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Understanding Archetypes

Understanding Archetypes. From Myth and the Movies by Stuart Voytilla. 1. The Ordinary World. Allows us to get to know the Hero before the journey begins. Audience must be able to relate to him.

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Understanding Archetypes

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  1. Understanding Archetypes From Myth and the Movies by Stuart Voytilla

  2. 1. The Ordinary World • Allows us to get to know the Hero before the journey begins. • Audience must be able to relate to him. • Central or Dramatic Question the disrupts the Ordinary World, and the Hero must enter the Special World to solve the problem.

  3. 2. The Call to Adventure • Disrupts the comfort of the Hero’s Ordinary World. • Throws the ordinary world off balance and establishes the consequences if the challenge is rejected. • The Hero may need a succession of “Calls” before finally realizing that a challenge must be met.

  4. 2. Continued… The Call to Adventure can take many forms: a message or announcement a sudden storm (Home Alone) the arrival of the villain (High Noon) a death (Jaws) an abduction (Star Wars) a man’s dying words (Citizen Kane)

  5. 3. Refusal of the Call • The Hero is not willing to leave the safe haven of the Ordinary World. • Used to communicate risks involved in the Journey that lies ahead. • If the Hero is eager and skips the refusal stage, the Hero’s Allies or Threshold Guardians may still express the fears and risks.

  6. 4. Meeting the Mentor • Gains confidence, insight, training, or gifts • May be a physical person, or an object: map, journal, hieroglyphics. • Or and Inner Mentor: a strong code of honor or justice (Westerns and Detective stories)

  7. 5. Crossing the Threshold • Committed to the Journey • Threshold is the gateway between the Ordinary World and the Special World

  8. 6. Test, Allies, and Enemies • Our (The Hero and the Audience’s) first look at the Special World. • Allies are earned • Rivals reveal themselves • Preparation for the greater Ordeals to come and the Hero needs this stage to test his skills.

  9. 7. Approach to the Inmost Cave • The Hero must make preparations for the Journey’s central Ordeal • Obstacles, setbacks, or a break may occur before the final decent. (In romantic comedies the Approach may force the lovers to question commitment)

  10. 8. The Ordeal • The central life-or-death crisis • The Journey teeters on the brink of failure • Only through “death” can the hero be reborn

  11. 9. Reward • The Hero has overcome • The Reward comes in many forms: • A magical sword • An elixer • Greater knowledge • Reconciliation

  12. 9. Reward, continued • The Hero has earned the right to celebrate.

  13. 10. The Road Back • The Hero must recommit to completing the Journey • Choices must be made • May need to be coerced back into the Ordinary World because of the fame found in Special World

  14. 11. The Resurrection • Shows that the Hero has actually grown during the Journey. • “Cleansing” or purification

  15. 12. Return with the Elixer • The final Reward • The Hero has been resurrected, purified, and has earned the right to be accepted back into the Ordinary World to heal the wounded land. • A time to celebrate the Journey’s end with love, marriage, or festivals. • Balance has been restored.

  16. Archetypes: The Roles Characters Play Archetypes describe the function or role a character plays in a story. Think of an archetype as a mask a character wears in a particular scene. Example: Obi Wan Kenobi is the Mentor throughout Star Wars, and yet he must wear the Hero’s mask and sacrifice himself to Darth Vader in order to allow Luck to escape with the princess.

  17. Archetypes… • Hero “to serve and sacrifice” • Mentor “to guide” • Threshold Guardian “to test” • Herald “to warn & challenge” • Shapeshifter“to question & decieve” • Shadow “to destroy” • Trickster “to disrupt”

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