Post by The Pilot on Sept 12, 2007 18:54:17 GMT -5
Archetypes and Stereotypes.
I'm going to be writing 'Psychology 101' columns every other wednesday, starting today! Here's to my first article.
SO. I thought of something to write about: character archetypyes and stereotypes! Every character ever written follows a model under either one or both of those, whether or not the author/roleplayer even intended it. If you don't know what archetypes and stereotypes are, here's a definition:
ar·che·type (n) 1. (in Jungian psychology) a collectively inherited unconscious idea, pattern of thought, image, etc., universally present in individual psyches.
ster·e·o·type (n) 1. Sociology. a simplified and standardized conception or image invested with special meaning and held in common by members of a group: The cowboy and Indian are American stereotypes.
As you can see, both of them are kind of the same, so you might be asking how in the heck they are different. An example would be the Christ archetype versus the martyr stereotype. At a glance, both sound relatively similar. The difference lies in their function. The Christ archetype is in reference to a character's relation to other characters and the storyline, making that character martyr-like, but also probably kind, and a leader of sorts. The martyr stereotype isn't as specific, and whose label doesn't necessarily have to be relative to other characters in the plot. Archetypes are specific and determined mostly by a combination of role in the plot and personality, and stereotypes are broader and rely more on internal factors.
JUNGIAN ARCHETYPES
Carl Jung came up with this list of archetypes most common in myths and stories from all over the world. There are many more that other psychologists and philosophers have come up with, but this is a list of Jung's:
The Divine Couple (ex. Neo and Trinity)
The Child (ex. Linus from Charles Schultz's Peanuts)
The Ubermensch (ex. Superman, Magneto)
The Hero (ex. Beowulf, Luke Skywalker)
The Great Mother (ex. Galadriel)
The Wise Old Man (ex. Obi-Wan Kenobi, Merlin)
The Trickster (ex. Coyote)
The Eternal Boy (ex. Peter Pan)
The Cosmic Man (ex. Adam)
As well as four main archetypes:
The Self (signifies the whole, the individual, the conscious mind)
The Shadow (the unconscious mind, the part of the human psyche that is mysterious)
The Anima (the inner feminine personality)
The Animus (the inner male personality)
STEREOTYPES
The list of stereotypes is almost limitless, but I'm sure that many of you know several. Things like:
The eager sidekick
The wealthy snob
The dumb brute
The soft-spoken artist
The traitor
The victim
The optimist
The pessimist
The protector
The list goes on and on, really. That's just to give you an idea. Some of you may already be thinking of your characters in terms of these things, and that's good. You should really consider what sort of role you want you character to play in the plot of your story, so that way their thoughts, actions, and personality will have a sort of coherent feeling to it, and so the reader won't be confused as to who they are unless of course, it's a facade.
That's it for now. My hand hurts from typing. xD
I'm going to be writing 'Psychology 101' columns every other wednesday, starting today! Here's to my first article.
SO. I thought of something to write about: character archetypyes and stereotypes! Every character ever written follows a model under either one or both of those, whether or not the author/roleplayer even intended it. If you don't know what archetypes and stereotypes are, here's a definition:
ar·che·type (n) 1. (in Jungian psychology) a collectively inherited unconscious idea, pattern of thought, image, etc., universally present in individual psyches.
ster·e·o·type (n) 1. Sociology. a simplified and standardized conception or image invested with special meaning and held in common by members of a group: The cowboy and Indian are American stereotypes.
As you can see, both of them are kind of the same, so you might be asking how in the heck they are different. An example would be the Christ archetype versus the martyr stereotype. At a glance, both sound relatively similar. The difference lies in their function. The Christ archetype is in reference to a character's relation to other characters and the storyline, making that character martyr-like, but also probably kind, and a leader of sorts. The martyr stereotype isn't as specific, and whose label doesn't necessarily have to be relative to other characters in the plot. Archetypes are specific and determined mostly by a combination of role in the plot and personality, and stereotypes are broader and rely more on internal factors.
JUNGIAN ARCHETYPES
Carl Jung came up with this list of archetypes most common in myths and stories from all over the world. There are many more that other psychologists and philosophers have come up with, but this is a list of Jung's:
The Divine Couple (ex. Neo and Trinity)
The Child (ex. Linus from Charles Schultz's Peanuts)
The Ubermensch (ex. Superman, Magneto)
The Hero (ex. Beowulf, Luke Skywalker)
The Great Mother (ex. Galadriel)
The Wise Old Man (ex. Obi-Wan Kenobi, Merlin)
The Trickster (ex. Coyote)
The Eternal Boy (ex. Peter Pan)
The Cosmic Man (ex. Adam)
As well as four main archetypes:
The Self (signifies the whole, the individual, the conscious mind)
The Shadow (the unconscious mind, the part of the human psyche that is mysterious)
The Anima (the inner feminine personality)
The Animus (the inner male personality)
STEREOTYPES
The list of stereotypes is almost limitless, but I'm sure that many of you know several. Things like:
The eager sidekick
The wealthy snob
The dumb brute
The soft-spoken artist
The traitor
The victim
The optimist
The pessimist
The protector
The list goes on and on, really. That's just to give you an idea. Some of you may already be thinking of your characters in terms of these things, and that's good. You should really consider what sort of role you want you character to play in the plot of your story, so that way their thoughts, actions, and personality will have a sort of coherent feeling to it, and so the reader won't be confused as to who they are unless of course, it's a facade.
That's it for now. My hand hurts from typing. xD
; So hooray for you!
