Vogler Annotation (p39-80)

Analytical and Persuasive Writing

Annotated Bibliography

Vogler (p.49 – 80)

Rajeev Rupani

Vogler, Christopher. The Writer's Journey (Mythic Structure for Writers). 3rd ed. Studio City, CA: Michael Wiese Productions, 2007. 49-80.

Summary:

In this reading Vogler discusses the remaining archetypes that complete the different facets of a hero’s personality and are involved in his or her journey: the Threshold Guardian, the Herald, the Shape shifter, the Shadow, the Ally and the Trickster. Vogler differentiates between the above archetypes by discussing each one by role, function and by associating human feelings with these archetypes. The Threshold Guardian is designed to ‘keep the unworthy from entering’ and can represent internal demons, which challenge the hero with change. As Vogler explains, the hero must outwit the Guardian, form a friendship with them or ‘get into their skin’, in order to get past. Vogler associates this with the coming of a new power or success for the hero, where the hero needs to ‘incorporate’ the Guardian in order to transcend and become merciful.

The function of the Herald archetype is simply shown to be this new form of ‘energy’ that the upsets the balance in the hero’s ordinary life. Vogler discusses the need of the Herald archetype in order to bring about the change or the call to adventure to the hero, when they are ready to change. The Herald can supposedly take any stance in the hero’s journey, such as Darth Vader does in Luke’s by kidnapping Lea, and can also be temporarily portrayed by the Mentor when giving a test or a challenge to the hero. Vogler emphasizes on the importance of the Herald by stating that ‘the energy of the Herald is needed in almost every story’.

The Shape shifter archetype is defined as ‘shifting and unstable’ along with being one of the ‘powerful’ archetypes in the hero’s journey. Vogler describes this archetype as representations of the animus or the anima, as explained by Carl Jung. The encounter with the Shape shifter is seen as a very important step in the psychological growth of the hero, since they often ‘project’ their image (animus/anima) on their partner. The function of the Shape shifter is to bring ‘suspense’ and ‘doubt’ into a story and is usually found in the form of a femme fatale. Similar to the Herald, this archetype mask can be worn by anyone involved in the hero’s journey and even the hero himself, as seen in the Richard Gere example in An Officer and a Gentleman. The Shape shifter archetype can be used to clearly portray the changes in behavior or personality of the characters, in the given storyline.

The Shadow archetype ‘represents the energy of the dark side’ and can usually be portrayed by the villain in the story. Vogler states that the Shadow archetype represents the ‘power of repressed feelings’ and can be very dangerous, if not kept in check, to the hero. The function of the Shadow archetype is to challenge the hero and to force them to fight back and rise to the challenge. This archetype mask can be worn by many different characters in the story, who do not think that their actions are morally wrong. This archetype can represent the feelings of the hero, which were ignored or forgotten and can be used to understand the character of the villain in the story.

The Ally archetype can serve many important functions that can ‘humanize the heroes’. A hero can have one or more Allies, who can represent the ‘unexpressed or unused parts of the personality’ and can assist the hero in overcoming his or her obstacles. Vogler discusses different kinds of archetypes that can be non-human, animal or even from beyond the grave, each with their own function but with the common purpose of assisting the hero. The Ally archetype can also express emotions that the hero is forbidden to express, either due to their nature or their fame.

The Trickster archetype is defined as one who ‘embodies the energy for mischief and the desire for change’. Vogler defines their main purpose as ‘comic relief’ where they are used to pull the audience back into the storyline by reviving their interest. The example given compares Bugs Bunny as a trickster hero as he hilariously competes for survival from the hunters. The Trickster is also defined as a ‘catalyst character’ because he or she affects the lives of the hero or other characters without changing themselves. Vogler concludes this discussion of the archetypes by re-stating that archetypes are used to make characters that can be ‘unique individuals and universal symbols of the qualities that form a complete human being’.

Reaction

The reading consisted of Vogler explaining a lot about the important character types, in the hero’s journey, in detail. The explanation provided by Vogler for each archetype was really informative and allowed me to associate characters, from some of my favorite novels, to these different archetypes. I completely agreed with the idea of these archetypes being ‘masks’ since a lot of complex characters, especially in Shakespeare’s plays, often go through some sort of a personality cycle. The idea of characters wearing these so called ‘masks’ reminded me of a Greek amphitheater, where actors often wore masks depicting their current state of emotion or personality. At least all of these archetypes can be seen in mainstream cinema, where a complete actor is one who portrays as many different characters (or archetypes as possible).

I do however think that the role of the femme fatale has generally increased over the years, where most of the shape-shifting roles are stereotypically done by women and portray a strong sense of sensuality in movies nowadays. Given the complexity, I believe, of the female mind it is not surprising that most of these roles are offered to women because they can handle them with ease and excellence. However the emergence of certain male actors, who can perform such complex roles, can be observed recently with Heath Ledger’s amazing performance as a very complicated villain, who consisted of many different archetypes. After reading about the different archetypes, I do feel that the need for them in stories is an important way for the writer to involve the reader and make them feel like they are experiencing a human being’s story.