[UA] Archetypes

[Eric Christian Berg]

On Tue, 21 Dec 1999, James Alan Gardner wrote:

> Therefore, I suspect that a Godwalker Mother could have booted out
> the previous Mother archetype during the 1950's: a time when the
> nuclear family version of motherhood replaced whatever came before.
> The old Mother archetype simply didn't correspond to Motherhood as
> well as a Betty-Crocker-style Godwalker.  

The problem is just how universal is this? I have a significant problem
with Western (particular American) conceptions being seen as the defining
spirit of the time. You have to remember that there are a lot of people on
this planet who never heard of Betty Crocker and have no grasp of the odd
conservative consumer culture of 1950s America. Given this, I don't see
why the Godwalker is automatically assumed to be an American sitcom
rip-off.

I'm not trying to say that the universal image of the archetypes don't
change, but that I think it is much more general and abstract than an
image from a particular culture, no matter how dominant to our own way of
thinking. :)

-- 
Eric Christian Berg
Asst System Administrator, Comptek Amherst Systems
(716) 631-0088 ext. 199
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