Archetypal Characters

Avatar and Star Wars: Spectacle Over Substance
Avatar and Star Wars: Spectacle Over Substance

Avatar is an easy target for the online generation of YouTube haters. But what isn’t as well understood are the similarities between this latest Cameron sci-fi monstrosity and its doppelganger from the mid-70s, Star Wars. Those same detractors may have reason to pause if they took the time to fully appreciate what both films were trying to accomplish.

Character Motivation Defined
Character Motivation Defined

Archetypal Characters are a wonderful starting point when first starting out in structuring a meaningful screenplay or story. Great authors, however, break free of these standards and create complex characters that more closely resemble the people in our lives.

Archetypes and the Hero’s Journey
Archetypes and the Hero’s Journey

An examination of the usefulness and accuracy of Archetypal Characters as proposed by the paradigm of the mono-myth. While on the surface they may seem insightful, ultimately they provide little to no value in the structuring of a complete story.

Starting Out with Archetypes

Why there are Eight Archetypal Characters, and why you should be concerned with them.

About This Site

Story Fanatic is a website dedicated to investigating the wonderful world of story. From story structure to theory, analysis to writing, the articles on this site are an effort by Jim Hull to explore why some stories work better than others. Since 2005, 259 articles have been written. Read more »

Explore Further

Not sure where to start? You could check out the different topics covered here. Or, if you're really crazy about story, you might have more fun searching the hundreds of articles by concept.

Analyze

Analysis of District 9Analysis of Sunshine CleaningAnalysis of The Lives of OthersAnalysis of Taladega Nights