Describe your favorite movie.

Begin class with silent reading.

Bring Archetypes notes packet to class.

An Archetype is an original model or type after which other similar things are patterned.

Frankenstein and Dracula are

examples of many horror story archetypes

• The word archetype (Greek archaeo --ancient) (typos—image, pattern, model) means an original or ideal model or pattern from which all things of the same type are derived or copied. In literature, an archetype is a symbol, story, pattern, or character type that recurs frequently and evokes strong, often unconscious, associations in the reader. For example, the wicked witch and the enchanted prince are character types widely dispersed through folk tales and literature. The story of a hero who undertakes a dangerous quest, as in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a recurrent story pattern.

• A symbol is something that represents something in itself but also represents something with a deeper meaning.

Circle stories are one of the most common patterns. Circle stories begin and end in the same place. They involve a journey that may or may not be

physical. Books about time travel, journeys, adventures, dreams, entering other worlds, and self-acceptance are often circle stories.

Recurring – occurring over and over again

All stories with archetypal characters must have the following properties:

Primordial - existing from the beginning of time

Universal – common to all cultures

Archetypal patterns are evident in Literature and movies.

Joseph Campbell, an American writer who is considered an authority on mythology and archetypes, was asked to sit in on the making of Star Wars to justify the archetypal patterns.

As you take notes, think of movies and literature that contain these patterns

Symbolic – where symbols or objects stand for something else

There are three main archetypal Patterns which are evident

in literature.

Situation - where a “hero” takes a “full circle” journey

Characters - types of characters who playan important part in the hero’s journey

Characteristics of Situation Archetypes

The Quest:

The search for someone or some object that will restore fertility to

a wasted landIn “The Chronicles of Narnia” the children

search for Aslan to bring life back to Narnia

Arthur must pull the sword out of the stone to assume his position as king.

The Task:

The hero must perform some deed so that he can assume his rightful

position in life.

The Initiation

The maturing of the hero during the quest

The Journey consists of three parts...

The Journey:

The search that the hero must take in order to restore

fertility to his kingdom

Separation – the hero is physically, mentally, or spiritually separated from others.Usually a hero goes through a dark, trial period during this time.

Gandalf separates Bilbo from the group.

Transformation- The hero goes through a transformation or

change and becomes what he should be.

Usually during this time the hero has to face his own faults.

I have overcome my fears

Bilbo restores peace to

Middle Earth and returns to Hobbiton.

Return- The hero returns to his home or village and then takes charge.

This is when fertility and hope are restored to the homeland.

The Hero’s Situation

The Unhealable Wound- can be either physical or physiological and

can never be fully healed.

Achilles was dipped in the river Styx in

infancy, making him invulnerable to

attack, except on his heel.

The Fall- The hero “falls” to a lower state of being, usually because of disobedience.

Achilles was a wild child and sent to study under

Chiron, a centaur

(half man, half animal),

whom he eventually disobeyed.

The Magic Weapon- the extraordinary gift or quality that a hero posses. No one else can

use it to its full potential.

Remember Arthur’s sword Excalibur?

Death and Rebirth

This is the most common situational archetype mirroring the cycle of life with death and rebirth.

Think about the “Circle Of Life” in

The Lion King.

Other Situational Archetypes

Dinosaurs in Jurassic Park are a

good example.

Nature versus the Mechanical WorldNature is good and

science, technology, society are bad.

(The Terminator and Jurassic Park)

Good vs. Evil

Hope of optimism for good to triumph over evil despite great conflict

We hope that Aslan can defeat the White

Witch in the Battle

The RitualCeremonies that mark a hero’s rite of

passage.

The Presentation of Simba and then

later his cub to the animal kingdom.

‘Not Another Teen Movie”

• This movie basically

makes fun of the

archetypes that you

see repeatedly in

teen movies.