Character & Archetypal Criticism

In Inception

Overarching Question

Question

Is there a weakness to art as it continually recycles universal influences?

Character

Character

Element of cognitive Design

The ways in which a writer has combined people and actions to represent subject and theme

Define

Themes

of inception

Mal is a manifestation of Cobb’s guilt

Cobb's projection of Mal frequently double-cross

Reality is only what we believe to be real

Attempting to take responsibility

Guilt

Betrayal

Questioning Reality

Quest For Redemption

Summary

The characters within the story are tools the author uses to convey these themes to the audience

Archetypal Criticism

definition

of the literary theory

innate concepts of characters, circumstances, or themes that reoccur in literature; mirroring universal concepts of humanity, nature and mythology

Archetype

handles how texts are influenced by the world and humanity through investigating and analyzing the reoccurring motifs in literature

Archetypal criticism

Summary

the concept of “collective unconscious”, that despite varying cultures and experiences, literature remained consistent, with reoccurring motifs

Examples of Archetypes

Archetypal characters

  • The Self
  • The Shadow
  • The Anima and Animus
  • The Persona

Principle

  • The Hero
  • The Sage
  • The Trickster
  • The Hermaphrodite
  • The Artist
  • The Maiden

secondary

  • The Father
  • The Mother
  • The Child
  • The God
  • The Scapegoat
  • The Beast

Archetypal Imagery

  • Colours
  • Elements
  • Nature
  • The Quest
  • The Fall
  • The Initiation
  • The Renewal of Life
  • The Journey

Archetypal Situations

History

of the literary theory

  • refinement Freud theories
  • kickstarted by Carl Jung
  • Plato identifying archetypes

inception Characters

And their archetypes

  • Cobb-                     The Anti-God

  • Mal-                             The Trickster

  • Ariadne-                                                The Child

  • Arthur- The Mother
  • Eames- The Artist
  • Saito- The Maiden
  • Robert Fischer- The Scapegoat
  • Maurice Fischer- The Anti-Father
  • Stephen Miles- The Sage

(The Self)

(The Shadow)

(The Anima and Animus)

mythological Criticism

definition

A story that is not true which involves supernatural beings. A myth is always concerned with creation and how things come to “exist”

Myth

History

Ernst Cassirer and non-reductionism

Claude Levi-Strauss and non-reductionism

of the mythological

Inception

and greek myth

Pulling inspiration from the Greek myth of the Minotaur and Theseus. With the character of Ariadne being a direct allusion to the myth.

Recap

Is there a weakness to art as it continually recycles universal influences?

The ways in which a writer has combined people and actions to represent subject and theme

Investigating and analyzing the reoccurring motifs in literature

Concerned with how things come to “exist”

Overarching question

Character

Archetypal Criticism

Myth

  • Cobb- (The Self) The Anti-God

  • Mal- (The Shadow) The Trickster

  • Ariadne- (The Anima and Animus) The Child

Characters' archetypes

3 hots questions

Literary Seminar

Hots Questions

Do the archetypes we have chosen fully describe the characters in the movie?

1

What aspects of Inception’s story are archetypal? Are any aspects of Inception’s story unique?

2

Analyze the relationship between all people, could everything in one's spiritual life have been derived from the same idea with different twists?

3

Work Cited

“Archetype - Examples and Definition of Archetype.” Literary Devices, 11 Mar. 2015, literarydevices.net/archetype/.

 

Bronzite, Dan. “The Hero's Journey - Mythic Structure of Joseph Campbell's Monomyth.” Movie Outline, www.movieoutline.com/articles/the-hero-journey-mythic-structure-of-joseph-campbell-monomyth.html.

 

“Characters.” Inception Wiki, inception.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Characters.

 

Cuddon, John A., and Rafey Habib. The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory. 5th ed., Penguin Books, 2014.

 

Delahoyde, Michael. “Archetypal Criticism.” Archetypal Criticism, public.wsu.edu/~delahoyd/archetypal.crit.html.

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Work Cited

Delahoyde, Michael. “Literary Critical Theory: Interpretive Strategies.” Critical Theory: Summaries, public.wsu.edu/~delahoyd/crit.summaries.html.

 

Reeves, Charles Eric. “Myth Theory and Criticism.” Myth Theory and Criticism, Johns Hopkins University Press, www.ndsu.edu/pubweb/~cinichol/271/Myth%20Theory%20and%20Criticism.htm.

 

Shmoop Editorial Team. “Carl Jung.” Shmoop, Shmoop University, 11 Nov. 2008, www.shmoop.com/carl-jung/.

 

Shmoop Editorial Team. “Inception Themes.” Shmoop, Shmoop University, 11 Nov. 2008, www.shmoop.com/inception/themes.html.

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Work Cited

Stenudd, Stefan. “Psychoanalysis of Myth 5.” Psychoanalysis of Myth - Carl G Jung, www.stenudd.com/myth/freudjung/jung.htm.

 

Stenudd, Stefan. “Psychoanalysis of Myth 6.” Psychoanalysis of Myth - The Jungian Archetypes, www.stenudd.com/myth/freudjung/jung-archetypes.htm.

 

Waterhouse, John William. “Ariadne in Inception.” Mythography, 25 Jan. 2012, www.mythography.com/myth/ariadne-in-inception/.

 

“The Wide Spectrum: A Mammoth List of Jungian Archetypes.” PsycholoGenie, Buzzle.com, Inc., psychologenie.com/list-of-jungian-archetypes.

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