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JS

I've had a few questions regarding this phase of the project. To clarify, there are two goals I want to achieve and two parameters I wish you to follow.

Goals:

• Achieve an understanding what your archetype is, on an essential level (which you should be discovering as you find your 50 examples)
• Represent that essence visually using an original image of the medium of your choice (from photography to Photoshop or ink to paint; it doesn't matter).

Parameters of project:

• Must include the image described above
• Must incorporate (either through text or smaller images) the fifty examples you have found.

If you create your project on the computer, do not worry about printing it. Simply email the file to me, burn it to a disk, stick it on a flash drive, or upload it to MediaFire or another hosting service.

If you create your project by hand, it may be letter-sized.

Email any questions.

To the individual journeying into the underbelly of the world's stories:

How is the search coming? I have been unable to consume anything without coming across various incarnations of the Trickster or Damsel; I found myself watching an odd mixture of Princess, Anti-hero, and Warrior yesterday (rhymes with Muffy the Mampire Slayer). They seem to be everywhere.

They're even in my dreams.

I wonder if you haven't found yourself in a similar situation? If so, perhaps writing them down, getting them out of your head would be the best course of action. They can't surround you if they're trapped on the page—right?

We should meet tomorrow and trade advice. Perhaps there is some essential understanding we can gain from one another. I have around 25 on my page so far, but they just keep coming. I keep my list in the freezer; it's safer that way.

To tell you the truth, I'm a bit apprehensive of Thursday. You and your co-conspirators will be parading your archetypes for all to see, all drawn up and...listy.  There should be hundreds all together.

Best of luck in your search,

Stallings

P.S. Keep in touch.

JS

You guys are doing great. The handout I gave you today is not meant to get you thinking about the paper, but rather how to continue your search. Online is a great start, but you might think about dropping by Barnes and Noble or Gardner's. Take a peek around the mythology section (or the children's section) and see what you dig up. Share your sources!

As always, email me with questions or comments.

I've received a dozen or so messages from you guys updating me on your chosen archetypes. I'm having a blast pointing you in the right direction. If you have any questions, post them below or send me an email; I'm happy to respond.

Those covered so far:

• Femme fatale (twice)
• The trickster
• The seeker
• "Screw the Rules, I Make Them" (trope; most likely falls under the "rebel" archetype)
• The student
• The mentor
• The fairy godmother
• The damsel
• The heroine

Keep 'em coming!

Today we discussed the two stories included in the packet yesterday. While the connection between the two might have been obvious, it gave us a chance to discuss the portability of stories and practice the index card system.  Here are three examples from 5th hour today:

Notice the author's name on the right, the quotation in the middle, and the analysis at the end.  This student also included a connector for the Anansi story.

The "Brer Rabbit" title seems a bit specific, but if this student were to continue to study this particular character, the title would help him find cards from different stories easily.

Again, the author's name in the upper right corner and a title that includes the name of a character.  I've added "(wife)" to the General Topic on the top left to allow this card to fall under the more general "all wives" category rather than this specific woman.

This card contains, rather than a direct quotation, a paraphrase of the action in the story.  This is a good thing to do instead of quoting large sections of the story (the wife's advice in the four trials, in this case).

The analysis in this card is better than the first example, as the student is looking into the motivations of the character and comparing her to her husband.

Another great example.  Similar to the previous example, I have added "(sky god)" in the General Topic section in order to open up the possibility of connecting this character to Zeus, Horus, etc.

The analysis pulls the god's miserly nature from the fact that he "kept all the stories locked up in a wooden box." The next step, perhaps, for this student would be to look for miserliness in other gods or characters, or perhaps look for other boxes in other stories...

(Not a calendar that is the epitome of calendar-ness, just an overview of what we'll be up to in the coming weeks. Click to expand)

This is going to be a fantastic close to your senior year; archetypes are (by definition) apparent in every culture around the world and can be seen in every story ever told. For the past two years I've emphasized that "everything's connected"; now it's time to see just how closely.

This will be a four-step project with plenty of benchmarks on the way. (More specifics to come.) Today I have you an overview of how to learn/do research with index cards.  Trust me on this.  Follow my instructions and you'll have no problems.

Your homework tonight is to choose an archetype that you wish to study.  I've given you lists, and here are some more. And some tropes from television. And here's a t-shirt.

After you've chosen, read the two stories I included with the "Index Cards are Your Friends" handout and compare. Mark the similarities and the differences, and anything else you find interesting about them.  Make index cards for them if you'd like to get ahead for tomorrow, but I'll walk you through the process in class.

And please, for the love of the class, let me know if I've made a mistake on this calendar. (All dates subject to change with advanced warning. Things happen.)