An Archetypical Post...or is it Stereotypical?

Archetypes versus stereotypes. Quick, define. Your answers will be graded at the end of this post.

We all embody aspects of stereotypes within us. It's nearly impossible not to. The very act of trying not to be stereotypical might in fact make us fall into different stereotypes. However, I've never met a walking stereotype before, or if I have I've blocked the knowledge from my memory. And I might be a geek, and I might embody some stereotypically geeky behavior, but I'm certainly not a stereotypical geek.

The same holds true for archetypes. Archetypes are like stereotypes except they are more broad in nature. A stereotypical jock might be hardworking, but a jerk, where as an archetypical hard worker might be a jock. If this doesn't make sense, I'll clarify further.

There is, in fact, a lot of theory on archetypes in storytelling. I'm going to use a great example, Star Wars, because it's what I grew up learning about in high school. Star Wars episode one does a great job of showing off a multitude of archetypes, many of whom do not fall into typical stereotypical behavior. Let's list and describe some of them, shall we?

Luke: Luke is the young hero archetype. He stands out from his peers, generally through hard work, but his origins are humble and his knowledge limited.

Ben/Obi Wan: The knowledgeable mentor, Ben does the job of training the hero and expanding his understanding of the situation he has found himself in. Ben, as a mentor, deals primarily with the mental and is physically frailer than other characters.

Han: Han is the rogue. He skirts the law, making his own rules and code of conduct, though he is honorable in that he sticks to this code. He is a risk taker, but has a different perspective on the world which shows the seedier elements.

And so on. I don't want to devote this whole blog talking about one franchise, but you're seeing what I'm getting at. We see these archetypes and many others in a plethora of other characters. The hero is Harry Potter, he is Neo, he is Stephen Daedelus. Ben is also Yoda, he is Dumbledore, he is Morpheus. Han is Jack Sparrow, he is...

Notice that all of these characters I listed are each unique characters. They may all fill the same shoes, but unlike stereotypes which manifest in specific ways, archetypes manifest in vastly different ones. We often see characters grow within the archetype and sometimes go on to break the mold for it. Just as stereotypes exist for a reason and are constantly under scrutiny, so too are archetypes.

So what was the point in this sudden break from love and the like to discuss Archetypes? Tomorrow I'm going to set out to define my own discovered archetypes from love stories, or stories which deal with love. By doing so, perhaps I can show where we get some of our conflicts with love stories and real life, and that maybe some of the elements of hopeless romance aren't so hopeless.