The Archetypes - From Threshold Guardian to Trickster

In this weeks reading of Vogler, he discusses the remaining archetypes that are responsible for bringing a story to life.  Even though the hero and the mentor are two of the major components of constructing a story without having the other archetypes present leaves the audience guessing.  So in order to have a well rounded story the archetypes of threshold guardian, herald, shapeshifter, shadow, ally, and trickster must all have a role.  The threshold guardian primary function is to test the hero and see if the Hero is able to incorporate them instead of destroying them.  The Herald job is to issue challenges and announce the coming of change, it is from the herald the Hero learns about their Call to Adventure.  The shapeshifter are changeable characters who express the energy of animus (male to female) and anima (female to male) and are the symbol of transformation.  The shadow represents the dark side or the power of repressed feelings; however, they do create conflict while trying to bring out the best in the Hero.  The ally can be seen as the Hero's companion whose function is to humanize the Hero.  Lastly, there is the trickster who usually brings comic relief to many stories, whose embodies energy of mischief and desire for change.  As Vogler states 'archetypes are infinitely flexible language of character' which make it possible for audiences to understand the story given.

The way Vogler presents the remaining archetypes shows readers how they are just as important to the story as the Hero and the Mentor.  In my opinion, the archetypes that usually don't pull as much weight in the story are the ones that determine a good story from a bad one.  You can only take so much from the Heros and the Mentors, which leaves the rest up to the other archetypes to piece together the rest of the story.  Without an ally a viewer couldn't relate to the Hero, or if there was no herald the Hero wouldn't be faced with a challenge, and if there was no trickster audiences would not be able to recognize hope in a story.  But the main thing I will take away from archetype's is their ability to be interchanging, or the ability of different characters to take on different archetypes as if they were masks.  I believe that through archetypes audiences relate to a certain character in a film, novel, or play that will help further their understanding of the story.

After reading about the variety of archetype Vogler presents, one movie came to mind right away (even mentioned throughout Vogler), The Dark Knight.  This is a classic comic turned into a big screen hit, where the characters embrace the archetype given to them.  Each character embodies one certain archetype; however like most things these can be debated.  So I believe Bruce Wayne/Batman to be the Hero, Rachel Dowes to be the Shapshifter, the Joker is the Shadow, Harvey Dent at first is an Ally who quickly changes into a Shadow, Lucius Fox is an Ally, and Alfred is the Mentor.  However, each of these characters take on other archetypes to make them seem more human and more relatable to the audience. 

Questions to Think About...

1. If you were to star in a movie, which archetypes do you think you would take on? Why?

2. The Shapeshifter archetype is a catalyst for change, in what whys do you embody this archetype when having a relationship with the opposite sex? 

3. What are examples of other movies where the main character take on multiply masks of archetypes?