Response for Class 09/23

In class this week we watched The African Queen starring Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn. I have not seen this movie before, but have heard a lot about it. I had no idea that it was an independent movie. With the stars involved in this film, it caught me off guard. But it was an awesome film to watch, either way.

In relation to this movie, we were lectured on character archetypes that occur in these films. An archetype being recurring patterns of character behavior or actions. As discussed in class, and to solidify the concept further, the archetypes are:

The Hero - To serve and to sacrifice
Herald - To warn or to challenge
Mentor - To guide and to teach
Threshold Guardian - to test and to block (not necessarily human)
Shape shifter - to question and to deceive
Shadow - to destroy
Trickster - to disrupt (a good way to think about this is by comedy)

These archetypes can be people, animals, or objects. They can be external or internal, and can be positive or negative.

After learning about these archetype characters and watching The African Queen, I can see why Professor Voytilla used the film as a way to correlate the concept to real film.

In an attempt to connect them myself, these are the archetypes that I saw in the film:

The hero - I believe this to be Charlie, as he is the one who with the boat and the knowledge to lead the story and get them to their desired point. In a smaller role Rose may have acted, at times, as the hero, but not entirely.

The Herald - I would say Rose is the herald as she is the one who brings up the ultimate mission in going after the Louisa.

The Mentor - Again, I would have to say Charlie is the mentor as he has the knowledge of the river and the maps to guide them where to go and how to get there.

Threshold Guardian - Given the overall circumstanced of the film, I would say that the river is the threshold guardian, in that it most of the issues encountered by Charlie and Rose stem from that of the river.

Shape shifter - with the context of "to question,' I am not quite sure which aspect or character in the movie would fall under that. But the river does a lot of deceiving throughout the film.

Shadow - The shadow would have to be the Louisa, since it is an enemy ship whose role as a battle ship, coincidentally, is to destroy.

Trickster -I have no idea what or who would be considered the trickster in the film. Not too many blows or one liners to break tension that I can recall.