
1st Type – SITUATIONAL ARCHETYPES
2nd Type – CHARACTER ARCHETYPES
3rd Type – SYMBOLIC ARCHETYPES
Situational Archetypes
These are common situations, or plots, seen in
literature, movies, television, etc. over and over
throughout history and cultures. Chances are,
if you’re watching a movie that follows one of
these situational archetypes, you know what’s
going to happen in the end when the movie is
in the opening five minutes.
Examples include:
SITUATIONAL ARCHETYPES
1) The Quest – The search for someone or
some talisman which, when found and
brought back, will restore fertility to a
wasted land, the desolation of which is
mirrored by a leader’s illness and
disability.
2) The Task – To save the kingdom, to win
the fair lady, to identify himself so that he
may reassume his rightful position, the
hero must perform some nearly
superhuman deed.
SITUATIONAL ARCHETYPES
3) The Initiation – Usually taking the form of
an initiation into life, it may be the
depiction of an adolescent coming into
maturity and adulthood with all the
attendance problems and responsibilities
that this process involves. An awakening
awareness, or an increased perception of
the world and the people in it usually form
the climax of this archetypal situation.
SITUATIONAL ARCHETYPES
4) The Journey – Usually combined with any
or all of the foregoing situational
archetypes, the journey is used to send
the hero in search of information or some
intellectual truth, possibly a descent into
hell, or a limited number of travelers for
the purpose of isolating them and using
them as a microcosm of society.
SITUATIONAL ARCHETYPES
5) The Fall – This describes a descent from
a higher to a lower state of being. The
experience involves spiritual defilement
and/or a loss of innocence and bliss. The
fall is also usually accompanied by
expulsion from a kind of paradise as
penalty for disobedience and moral
transgression.
SITUATIONAL ARCHETYPES
6) Death and Resurrection – The most common
of all situational archetypes, this motif grows
out of the parallel between the cycle of nature
and the cycle of life. Thus morning and
springtime represent birth, youth, or rebirth;
evening and winter suggest old age or death.
Anthropologists believe that fertility rites and
vegetative rituals usually took place in the
spring because this is the time of physical
regeneration of nature, an appropriate time to
enact ritualistic statements of spiritual rebirth
and resurrection. Poems of death and
despondency are usually set at night or in the
winter.
SITUATIONAL ARCHETYPES
7) Nature vs. the Mechanistic World – Nature is good
while technology and society are often evil.
8) Battle between Good & Evil – Obviously, the battle
between 2 primal forces. This archetype is easily
found in cartoons.
9) The Unhealable Wound – This wound is either
physical or psychological and cannot be healed fully.
This would also indicate a loss of innocence. These
wounds always ache and often drive the sufferer to
desperate measures.
10) The Ritual – The actual ceremonies the initiate
experiences that will mark his rite of passage into
another state, such as a Bar Mitzvah, baptism,
becoming a knight or king.
Character Archetypes
These are the “stereotype” characters that you
see over and over again. You’ve seen these
characters throughout different cultures and
over different eras in history.
Examples of these popular archetypes are:
CHARACTER ARCHETYPES
1) The Hero – this one is so well defined that
the life of the protagonist can be clearly
divided into a series of well-marked
adventures which strongly suggest a
ritualistic pattern. Traditionally, the hero’s
mother is a virgin, the circumstances of his
conception are unusual, and at birth some
attempt is made to kill him. He is,
however, spirited away and reared by
foster parents. We know almost nothing of
his childhood, but upon reaching manhood
he returns to his future kingdom.
CHARACTER ARCHETYPES
1) The Hero – this one is so well defined that
the life of the protagonist can be clearly
divided into a series of well-marked
adventures which strongly suggest a
ritualistic pattern. Traditionally, the hero’s
mother is a virgin, the circumstances of his
conception are unusual, and at birth some
attempt is made to kill him. He is,
however, spirited away and reared by
foster parents. We know almost nothing of
his childhood, but upon reaching manhood
he returns to his future kingdom.
CHARACTER ARCHETYPES
1) The Hero continued – After a victory over
the king or a wild beast, he marries a
princess, becomes king, reigns uneventfully,
but later loses favor with the gods. He is
then driven from the city after which he
receives a mysterious death, often at the
top of a hill. His body is not buried, but
nevertheless he has one or more holy
sepulchers. The hero may not fulfill ALL of
these circumstances, but will fulfill at least
part.
CHARACTER ARCHETYPES
2) The Young Man from the Provinces – This
hero is spirited away as a young man and
raised by strangers. He later returns to his
home and heritage where he is a stranger who
can see new problems and new solutions.
3) The Initiates – These are young heroes or
heroines who, prior to their quest, must endure
some training and ceremony.
4) Mentors - These individuals serve as teachers
or counselors to the initiates. Sometimes they
work as role models and often serve as a
father/mother figure.
CHARACTER ARCHETYPES
5) Mentor / Pupil Relationship – The mentor
teaches, often by example, the initiate the
skills necessary to survive the quest and
rule successfully.
6) Father / Son Conflict – Tension often
results from separation during childhood or
from an external source when the
individuals meet as men and where the
mentor often has a higher place in the
affections of the hero than the natural
parent.
CHARACTER ARCHETYPES
7) Hunting Group of Companions – Loyal
companions willing to face any number of
perils in order to be together.
8) Loyal Retainers – These individuals are
somewhat like servants who are heroic
themselves. Their duty is to protect the
hero and reflect the nobility of the hero.
9) The Friendly Beast – An animal that
befriends man.
10) Evil Figure with an Ultimately Good
Heart – Redeemable devil figure who is
saved by the nobility (or love) of the hero.
CHARACTER ARCHETYPES
11) The Scapegoat – An animal or more
usually a human whose death in a public
ceremony expiates some taint or sin that has
been visited upon the community.
12) The Outcast – A figure who is banished
from a social group for some crime against
his fellow man. The outcast is usually
destined to become a wanderer from place to
place.
13) The Devil Figure – Evil incarnate, this
character offers worldly goods, fame, or
knowledge in exchange for possession of
soul
CHARACTER ARCHETYPES
14) The Woman Figure –
a. The Earth Mother – Symbolic of fruition,
abundance, and fertility, this character
traditionally offers spiritual and emotional
nourishment to those with whom she comes
in contact.
b. The Temptress – characterized by
sensuous beauty, this woman is one to
whom the protagonist is physically attracted
and who ultimately brings about his downfall
CHARACTER ARCHETYPES
14) The Woman Figure continued –
c. The Platonic Ideal – This woman is a source
of inspiration and a spiritual ideal, for whom the
protagonist or author has an intellectual rather
than a physical attraction.
d. The Unfaithful Wife – Woman, married to a
man she sees as full and unimaginative, is
physically attracted to a more virile and
desirable man.
CHARACTER ARCHETYPES
14) The Woman Figure –
e. The Damsel in Distress – The vulnerable
woman who must be rescued by the hero, she
is often used as a way to ensnare the hero.
15) The Creature of Nightmare – A monster,
usually summoned from the deepest, darkest
part of the human psyche, threatens the hero
and/or heroine.
Symbolic Archetypes:
These are symbols (something which represents
something else) that have occurred over and over
again throughout time and in various different
cultures. These symbols have always represented the
same things; that is what makes them an archetype
and what makes us recognize them as symbols when
we see them.
These can also be settings that are seen over and over
throughout literature. Although the settings may
vary a little over time or as cultures change, the basic
premise of the setting is the same.
SYMBOLIC ARCHETYPES
The collective unconsciousness makes
certain associations between the outside
world and psychic experiences. These
associations become enduring and are
passed on from one generation to the
next. Some of the more common
archetypal associations are as follows:
1) Light / Darkness – Light usually suggests
hope, renewal, or intellectual illumination;
darkness implies the unknown, ignorance,
or despair.
SYMBOLIC ARCHETYPES
2) Water / Desert – Because water is
necessary to life and growth, it commonly
appears as a birth or rebirth symbol. It is
archetypically significant, anthropologists
believe. Water is used in baptismal
services, which solemnize spiritual births.
Similarly, the appearance of rain in a work
of literature can suggest a character’s
spiritual birth. Conversely, the aridity of
the desert is often associated with spiritual
sterility and desiccation.
SYMBOLIC ARCHETYPES
3) Heaven / Hell – Man has traditionally
associated parts of the universe not
accessible to him with the dwelling places
of the primordial forces that govern his
world. The skies and mountaintops house
his gods; the bowels of the earth contain
the diabolic forces that inhabit his universe.
4) Innate Wisdom vs. Educated Stupidity –
Some characters exhibit wisdom and
understanding of situations instinctively as
opposed to those supposedly in charge. A
hero often needs the guidance of innate
wisdom.
SYMBOLIC ARCHETYPES
5) Haven vs. Wilderness – Places of safety
contrast sharply against the dangerous
wilderness. Heroes are often found in
unexpected places. Wilderness threatens
civilization
6) Supernatural Intervention – The gods
intervene on the side of the hero or
sometimes against him.
7) Magic Weapon – This symbolizes the
extraordinary quality of the hero because no
one else can wield the weapon or use it to
its full potential. It is usually given by a
mentor figure.
Now, take what you know about
archetypes and apply them to everyone’s
favorite Ogre….
Hero
Shrek
Literally doing superhuman deeds
Quest
Find/Rescue Princess
Fiona
Task
Get his swamp back
from the fairy creatures
Light v Darkness
Death and Rebirth
The castle is dark to represent evil;
Fiona is first seen in a ray of light; as
soon as they escape, they emerge into
daytime since they have escaped evil
when they escape the dragon,
morning is dawning suggesting hope
and rebirth
Star Crossed Lovers
Dragons and Donkeys aren’t supposed
to be together, neither are ogres and
princesses
Evil Figure with a Good Heart
Dragon appears at first as an Evil
Figure, especially with the remains of
the knights, but Donkey saves her and
converts her to good
The Journey
Shrek and Donkey face their fears and
conquer the dragon, finding Fiona to
accomplish their task