ARCHETYPES

These are similar to stereotypes but are usually derogatory or negative. Rather than trying to create an ideology about a group of people they are used as a shortcut to help an audience quickly understand what their role in the text is.

They are used in fictional texts such as TV, film or Video Games to represent a specific type of character within a specific genre. Certain groups in society often fulfil certain archetypes in media texts.

For example, Frank Gallagher from TV Comedy Drama ‘Shameless’ is an archetypal British slob.

Frank is represented as the father of a large dysfunctional family. He lives on an urban council estate which is full of crime and anti-social behaviour. The Chatsworth estate and Frank’s representation of Britain is negative in many aspects. Frank is a lazy drunk who exploits his own children to get the money to buy more drink and drugs. Whenever he attempts to make the right choice by his family it is often met by failure. He has a thick regional accent that makes him unmistakably British, and often rants about British historical events and figures as great, bemoaning the state of the country today. Ironically unaware that he is a part of the problem he is criticising.

Task 1: Look at this link

Following the immense reaction to Benefits Street from dozens of headlines to questions in parliament, this follow-up documentary gives the residents of James Turner Street the chance to discuss their experiences of being on benefits and their perspectives on the welfare system.
The programme features a number of interviews with some of the key contributors to the series.

Task 2:

Watch this sketch from the comedy sketch show: ‘The Armstrong & Miller Show’. The humour in the sketch is derived from each actor portraying characters that represent two different British archetypes.

Create a Word doc: Two columns and about ten rows.

What are the two archetypes of Britishness being mocked in this sketch?
Put these at the head of the two columns.

What things from the sketch are typical of these archetypes?
Put keywords in the rows below the relevant headings.

Task 3: Find three different archetypes of Britishness from the genres of TV & Film. 

Give a description of the archetype and the character’s name. There are a lot to choose from.