SHAPESHIFTER

Shapeshifters change appearance or mood, and are difficult for the hero and the audience to pin down.  They may mislead the hero or keep her guessing, and their loyalty or sincerity is often in question.  (59)

Psychological Function:

An important psychological purpose of the Shapeshifter archetype is to express the energy of the animus and the anima, terms from the psychology of Carl Jung.  The animus is Jung’s name for the male element in the female unconscious, the bundle of positive and negative masculinity in women’s dreams, and fantasies.  The anima is the corresponding female element in the male unconscious.  In this theory, people have a complete set of both male and female qualities which are necessary for survival and balance. 

Historically, the female characteristics in men and the male characteristics in women have been sternly repressed by society.  Men learn at an early age to show only the macho, unemotional side of themselves.  Women are taught by society to play down their masculine qualities.  This can lead to emotional and even physical problems.  Men are now working to regain some of their suppressed female qualities, sensitivity, intuition, and the ability to feel and express emotion.  Women sometimes spend their adult lives trying to reclaim the male energies within them which society has discouraged, such as power and assertiveness.  (60). 

We may fall into relationships in which we have not seen the partner clearly. (60)

The shapeshifter archetype is also a catalyst for change, a symbol of the psychological urge to transform.  Dealing with a shapeshifter may cause the hero to change attitudes about the opposite sex or come to terms with repressed energies that this archetype stirs up.  (61)

A common type of shapeshifter is called the femme fatale, the woman as temptress or destroyer.  The idea is as old as the Bible, with its stories of Eve in the Garden of Eden, the scheming Jezebel, and Delilah cutting off  Samson’s hair to rob him of his strength.  (61-62)

Shapeshifting may manifest in changes of appearance.  In many films a women’s change of costume or hairstyle indicates that her identity is shifting and her loyalty is in doubt.  (62)

The story teaches that if heroes are patient with Shapeshifters the truth may eventually come out.  (62)

SHADOW

Psychological Function:

The shadow can represent the power of repressed feelings.  Deep trauma or guilt can fester when exiled to the darkness of the unconscious, and emotions hidden or denied can turn into something that wants to destroy us.  (65-66)

Dramatic Function:

The function of the shadow is to challenge the hero and give her a worthy opponent in the struggle.  Shadows create conflict and bring out the best in a hero by getting her in a life threatening situation.  It’s often been said that a story is only as good as its villain, because a strong enemy forces a hero to rise to the challenge.  (66)

Heroes themselves can manifest a Shadow side.  When the protagonist is crippled by doubts or guilt, acts in self destructive ways, expresses a death wish, gets carried away with his success, abuses his power, or becomes selfish rather than self-sacrificing, the shadow has overtaken him.  (66)

Femme fatales are often called “shady ladies.”  (67)

Humanizing the shadow: Shadows need not be totally evil or wicked.  In fact, it’s better if they are humanized by a touch of goodness, or by some admirable quality.  (67)

Shadows can also be humanized by making them more vulnerable.  The novelist Graham Greene masterfully makes his villains real, frail people.  He often has the hero on the verge of killing a villain, only to discover the poor fellow has a head cold, or is reading a letter from his little daughter.  Suddenly the villain is not just a fly to be swatted but a real human being with weaknesses and emotions.  Killing such a figure becomes a true moral choice rather than a thoughtless reflex.  (67)

It’s important to remember in designing stories that most Shadow figures do not think of themselves as villains or enemies.  From his point of view, a villain is the hero of his own myth, and the audience’s hero is the villain.  A dangerous type of villain is the “right man,” a person so convinced that his cause is just he will stop at nothing to achieve it.  Beware the man who believes the ends will justify the means.  (68)

External Shadows must be vanquished or destroyed by the hero.  Shadows of the eternal kind may be disempowered like vampires, simply by bringing them out of the shadows and into the light of consciousness.  Some Shadows may even be redeemed and turned into positive forces.  (68)

The Shadow shelters the healthy, natural feelings we believe we’re not supposed to show.  But healthy anger or grief, if suppressed in the territory of the Shadow, can turn to harmful energy that strikes out and undermines us in unexpected ways.  The Shadow may also be unexplored potential, such as affection, creativity, or psychic ability, that goes unexpressed.  (68)

ALLY

Ally- who can serve a variety of functions, such as companion, sparring partner, conscience, or comic relief.  (71)

It’s convenient to have someone for the hero to talk to, to bring out human feelings or reveal important questions in the plot.  (71)

Western Allies: Sidekicks.  A vast body of story has been written and filmed about self-righteous Western lawman Wyatt Earp and his unruly, alcoholic, sickly, but very dangerous Ally, Doc Holliday.  (73)

They are also two horns of a great debate in American culture, between the rigid moral universe of the Puritans, represented by law-abiding Wyatt Earp, and the wilder rebel side represented by Holliday, a gambler from the old South.  (73)

The Romans also believed that every man had a guardian spirit or Ally, his “genius”, and that every woman had a “juno.”  Originally, these were ghosts of the family’s distinguished ancestors, but later came to be personal guardian deities.  Each person made offerings to the genius or juno on his or her birthday, in return for the guidance and protection or a little extra brain power.  Not only individuals but also families, households, the Senate, cities, provinces, and entire empires could have such protective supernatural Allies. 

The play and movie Harvey show a man who relies on an imaginary friend, a kind of psychic Ally who helps him cope with reality.  Woody Allen’s character in Play It Again,  Sam conjured up the spirit of Humphrey Bogart’s movie persona to guide him through the subtleties of love.  It’s a Wonderful Life depicts a desperate man being helped by an angel Ally.  (74)

Animal Allies: Animals as Allies are common in the history of storytelling.  Goddesses especially are accompanied by animal Allies.  (74)

Allies from Beyond the Grave:  Ancient folktales tell of Allies even among the dead.  The name for the band “The Grateful Dead” had its origins in a folktale term for the dead who give aid to living people in gratitude for doing something to set their souls at rest, such as paying a debt to them in decent burial… a ghost sorts out romantic matters in an old house.  (74)

Helpful Servants:  Batman’s butler Alfred serves many roles and it should be noted that the Ally function can easily overlap with that of the Mentor.  (75)

TRICKSTER

The trickster archetype embodies the energies of mischief and desire for change.  (77)

The specialized form called the Trickster Hero is the leading figure in many myths and is very popular in folklore and fairy tales.  (77)

Psychological Function:  Tricksters serve several important psychological functions.  They cut big egos down to size, and bring heroes and audiences down to earth.  By provoking healthy laughter they help us realize our common bonds, and they point out folly and hypocrisy.  Above all, they bring about healthy change and transformation, often by drawing attention to the imbalance or absurdity of a stagnant psychological situation.  They are the natural enemies of the status quo.  Trickster energy can express itself through impish accidents or slips of the tongue that alert us to the need for change.  When we are taking ourselves too seriously, the Trickster part of our personalities may pop up to bring back needed perspective.  (77)

Dramatic Function: Comic Relief- The Tricksters of mythology provide many examples of the workings of this archetype.  One of the most colorful is Loki, the Norse god of trickery and deceit.  A true Trickster, he serves the other gods as legal counselor and advisor, but also plots their destruction, undermining the status quo.  He is fiery in nature, and his darting, elusive energy helps heat up the petrified, frozen energy of the gods, moving them to action and change.  He also provides much needed comic relief in the generally dark Norse myths.  (78)

Trickster Heroes- Trickster heroes have bred like rabbits in the folktales and fairy tales of the world.  Indeed, some of the most popular tricksters are rabbit heroes: the Br’er Rabbit of the American South, the Hare of African tales, the many rabbit heroes from Southeast Asia, Persia, India, etc.  These stories pit the defenseless but quick thinking rabbit against much larger and more dangerous enemies.  (78)

The modern version of the rabbit Trickster is of course Bugs Bunny.  (78)

The heroes of comedy from Charlie Chaplin to Marx Brothers to cast of “In Living Color” are Tricksters.  (79)

One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest

Directed by Milos Forman

Staring  Jack Nicholson

Based on the novel by Ken Kessy

Featuring Christophor Loyd & Danny Devitto in their first feature film.

Winner of five Academy Awards including Best Picture 1976

Also utilizes The Christ Motif. Be prepared to write an essay on The Christ Motif on the exam. 

This film features Nurse Ratchid.  She was selected by the Academy as one of the top five villains of all of cinema.  She ranks up there with Darth Vader and The Wicked Witch of The West.  What makes Nurse Ratchid so terrifying is that she is so real.  It this world you will meet  several Nurse Ratchid’s.  They masquerade as if they want to help you, but they only want to exercise power over you.  They always win.

Jack Nicholsin plays Randle Patrick McMurphy, a bar room brawler who thinks that doing a stint in a psychological unit will be easier that a county work farm.  Here he meets the patients.  Even though they are all adults, they are still “boys”.  McMurphy must lead them to Manhood.

Q.  How does McMurphy lead the boys to Manhood? 

Q.  How does McMurphy show us that he is beginning to identify with the patients?

Pay attention to Chief Broom.  Try to go through the story through his eyes.  Remember that even though he stands 6.8, he believes that he is under 5.0.

“You would never know to look at him but with the final shot he won the war after losing every battle.”

                                                                                                                               Bob Dylan

McMurphy and the nurse engage in a war for the collective soul of the patients(the boys).  There will be several battles, usually they will be fought over activities center on rituals of manhood; playing cards, The World Series, a pick-up basketball game, a fishing trip, a frat party. 

McMurphy is a Christ Figure who shows the way to a better world that is within the grasp of the boys.

*sacrifice of the virgin

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Mark Twain

I.                     Ordinary World:  When we first meet Huck, he is trapped in Ordinary World.  He has been adopted by the Widow Douglas and Miss Watson.  They are determined to “civilize” Huck Finn.  Huck finds the situation intolerable.  They don’t let him smoke or “cuss”.  They make him read The Bible, and insist that he wears clothes that are cleaned and starched.  He has to go to school.  “All in All” it is suffocating Huck. 

II.                  The Widow Douglas and Miss Watson display two sides of Christianity.  While Miss Watson is pious, dogmatic, and judgmental, The Widow Douglas is compassionate, loving, and free of any preconceived notions of heaven.

III.                Huck Finn is amoral when we first meet him.  He is surrounded by hypocrisy that masquerades as piety.

IV.                He will develop into a moral being.

V.                  In ordinary world Huck is forced to go to school.  Huck’s only relief from this situation is hanging around his pal, Tom Sawyer.  Tom is a precocious and mischievous kid from a good home. Tom Sawyer has a vivid imagination that is fueled by all of the books that he has read.

VI.                Tom Sawyer’s gang; they take a blood oath. They are only playing at having adventures.   Huck may not know it yet, but he is ready for a real adventure. 

VII.              Call to Adventure; Tom Sawyer’s meow is a call to adventure. (still play).  The real call to Adventure is when Huck sees the footsteps in the snow.  Once Pa shows up, things must change.

VIII.            Jim is Miss Watson’s slave.  *Pay attention to how Huck refers to Jim.  How long in the story will he refer to Jim as being Miss Watson’s property? 

IX.                Jim’s plight with his family is contrasted by Pa Finn.  (The legacy of slavery on not only the African family structure, but the family structure of all Americans.) Pa Finn sees only one thing in his son; money.  Huck is worth a fortune as a result of his previous adventures with Tom Sawyer.  The irony is that Huck Finn doesn’t value money.  It is for sivilized folks, not Huck.

X.                  Huck will become a prisoner of his Pa, who is a notorious alcoholic.  He drinks until he is blind drunk, and then he beats Huck.  When he doesn’t drink, he experiences the DT’s, and then he beats Huck.  If Huck stays, he will die. 

XI.                Huck fakes his own death in order to escape.  Huck knows that if people think that he is dead, they won’t look for him anymore, and he will be free.