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The Writer's Journey

Page 8

by Christopher Vogler


  PSYCHOLOGICAL FUNCTION: CALL FOR CHANGE

  Heralds have the important psychological function of announcing the need for change. Something deep inside us knows when we are ready to change and sends us a messenger. This may be a dream figure, a real person, or a new idea we encounter. In Field of Dreams it's the mysterious Voice that the hero hears saying, "If you build it, they will come." The Call might come from a book we read, or a movie we see. But something inside us has been struck like a bell, and the resulting vibrations spread out through our lives until change is inevitable.

  DRAMATIC FUNCTION: MOTIVATION

  Heralds provide motivation, offer the hero a challenge, and get the story rolling. They alert the hero (and the audience) that change and adventure are coming.

  An example of the Herald archetype as a motivator in movies can be found in Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious. Cary Grant plays a secret agent trying to enlist Ingrid Bergman, the playgirl daughter of a Nazi spy, in a noble cause. He offers her both a challenge and an opportunity: She can overcome her bad reputation and the family shame by dedicating herself to Cary's noble cause. (The cause turns out to be not so noble later on, but that's another story.)

  Like most heroes, Bergman's character is fearful of change and reluctant to accept the challenge, but Grant, like a medieval herald, reminds her of the past and gives her motivation to act. He plays her a recording of an argument she had with her father, in which she renounced his spying and declared her loyalty to the United

  States. Confronted by the evidence of her own patriotism, she accepts the call to adventure. She is motivated.

  The Herald may be a person or a force. The coming of a storm or the first tremors of the earth, as in Hurricane or Earthquake, may be the Herald of adventure. The crash of the stock market or the declaration of war have set many a story in motion.

  Often the Herald is simply a means of bringing news to the hero of a new energy that will change the balance. It could be a telegram or a phone call. In High Noon, the Herald is a telegraph clerk who brings Gary Cooper word that his enemies are out of jail and headed for town to kill him. In Romancing the Stone, the Herald for Joan Wilder is a treasure map that arrives in the mail, and a phone call from her sister, who is being held hostage in Colombia.

  TYPES OF HERALD

  The Herald may be a positive, negative, or neutral figure. In some stories the Herald is the villain or his emissary, perhaps issuing a direct challenge to the hero, or trying to dupe the hero into getting involved. In the thriller Arabesque, the Herald is the private secretary of the villain who tries to lure the hero, a college professor of modest means, into danger with a tempting offer of work. In some cases, a villainous Herald may announce the challenge not to the hero but to the audience. In Star Wars the first appearance of Darth Vader, as he captures Princess Leia, proclaims to the audience that something is out of balance before the hero, Luke Skywalker, has even appeared.

  In other stories the Herald is an agent of the forces of good, calling the hero to a positive adventure. The Herald's mask may be worn temporarily by a character who mainly embodies some other archetype. A Mentor frequently acts as a Herald who issues a challenge to the hero. The Herald may be a hero's loved one or Ally, or someone neutral to the hero, such as a Trickster or Threshold Guardian.

  The Herald archetype may come into play at almost any point in a story, but is most frequently employed in Act One to help bring the hero into the adventure. Whether it is an inner call, an external development, or a character bringing news of change, the energy of the Herald is needed in almost every story.

  People often have trouble grasping the elusive archetype of the Shapeshifter, perhaps because its very nature is to be shifting and unstable. Its appearance and characteristics change as soon as you examine it closely. Nonetheless, the Shapeshifter is a powerful archetype and understanding its ways can be helpful in storytelling and in life.

  Heroes frequently encounter figures, often of the opposite sex, whose primary characteristic is that they appear to change constantly from the hero's point of view. Often the hero's love interest or romantic partner will manifest the qualities of a Shapeshifter. We have all experienced relationships in which our partner is fickle, two-faced, or bewilderingly changeable. In Fatal Attraction the hero is confronted with a Shapeshifting woman who changes from a passionate lover to an insane, murderous harpy.

  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. An Ally or friend of the same sex as the hero may also act as a Shapeshifter in a buddy comedy or adventure. Wizards, witches, and ogres are traditional Shapeshifters in the world of fairy tales.

  PSYCHOLOGICAL FUNCTION

  An important psychological purpose of the Shapeshifter archetype is to express the energy of the animus and 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 images of masculinity in a woman'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 internal 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 feminine 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.

  These repressed qualities live within us and are manifested in dreams and fantasies as the animus or anima. They may take the form of dream characters such as opposite-sex teachers, family members, classmates, gods or monsters who allow us to express this unconscious but powerful force within. An encounter with the anima or animus in dreams or fantasy is considered an important step in psychological growth.

  PROJECTION

  We may also confront the animus and anima in reality. By nature we look for people who match our internal image of the opposite sex. Often we imagine the resemblance and project onto some unsuspecting person our desire to join with the anima or animus. We may fall into relationships in which we have not seen the partner clearly. Instead we have seen the anima or animus, our own internal notion of the ideal partner, projected onto the other person. We often go through relationships trying to force the partner to match our projection. Hitchcock created a powerful expression of this phenomenon in Vertigo. James Stewart forces Kim Novak to change her hair and clothing to match the image of his feminine ideal Carlota, a woman who ironically never existed in the first place.

  It's natural for each sex to regard the other as ever-changing, mysterious. Many of us don't understand our own sexuality and psychology very well, let alone that of the opposite sex. Often our main experience of the opposite sex is their changeability and their tendency to shift attitudes, appearances, and emotions for no apparent reason.

  Women complain that men are vague, vacillating, and unable to commit. Men complain that women are moody, flighty, fickle, and unpredictable. Anger can turn gentle men into beasts. Women change dramatically during their monthly cycle, shifting with the phases of the moon. During pregnancy they drastically shift shape and mood. At some time most of us have been perceived by others as "two-faced" Shapeshifters.

  The animus and anima may be positive or negative figures who may be helpful to the hero or destructive to him. In some stories it's the task of the hero to figure out which side, positive or negative, he is dealing with.

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

  These projections of our hidden opposite sides, these images and ideas about sexuality and relationships, form the archetype of the Shapeshifter.

  DRAMATIC FUNCTION

  The Shapeshifter serves the dramatic function of bringing doubt and suspense into a story. When heroes keep asking, "Is he faithful to me? Is she going to betray me? Does he truly love me? Is he an ally or an enemy?" a Shapeshifter is generally present.

  Shapeshifters appear with great frequency and variety in the film noir and thriller genres. The Big Sleep, The Maltese Falcon, and Chinatown feature detectives confronting Shapeshifting women whose loyalty and motives are in doubt. In other stories such as Hitchcock's Suspicion or Shadow of a Doubt, a good woman must figure out if a Shapeshifting man is worthy of her trust.

  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. The femme fatale finds expression today in stories of cops and detectives betrayed by killer women, such as Sharon Stone's character in Basic Instinct or Kathleen Turner's in Body Heat. Black Widow and Single White Female are interesting variants in which a female hero confronts a deadly, Shapeshifting femme fatale.

  The Shapeshifter, like the other archetypes, can be manifested by male or female characters. There are as many hommes fatales in myth, literature, and movies as there are femmes. In Greek mythology, Zeus was a great Shapeshifter, changing forms to cavort with human maidens who usually ended up suffering for it. Looking for Mr. Goodbar is about a woman seeking a perfect lover, but finding instead a Shapeshifting man who brings her death. The film The Stranger depicts a good woman (Loretta Young) who is about to marry a monstrous Shapeshifter, a closet Nazi played by Orson Welles.

  The fatale aspect is not always essential to this archetype. Shapeshifters may only dazzle and confuse the hero, rather than try to kill her. Shapeshifting is a natural part of romance. It's common to be blinded by love, unable to see the other person clearly through the many masks they wear. The character played by Michael Douglas in Romancing the Stone appears to be a Shapeshifter to hero Kathleen Turner, who is kept guessing until the last moment about the loyalty of her male counterpart.

  Shapeshifting may manifest in changes of appearance. In many films a woman's change of costume or hairstyle indicates that her identity is shifting and her loyalty is in doubt. This archetype may also be expressed through changes in behavior or speech, such as assuming different accents or telling a succession of lies. In the thriller Arabesque, Shapeshifter Sophia Loren tells unwilling hero Gregory Peck a bewildering series of stories about her background, all of which turn out be untrue. Many heroes have to deal with Shapeshifters, male and female, who assume disguises and tell lies to confuse them.

  A famous Shapeshifter from The Odyssey is the sea god Proteus, "the Old Man of the Sea." Menelaus, one of the heroes returning from the Trojan War, traps Proteus to force information out of him. Proteus changes into a lion, a snake, a panther, a boar, running water, and a tree in his attempt to escape. But Menelaus and his men hold on tight until Proteus returns to his true form and yields up the answers to their questions. The story teaches that if heroes are patient with Shapeshifters the truth may eventually come out. "Protean," our adjective meaning "readily taking many forms," comes from the story of Proteus.

  MASK OF THE SHAPESHIFTER

  As with the other archetypes, Shapeshifting is a function or a mask that may be worn by any character in a story. A hero may wear the mask in a romantic situation. Richard Gere, in An Officer and a Gentleman, puts on airs and tells a hat-full of lies to impress Debra Winger. He temporarily acts as a Shapeshifter although he is the hero of the piece.

  Sometimes a hero must become a Shapeshifter to escape a trap or get past a Threshold Guardian. In Sister Act, Whoopi Goldberg s character, a Las Vegas lounge singer, disguises herself as a Catholic nun to keep from being killed as a witness to a mob murder.

  Villains or their allies may wear the Shapeshifter mask to seduce or confuse a hero. The wicked queen in Snow White assumes the form of an old crone to trick the hero into eating a poisoned apple.

  Shapeshifting is also a natural attribute of other archetypes such as Mentors and Tricksters. Merlin, Mentor of the King Arthur stories, frequently changes shape to aid Arthur's cause. The goddess Athena in The Odyssey assumes the appearance of many different humans to help Odysseus and his son.

  Shapeshifters can also be found in so-called "buddy movies" in which the story centers on two male or two female characters who share the role of hero. Often one is more conventionally heroic and easier for the audience to identify with. The second character, while of the same sex as the main hero, will often be a Shapeshifter, whose loyalty and true nature are always in question. In the comedy The In~Laws, the "straight" hero, Alan Arkin, is nearly driven crazy by the Shapeshifting of his buddy, Peter Falk, a CIA agent.

  The Shapeshifter is one of the most flexible archetypes and serves a protean variety of functions in modern stories. It's found most often in male-female relationships, but it may also be useful in other situations to portray characters whose appearance or behavior changes to meet the needs of the story.

  The archetype known as the Shadow represents the energy of the dark side, the unexpressed, unrealized, or rejected aspects of something. Often it's the home of the suppressed monsters of our inner world. Shadows can be all the things we don't like about ourselves, all the dark secrets we can't admit, even to ourselves. The qualities we have renounced and tried to root out still lurk within, operating in the Shadow world of the unconscious. The Shadow can also shelter positive qualities that are in hiding or that we have rejected for some reason.

  The negative face of the Shadow in stories is projected onto characters called villains, antagonists, or enemies. Villains and enemies are usually dedicated to the death, destruction, or defeat of the hero. Antagonists may not be quite so hostile — they may be Allies who are after the same goal but who disagree with the hero's tactics. Antagonists and heroes in conflict are like horses in a team pulling in different directions, while villains and heroes in conflict are like trains on a head-on collision course.

  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 monstrous that wants to destroy us. If the Threshold Guardian represents neuroses, then the Shadow archetype stands for psychoses that not only hamper us, but threaten to destroy us. The Shadow may simply be that shady part of ourselves that we are always wrestling with in struggles over bad habits and old fears. This energy can be a powerful internal force with a life of its own and its own set of interests and priorities. It can be a destructive force, especially if not acknowledged, confronted, and brought to light.

  Thus in dreams, Shadows may appear as monsters, demons, devils, evil aliens, vampires, or other fearsome enemies. Note that many Shadow figures are also shapeshifters, such as vampires and werewolves.

  DRAMATIC FUNCTION

  The function of the Shadow in drama 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 putting 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.

  The challenging energy of the Shadow archetype can be expressed in a single character, but it may also be a mask worn at different times by any of the characters. 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.

  MASK OF THE SHADOW

  The Shadow can combine in powerful ways with other archetypes. Like the other archetypes, the Shadow is a function or mask which can be worn by any character. The primary Mentor of a story may wear the Shadow mask at times. In An Officer and a Gentleman the drill sergeant played by Louis Gossett, Jr. wears the masks of both Mentor and Shadow. He is Richard Gere's Mentor and second father, guiding him through the rigorous Navy training. But in terms of the life-and-death heart of the story, Gossett is also a Shadow who is trying to destroy Gere by driving him out of the program. He tests the young man to the limit to find out if he has what it takes, and almost kills him in the process of bringing out the best in him.

  Another strong combination of archetypes is found in the fatal Shapeshifter figures discussed earlier. In some stories, the person who starts out as the hero's love interest shifts shape so far that she becomes the Shadow, bent on the hero's destruction. Femmes fatales are often called "shady ladies." This might represent a struggle between a person's male and female sides, or obsession with the opposite sex turned into a psychotic state of mind. Orson Welles created a classic story on this theme in The Lady from Shanghai, in which Rita Hayworth dazzles Welles' character, shifts shape, and tries to destroy him.

  A Shadow may also wear the masks of other archetypes. Anthony Hopkins' "Hannibal the Cannibal" character from The Silence of the Lambs is primarily a Shadow, a projection of the dark side of human nature, but he also functions as a helpful Mentor to Jodie Foster's FBI agent, providing her with information that helps her catch another insane killer.

  Shadows may become seductive Shapeshifters to lure the hero into danger. They may function as Tricksters or Heralds, and may even manifest heroic qualities. Villains who fight bravely for their cause or experience a change of heart may even be redeemed and become heroes themselves, like the Beast in Beauty and the Beast.

 

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