When we look at the various forms of media in existence today (radio, television, internet etc.), it's often hard to distinguish whether media and art reflect society...or whether society has begun to mimic art. Sometimes, we find ourselves with very conflicting views when we stop and really study the images we're bombarded with on a day to day basis. Women in particular seem to be getting a heavy dose of this so called "contradiction" of images and it seems that many of these images can be traced to the different archetypal schema pointed out by Carl Jung, a follower, and later detractor, of Sigmund Freud.
First, there is Woman: The Mother. This is the caring, loving figure that we often associate with our own mothers though it doesn't necessarily have to be someone's mother. In fact, this figure doesn't even have to be related to you. Any female who is selfless and nurturing in her behavior falls into this archetype.
Second, there is Woman: The Temptress. This is the woman who is fully aware of her sexuality and sensuality and makes use of it as a tool or even as a weapon. Contradictory to the Mother, the Temptress is completely selfish and only out to fulfill her own desires and wishes by using others. A Temptress does not have to actually engage in sexual activities to become a Temptress. Often the promise or allusion to the potential is enough to gain what she needs.
Finally, is Woman: The Warrior. This aspect has always existed though really took off during the Women's Lib movement after the 1950s. The idea of women as fierce, assertive and aggressive in pursuit of their goals. While the Temptress used her gender as a weapon, the Warrior often marginalizes her gender if not ignoring it completely. In fact, any assistance might even be viewed as perceiving her as weak, which the Warrior cannot accept.
Now, the question becomes, "Which of these views is most accurate? Which is least?" or "Can you accurately use just one to describe a woman, or is each woman a combination of the three?"
Since I'm interested in getting a bit of feedback on this one, this post is going to be a little shorter. I want to hear what you guys who actually read this thing think. Are there any images of women that I missed? What are your feelings on the earlier questions? Do you think I'm totally off in left field?
I wanna know!
While I would say that a woman is a combination of all three, I do take exception to your descritpions of Woman: the Temptress and Woman: the Warrior. A Temptress may not always be completely selfish in her actions (while I doubt Elizabeth I might have used her wiles to string along a line of suitors in an effort to keep the country happy and running, you could hardly call this entirely selfish since she did have the whole of England in mind), just as a Warrior is unlikely to take the view that accepting help is "weakness" (I'm sure Boadicea wanted all the help she could get to savage the Brits).
ReplyDeleteYou've also neglected to mention the other two archetypes of the Triple Goddess: the Maiden, the Mother, and the Crone. For the sake of time and space, let me quote Wikipedia (though this is accurate information from other sources outside of it): "The Maiden represents enchantment, inception, expansion, the promise of new beginnings, birth, youth and youthful enthusiasm, represented by the waxing moon.
The Mother represents ripeness, fertility, sexuality, fulfillment, stability, power and life represented by the full moon.
The Crone represents wisdom, repose, death, and endings represented by the waning moon."
We see use of these archetypes even in today's media, such as the movie 'Aliens' and also reflected in Alfred Hitchcock's 'Vertigo', both of which I've seen and can attest to finding a sound basis for each archetype.
Also, fyi, my mother's response to my comment is: "Ditto".
I think you can use all three to describe a lot of women, in both real life and in literature. It just depends on what part of their life you're describing.
ReplyDeleteThe above commenter mentioned the three faces of the Goddess, the Maiden, Mother, and Crone. Well, are these three types of women, or three stages in a woman's life? Does not the Maiden become the Mother, and the Mother the Crone?
Using your three examples, I'd say each archetype can be used to describe a woman in a particular situation. I do think you could add in something similar to the Maiden, something Innocent and Pure. That damsel in distress type that compels a gentleman to want to look after her. It's an aspect of womanhood that can shine when she's in danger or vulnerable. Even the Warrior can reach that weakest moment and reach out to someone, completely changing that archetype.
This is one reason I don't really like archetype characters in books. Real people have so many layers, are so dynamic. For archetypes to be consistent, it seems to me that the characters remain static. The book The Last Unicorn by Peter Beagle actually made a point about this through his 'hero' character. Even though the situation was demanding him to be something besides the hero, he had to continue to act the hero, to go out on quests and slay monsters and solve puzzles because he was the 'hero'.
Similarly, this sort of thing doesn't apply just to women. Men have their own classifications and archetypes as well, some of which are contradictory - from your competent, well-rounded hero, to the blubbering, idiotic father who doesn't know how to plug in a hairdryer.
Hi - Alex asked me to read through this blog post and comment if I had anything to add. And I think that you have hit on some of the key archetypal images of women in our society.
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to highlight some of the pioneering work that has been done in analyzing media images of women for your readers. Specifically, the work of feminist documentary filmmaker/author, Jean Kilbourne http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Kilbourne is very informative about the restrictive images of women portrayed in print advertising (i.e., particularly woman as object and woman as child).
You can check out her groundbreaking film: Killing Us Softly: Advertising's Image of Women on YouTube. I'm linking to the 1st part of 4 of the film here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svpMan9cWyo&feature=related.
And a heart-felt thanks to you and your readers for expanding the discourse that challenges representations of women in the media through this blog! (Dr. Jeneve Brooks, Asst. Prof in Sociology- Troy Univ-Dothan)
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