Chapter 2.2

Character Archetypes

The term “character archetypes” first came from Carl Jung, a 29 th century psychoanalyst who studied dreams and the unconscious. Jung found that there were reoccurring images and themes running through the dreams of these patients that were so similar that they could not have come from individual conflicts. He believed that these images originated in the collective unconsciousness of all people, and he called these images archetypes. ( Four Archetypes by C.G. Jung)

Jung's archetypes divided the individual into four parts or psyches: the self, the shadow, the male and the female. These were not defined as individual characters, but as attributes common in every individual. In Jung's world, these base archetypes would manifest themselves in other forms: the female part of the psyche might be the great mother; the male part of the psyche might be the eternal child; the self might be a hero, wise old man, a trickster, and so forth. They were different ways in which individuals would see themselves. And these formed the basis for the stories that his patients would tell.

In the stories of feature films we find the same thing. There are archetypes that form the basis of nearly all the characters in the movies we watch. Chris Vogler, in his book, A writer's journey, identifies seven archetypal characters found in most feature films. ( Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers by Christopher Vogler)

•  The Hero – the character through which the story is told

•  The Mentor – the ally that helps the hero

•  The Herald – this character announces the “call to adventure” and delivers other important information throughout the story. This role sometimes shifts from character to character.

•  The Shadow – this is the villain or major protagonist. Sometimes, as in Miyazaki 's films, the shadow resides in the character himself.

•  The Threshold Guardian – this is a character, passageway, or guardian that the hero must get past in order to proceed on the quest, or to retrieve the object of the quest. In Shrek , (DreamWorks, 2001) the threshold guardian is the dragon that guards Fiona.

•  The Trickster – this character is usually the comic relief in the story. He sometimes leads the hero off the track or away from the goal.

•  The Shapeshifter – this character is not who he/she appears or who he/she presents herself/himself to be.

Chris Vogler: A writer's journey (1998 )

I think there will always be people on both sides who believe that the character's relationship with the animator will always exist because of the time that is needed to create the character, but once the character has moved into the rigging and animating, its basic personality just like a human actor will become that of the narrative character. So does it all come down to the narrative, within the parameters of the characters archetype? Is this where we will find the key to creating a stronger emotional response?

Continue to Chapter 2.3 - Talk with Tony Chance