[UA] Sacrafice your friends for food

[Jakob Pape]

On Mon, Jan 19, 2009 at 6:22 AM, George Guy <gguy at knox.edu> wrote:

>
>
> On Mon, Jan 12, 2009 at 2:21 PM, Russell Rayburn <rusrayburn at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> On Mon, Jan 12, 2009 at 3:04 PM, Andrew Winnenberg <awinnenb at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>> > On Mon, Jan 12, 2009 at 1:07 PM, Russell Rayburn <rusrayburn at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>> >
>> >> Our heros and villains are creations of media now.  Maybe it's been
>> >> that way for a while; perhaps since someone talked about Zeus.
>> >>
>> >> So, why wouldn't someone try to ascend as The Joker?  Or as Dexter
>> >> Morgan, for that matter?
>> >
>> > I thought people did do that. That's why archetypes have different
>> > faces, isn't it? You might be using Dexter, or Elvis, as a model, but
>> > you're aiming for an archetypal idea that was a part of their
>> > personality or public persona.
>>
>> Perhaps that's one way to look at it.  On the other hand, the various
>> masks tend to redefine the archetype to the point that it's almost
>> completely new.
>>
>> Take Dexter.  A serial killer who kills serial killers, has a wife,
>> stepkids, steady job... a far cry from Buffalo Bill ( for instance ).
>> Are they really both channeling the Dark Stalker?
>
>
> I could comment if I knew what the Dark Stalker's taboo was (what book is
> the DS in, again?), but the archetypes are designed to have room for less
> conventional followers. Keep in mind that it's ONLY an archetype's taboo
> that defines it, not its symbols.
>
>>
>> I don't think Dexter is channelling the Dark Stalker. In fact, I'd say he
has a strong unconscious urge to follow that path, but works hard not to.
The taboo, by the way, is that a Dark Stalker can be no one's servant, has
no agenda other than murder, and is never crass or base. I'm not sure
whether Dexter's work in for the police puts him in violation, though I'm
inclined to think it does. His careful cultivation of a motive for his
killings is pretty much a rebellion against the Dark Stalker though.

Note that many serial killers fail at these standards; it's not the path of
the serial killer, it's the path of the archetypal serial killer we all know
and fear, who is brought to us mostly through fiction. Many of the actual
killers are crass, or work in menial jobs, but that doesn't affect the
archetype, only makes it harder to follow accidentally.



-- 
Jakob Pape

"Sometimes subtlety comes in the form of large explosions and jammed open
airlock doors."
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