This is a blog post discussing the analysis of the book JPod using the archetypal literary theory.
Exploring Literary Theory in the Book JPod
Archetypal literary theory is the theory that in various works and forms of media, there exists consistent definitions or patterns. These patterns can be applied t characters, events, settings, and plot. After reading Douglas Coupland's book, JPod, I found myself questioning it more deeply and gaining more insight when I applied the archetypal literary theory. The thing about the archetypal literary theory is that you have to further explore things when considering it. You can't just breeze over a character and think “Oh yeah, that reminds me of this book, or that character.” It makes you explore the character, their traits, habits, personality, setting, relatives, relationships, goals and so on. This is why the archetypal literary theory helped me to explore the setting of JPod and the characters living inside it.
Every character is unique. They all have their own traits and quirks. Yet if enough effort is put in, you can organize these characters into categories that relate to other media works. Ethan, the witty, sarcastic main character, who looks at everything with a sense of irony and lack of care. A character that's relatable to Ethan could be Jake Peralta from a TV series called Brooklyn Nine-Nine.(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2467372/) Ethan only differs slightly from Jake in the sense that Ethan is more mature, but the pattern still exists. Of course not every character completely conforms to it though.
As we saw in the previous example, the Ethan character was broken down into smaller, relatable components. By breaking him down into these components, we gain more insight to the Ethan character. He's witty, sure, but he's not immature. He looks upon the world as a whole with a sense of irony to distance himself and completely understand things. This is evident when Ethans father states on page 361, “Don't play dumb, I read the paper like anyone else, Ethan. I've read about Generation K and your need to distance yourself from the world by using irony,” and Ethan replies, “Okay, I was being ironic.”
My other blog posts featured on this site delve into the various other aspects of the archetypes in JPod, discussing the typical plot and story, and some of the other character's archetypes. But when we apply these generalizations, it is important to remember that even if the underlying story is a regurgitated cliché used time and time again, or if the characters are comparable to other media forms, they are still unique. It's like saying if everyone has ears, they are all the same. When we look at archetypes, we are generalizing traits to relate them to others, because of this, many other traits are ignored or are just not considered. We have to consider them however, as they are still integral to what makes a character who they are or what makes a setting the way it is. So when we look at archetypes, we must keep an open eye on the other things too, taking it all into consideration.
Archetypal literary theory is the theory that in various works and forms of media, there exists consistent definitions or patterns. These patterns can be applied t characters, events, settings, and plot. After reading Douglas Coupland's book, JPod, I found myself questioning it more deeply and gaining more insight when I applied the archetypal literary theory. The thing about the archetypal literary theory is that you have to further explore things when considering it. You can't just breeze over a character and think “Oh yeah, that reminds me of this book, or that character.” It makes you explore the character, their traits, habits, personality, setting, relatives, relationships, goals and so on. This is why the archetypal literary theory helped me to explore the setting of JPod and the characters living inside it.
Every character is unique. They all have their own traits and quirks. Yet if enough effort is put in, you can organize these characters into categories that relate to other media works. Ethan, the witty, sarcastic main character, who looks at everything with a sense of irony and lack of care. A character that's relatable to Ethan could be Jake Peralta from a TV series called Brooklyn Nine-Nine.(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2467372/) Ethan only differs slightly from Jake in the sense that Ethan is more mature, but the pattern still exists. Of course not every character completely conforms to it though.
As we saw in the previous example, the Ethan character was broken down into smaller, relatable components. By breaking him down into these components, we gain more insight to the Ethan character. He's witty, sure, but he's not immature. He looks upon the world as a whole with a sense of irony to distance himself and completely understand things. This is evident when Ethans father states on page 361, “Don't play dumb, I read the paper like anyone else, Ethan. I've read about Generation K and your need to distance yourself from the world by using irony,” and Ethan replies, “Okay, I was being ironic.”
My other blog posts featured on this site delve into the various other aspects of the archetypes in JPod, discussing the typical plot and story, and some of the other character's archetypes. But when we apply these generalizations, it is important to remember that even if the underlying story is a regurgitated cliché used time and time again, or if the characters are comparable to other media forms, they are still unique. It's like saying if everyone has ears, they are all the same. When we look at archetypes, we are generalizing traits to relate them to others, because of this, many other traits are ignored or are just not considered. We have to consider them however, as they are still integral to what makes a character who they are or what makes a setting the way it is. So when we look at archetypes, we must keep an open eye on the other things too, taking it all into consideration.