Theme Of Archetypes In Star Wars

“ The force will be with you, always.” This is advice given to Luke Skywalker by his mentor Obi Wan Kenobi. In the archetypal hero’s journey a wise and experienced mentor such as Obi Wan will often help guide or offer advice to the youthful and budding hero. Throughout time and across different cultures there are certain symbols, events and characters which can be found in literature and Star Wars IV: A New Hope follows this trend step by step. During the film Star Wars IV: A New Hope, the main protagonist Luke undergoes a stereotypical, or in literary terms an archetypal hero’s journey. Luke starts from humble beginnings and when he is called upon to save the galaxy; he then faces various tests which help him hone skills that he will need for the final life or death battle.

The movie Star Wars Episode 3 The Revenge Of  The Sith directed by George Lucas is a great representation of the God teacher versus God Tempter. In this film the character that perfectly shows a God teacher, is Obi – wan Kenobi. Obi – wan Kenobi is the Jedi master of Anakin Skywalker the perceived chosen one. Skywalking is the one that is suppose to bring balance to the force and save the galaxy. The God tempter is Darth Sidious whom is to be the dark lord from the darkside of the force. With all the hardships that Skywalker endures, it leaves his mind cluttered with a decision to make; stay on the good side living in Obi – wan Kenobi's shadow or acquire more knowledge about the hidden powers a Jedi can poses: saving people from death. Anakin gets manipulated by Darth Sidious to join the

Carl Jung, the very first pioneer who discovered human collective unconsciousness, including archetypes, once said, “An archetype is something like an old watercourse along which the water of life flowed for a time, digging a deep channel for itself. The longer it flowed the deeper the channel, and the more likely it is that sooner or later the water will return.” An archetype is the universal patterns and behaviors that represent a typical human experience that is passed down from generations to generations, creating its originality. In “A Separate Peace”, John Knowles uses many archetypes to enrich the personality of his characters, especially Gene and Finny based on common human experiences. By embodying the archetypes of the Fall from Innocence, the Unhealable, and the Crossroads in “A Separate Peace,” John Knowles was successful in establishing the theme for the novel which implies that the guilt which is begotten from one’s deceitful actions would remain as an irrecoverable wound overtime.

In Homers epic poem “The Odyssey” there are many archetypes, many of which were the origin of the archetype. An archetype is a character type, place, or symbol, every culture shares. In “The Odyssey” Homer uses archetypes to evoke meaning to the story. Some examples of archetypes in “The Odyssey” are the temptress, and the father-son conflict.

Throughout the movie O Brother, Where Art Thou, classic storytelling through archetypes is reworked into a more modern time in order to create the unique gem that it is. Archetypes are a general persona of a character that is repeated many times through films and literature, they define the character and give meaning to their roles. Archetypes have been used ever since stories were made, from the Odyssey to even Percy Jackson. Archetypes tend to set the stage for the story, and get revealed throughout the story adding more life and energy to it. Three examples of archetypes expressed very well through characters in the movie are the hero, the alter ego, and the temptress.

In your daily life, different people are different roles and deciphering then determining who plays what archetype can alter your own journey. This is similar to literature where characters affect the hero’s journey and represent archetypes. Each character in literature serves as an archetype that will change the outcome of the journey the hero takes. In the film the Princess Bride directed by Rob Reiner, various characters represent archetypes like evil adversary, loyal companion, and damsel in distress who affect the hero, Wesley’s journey.

With every corner we turn in today’s culture, we become more and more aware of the archetypes that surround us. Archetypes are the works of a typical character, situation, setting, or symbol that can be found in fantasy and reality. An example would be the renowned medieval story Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by Pearl Poet. The author permeates the story with situational, symbolic, and character archetypes that illustrate the profound life of Sir Gawain. Sir Gawain was apprehensive of his journey at first, but as time passes, he began to make choices that unveils to the audience the true flawed knight that he was.

An archetype is defined as an image, story-pattern, character, setting, symbol, or situation that recurs frequently in literature and in life. It demonstrates universal human experiences and associates strongly with readers through a subconscious understanding. In the Epic of Gilgamesh the main character, Gilgamesh, is an example of a superheroic archetypal hero. He took on an epic quest for everlasting life by following the archetypal steps of a hero’s journey. Through suffering due to tragedy, realizing the nature of his quest, seeking help from a mentor, experiencing failure, and returning home with a companion, Gilgamesh’s story followed the situational archetype of a hero’s journey.

According to Carl Jung’s theory, the psyche has three parts to it; the ego, personal unconscious, and the collective unconscious (Golden, date unknown.) Jung believed that the archetypes were part of the collective unconscious; this is where psychological inheritance happens. “All the most powerful ideas in history go back to archetypes” (Golden, date unknow.) Jung believed each archetype had its own unique values, meanings, and personality traits. It is possible that people display more than one kind of archetype, but there always seems to be one specific archetype that makes itself more apparent (Golden, date unknown.)

Throughout the movie, archetypes aid the development of conflicts throughout the plot, and help in establishing the good vs the evil. For example, the movie builds up the conflict present between Rey and Kylo, as the two are shown as mortal enemies throughout the movie, which leads to their eventual battle. The reason that a conflict is present is because Rey and Kylo stand for opposing sides- the Resistance, and the First Order respectively. Their conflict stems from that fact that Rey represents the Light, while Kylo represents Darkness. The Light that signifies Rey represents hope, and intellectual illumination, both of which Rey possesses, while the Darkness that signifies Kylo stands for his ignorance and despair. This contrast of characters

An archetypal hero must have specific characteristics before embarking on a quest. For example many heroes, experience some sort of traumatic event during childhood. In the movie Star Wars IV: A New Hope the archetypal hero Luke Skywalker experiences the

Archetype refers to a generic version of a personality. Archetypes are continually present in folklore and literature for thousands of years, including prehistoric artwork. The identification of archetypes in literature is to primarily find the behaviors and characteristics of the main protagonist, it is important to discover the ambiguity of how the traits change and develop throughout the rising

There have been many that have studied the psychology behind archetype studies. With Jung’s theory being in the forefront suggesting that archetypes are the basis of our unconscious minds and a dream state. John Raphael Staude discusses Jung’s theory of the basis of ones “collective unconscious” in his article “From Depth Psychology to Depth Sociology: Freud, Jung, and Levi-Strauss” suggesting that each person has individual traits that define

An archetype is a pattern, symbol, setting, motif, or character that occurs in many works of literature. It’s a universal mark on works of literature. Since it occurs in many works in the same form, it has become well known and readers can easily identify it. A very common archetype in fairy tales is good vs. evil and the theme that love can overcome anything. Some classic examples of such archetypes are: Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, and Snow White.

The formulation of the archetypes is described as an empirically derived concept, like that of the atom; it is a concept based not only on medical evidence but on observations of mythical, religious and literary phenomena, these archetypes are considered to be primordial images, spontaneous products of the psyche which do not reflect any physical process, but are reflected in them (Jung 54).