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: “hard wired” into every human being.  Dream 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, anti- heroes, tragic heroes, and more.

HERO  Examples: Edward in Pretty Woman, Rambo in First Blood.

MENTOR  Description: A positive figure who aids or trains the hero.  Function: 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!