Vogler first defines archetypes and why they exist. From a psychological stand point, they can be seen as "ancient patterns of personality that are the shared heritage of the human race"(p.23), and emphasizes their consistency throughout all of history and among every culture. He also stresses the importance of using "the function of the archetype" in storytelling.
The spectrum of archetypes is a critical component of the narrative for several reasons. Firstly, the hero archetype ( who represents the Freudian Ego) need the others them in order to complete his journey, which otherwise couldn't happen. Also, because archetypes are universally understood--as they represent our own needs, wants, flaws, desires-- they add social significance and identification to the story. However, Vogler also notes that even though character archetypes are universal, they are not rigid. A character can embody several archetypes throughout the course of the story, and some archetypes are not blatantly obvious.
According to Vogler the most common and useful archetypes are Hero, Mentor, Threshold Guardian, Herald, Shapeshifter, Shadow, Ally, and Trickster. He goes on to dissect and discuss each of these roles.
The Hero, as I mentioned earlier, intentionally or not, represents the Ego. He is the window to the story, and during its course we feel as though we become him or her. Ideally the hero should embody a wide range of personality traits--including character flaws and weaknesses which make him relatable. It is the hero who experiences the most "growth" or change during the narrative, and is the most active character. Historically, this archetype is rooted in self sacrifice and dealing with "death" either literally or figuratively. Vogler writes that there are different sub-categories of this archetype such as reluctant heroes, catalyst heroes, anti-heroes, etc.
The next archetype which Vogler describes in the mentor, which can be seen as any character who teaches, protects, or regales the hero during his journey. To the audience, the mentor represents the Self, or the "wiser, nobler, more godlike part of us"(p.40). This archetype is linked to the image of a parent, but just as with the hero, mentors are can be represented in many different ways. They also fill a variety of roles such as the hero's conscience, his motivation, his initiator to new sensations and more.
I found Voglers thorough analysis of each archetype and its purpose to be very engrossing. His reference of psychology in explaining how we interpret each archetype, added a great deal of relevance and authority to his definitions. He also seemed to cover all the basis when it came to defining the sub-categories of each archetype, as well as their duties. While reading, I kept trying to think of books or films which would defy the presence of a given archetype, but given each ones flexibility and range I found this nearly impossible. Even in "Requiem for a Dream", a tragic movie where the characters receive little assistance a mentor can be found for example in the man who pays Jennifer Connoly's character for sex, in the sense that he is helping her on her journey, even if it is one of self destruction. This goes to show how flexible and ever present archetypes really are, even if they aren't blatantly obvious.
While in this chapter I was less familiar with the films Vogler uses to illustrate the various characters, I was able to appreciate his repeated referencing of Russian Fairy tales, which notoriously use the same cast of characters, yet the archetypes which they represent vary from one tale to the next. For instance the Baba Yaga witch is the same in every story in terms of her unattractive appearance and most importantly her residence--a house which stands on chicken legs. However, in one fairytale she may be plotting to kidnap and eat little kids who got lost in the woods, yet she may appear in a different story as very helpful to the hero who stumbles upon her home. Though Baba Yaga is a great illustration of the flexibility of archetypes, overall I found it kind of funny that he would mention Russian folklore as often as he does in a chapter about archetypes, since for the most part Russian fairytales are notorious for a very idiosyncratic archetype of the hero which is not congruent to the hero found in Western literature. Russian folklore typically sets the hero as a slacker whose journey is circumstantial rather than the result of personal growth, and definitely not self sacrifice of any sort. This point is actually a major point of discussion in the study of Russian fairy tales, and would be interesting to further explore.
The biggest question which the chapter raised is: according to Vogler, what is the difference between "hero" and "protagonist"? Is there one? Can a character be a protagonist but not a hero and vice versa? Also, I was confused by the category of continuing "mentors", perhaps due to my ignorance of the films he uses as examples of such a mentor--what exactly is a continuing mentor and where is one typically found?
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