[UA] Archetype ve. Stereotype (was The Masterless Man...)

[Gaston Phillips]

> The basic idea was this: in feudal Japan, the ronin lost an actual, human
> master.  In modern day, the master which has been lost tends to be a set of
> ideals or principles, which have been lost due not to their own flaws but due
> to people bending these ideals to wrong ends.  The masterless man becomes a
> disillusioned loner (perhaps some of the Existentialist philosophers also fit
> this), seeking a way to mesh their philosophy with a world that doesn't match
> it.  It was never, in any way, an attempt to disagree with what was stated.


I'm not sure that the MM archetype works as well with a principle as the
lost master - the samurai, who seem to be the hands-down embodiments of the
scneario we're talking about, were willing to die fo rhteir masters.  On a
moment's notice.  

Hagakure, the way of the samurai, details their mental states, and describes
the way of the samurai as a way of dying.

So the Masterless man, when he had a master, obeyed his master unthinkingly.
He was an extension of his master, an implement of his master's will.  The
tragedy comes when this person, the pinnacle of service to the master, finds
himself responsible for his own decisions.

Maybe I'm just babbling - I'm not sure.  I keep thinking about the scene in
_Ronin_ where the french guy painting the miniatures talks to Robert DeNiro
about what it is to have lost one's master.

That, I think, is what the MM should represent.  Not the rebel, not the man
who fights masters, but the soldier without an army.

The law men of the west were people trying to enforce the law outside of
towns, or in towns where 'the law' didn't exist, was corrupt, or was unable
to enforce itself.

I'm not sure if I'm explaining what I mean, here.  I may have to try this
again after sleep.  But, for now:

The Masterless Man is not The Rebel.  He is not against the idea of Masters.
A Freelance Web Designer isn't Freelance because Design Corporations don't
exist, or becuse Design Corporations are corrupt and make sure that no good
advertisements get made.  The idea of the Masterless Man, I think, involves
either the desire for a Master, or past service to a Master who isn't in the
picture anymore, or something like that.

Right?



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