Archetypes In The Little Mermaid
In the princess bride, we find many archetypes, including situational character, and symbolic archetypes. They all play a very important role in the story's plot, setting, and characters. First, we encounter our hero, which is a character archetype; he is a very kindhearted Farmer boy named Westley. He sets the story of struggling against all the evil that approaches him to restore his beloved Buttercup and to free her from the Prince, Humperdinck. His quest is to restore his beloved back to him.
The Clown Loach fish (not to be confused with the Clown Fish in Finding Nemo) is one of the most popular aquarium fish around. The reason is probably their peaceful demeanor and entertaining personality. If you set up your aquarium incorrectly the clown loach will be shy and spend most of its time in hiding. However, if you set the aquarium up properly the clown's personality will begin to emerge. Clown loaches are community fish and thrive when they have at least 4 other clown loaches to hang out with.
According to Psychologist Carl Jung, archetypes are defined as “the idea of a universal and recurring image, pattern, or motif that represents a human experience.” The author's purpose for using archetypes in a novel is to allow readers to relate better to the story and the characters of their novel. Archetypes can be universal meaning they are recognized over time and cultures. When reading folklore or watching Hallmark movies readers or viewers tend to recognize the use of archetypes because every book or film all revolve around the same plot, as Carl Jung said “there is only one story.” Throughout this paper we will gain a better understanding of archetypes in the book The Princess Bride and how William Goldman used Carl Jung’s archetypes
Mulan, who just got rejected by the matchmaker because she had set her on fire, decides to prove that she is worth something and she took her father 's place in the Chinese army. Mulan and the other troopers have survived the training camp and are on the way north to stop the Huns. She decides to risk everything in order to save China. Little Mermaid is a film produced by Walt Disney, it came out it 1989. The movie Little Mermaid is based on a girl named Ariel, who dreams of going on land.
The shadow self archetype represents the traits that one doesn’t like in themselves or even tries to cover up. The shadow self of Pi is especially shown when Pi retells his story toward the end of the book. His story reveals that instead of the tiger eating the hyena, since Pi is revealed as Richard Parker, Pi really killed and ate the french cook. This is quite surprising since Pi is a vegetarian but his will to live and anger at the chef for killing one close to Pi overcomes him. We also see this is a shadow self since Pi used a tiger to describe that part of himself instead of admitting it was him.
The “shadow” in the novel, demonstrates the “creature of nightmares” archetype. As Ged sought power, he fortuitously,” …[lit] a candle [that] [cast] a shadow”. (51, Ursula K. Le Guin). This quote demonstrates the archetype of the “creature of nightmares”, by the main character’s consequential actions, as these actions further led Ged to acceptance of his own self. Another archetype further used in the novel is the “hermit”.
We have all lived in the world of fairy tales and imagination but have we ever really focused on what intrigues us about these stories? The hero’s sacrifices and the villain’s decisive plots intrigue us the most in stories but these characteristics are what makes a character known for as a hero, villain and this is known as archetypes. This analyzation revolves around, The Princess Bride and archetypes that some of its character’s qualify of. According to my analysis, Westley portrays the hero, Prince Humperdinck portrays the villain/shadow and Dread Pirate Roberts portrays the Threshold Guardian. The first archetype that I have analyzed is a hero and I have identified Westley as the hero because he sacrifices many things in order to achieve his goal, a hero’s trademark.
The central idea of Symbolic interactionism is symbols are the key to understanding how we view the world and communicate with one another (page 13). In The Little Mermaid, the human artifacts that Ariel collects are symbols of how she views their world. Scuttle is symbol of how she communicates with the world above her. The Disney movie also helps children establish an explanation about relationships. This guides kids to discover how society defines relationships.
Across cultures and civilizations, the sea has always been an important figure both in the benefits it provides in daily life and its presence in storytelling. In consequence, sea monsters have been important figures in myths and stories whether it be in 1000 BCE Babylonian culture, or in 20th century America. The Babylonian Enuma Elish and Disney’s 1989 The Little Mermaid both feature a powerful female antagonist, Tiamat and Ursula, respectively, and these two figures bear many similarities. In both stories, the female antagonist holds strong relationship to the sea, and has supernatural abilities that aid her in her quest to defeat the heroic characters in the story.
The Little Mermaid is all about coming of age. In other words Ariel the main character of the story believes that she is old enough to do as she pleases. Ariel loves going to the surface. On the other hand her dad didn’t want any humans to lay eyes on her, as a result of him thinking that they are barbarians. All Ariel wants is to do what she wants when she wants.
Three of these archetypes are the hero, the trickster, and the shadow. Kino is the tragic hero. “This pearl has become my soul. If I give it up, I shall lose my soul.” (page 67).
Do you like animated films? Well, Finding Nemo is the ninth most grossed animated film of all time. Finding Nemo was an adventure and comedy film, that taught the world the importance of teamwork, collaboration, and cooperation to everyday life. Archetypes are used in many films, movies, and/or books to help both enhance and advance the audiences/readers understanding of the story.
People of all ages throughout the years are very familiar with the concept of Disney movies. Some notable classics of Disney are “Beauty and the Beast” which was released in 1991 and “The Little Mermaid” which was released in 1989. Among the children, the Disney princesses left a good impression on them like Cinderella from “Cinderella”, Pocahontas from “Pocahontas”, and Mulan from “Mulan”. However, many believe that Disney movies serve as a good influence to young audiences but people should know that Disney also has its flaws. Disney have showed negative portrayals of Disney princesses in their films especially when it comes to their usual unattainable beauty ideal and portraying their princesses as inferior to men.
The Little Mermaid which was produced in 1989, was the first Disney movie to challenge the traditional gender roles, for the fact that Ariel wanted to explore, and was more independent and assertive in her desires than the earlier princesses of the 1930’s and 50s films. Also the prince in The Little Mermaid went against traditional gender roles as well, simply because he was more affectionate and loving than his prince counterparts in other Disney films. “Both the male and female roles have changed over time, but overall the male characters evinced less change then the female characters and were more androgynous throughout.” (Descartes & England, pg.566). Disney movies have been for a long time a strong media target for children, and can serve as a way to address stereotypical gender roles (Leaper, 2000).
Numerous schools of criticisms have attempted to find the meaning behind most of our favorite childhood stories. From Marxist who pursue the idea of social classes portrayed in literary works, to Psychoanalysts who depict the sexual tensions and desires that are subconsciously embedded behind characters’ motives and actions, to Historicists who try to show the preservation of tradition in stories, many different concepts exist for each fairy tale. The Feminist school of criticism greatly focuses on unveiling the patriarchal system and sexist roles that are displayed in stories, and more specifically, fairytales. Four versions of the well-known fairytale of The Little Mermaid will be compared and discussed while focusing on many distinctive
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