Entertainment Archetypes

From page 47 of the November 8, 2013 issue of Entertainment Weekly.

It seems as though this year I have had literary archetypes on the brain.

This all started when reviewing potential titles for reading in AP 12 English this year (my first time with the course). To make the analysis of each piece more manageable for both myself and my students, I'll often look for some "connective tissue" between works that can be used as a gateway to deeper analysis. Given some of the potential titles (Beowulf, Frankenstein, The Hobbit, Macbeth, The Canterbury Tales), a the potential for using basic character and thematic archetypes beginning with Seamus Heaney's Beowulf and moving toward a deeper consideration of the Heroic Journey (with significant help from Joseph Campbell, naturally) with The Hobbit seemed a natural, if obvious, direction to go in.

While sitting at the doctor's office last week, I was pleased to come across some more modern examples of preliminary literary archetype analysis in a relatively recent issue of Entertainment Weekly. Not surprisingly, the cinematic Sauron (the big bad from The Lord of the Rings Trilogy that follows Tolkien's The Hobbit) makes an appearance.The brief grid also opens the possibility for legitimately sharing Toy Story 3 (courtesy of literary character Cathy Ames cinematic  ancestor Lotso) during a future flex class (just kidding... kind of)!