The death mother

As we began discussing archetypes in class i started linking each one we discussed to a familiar character. Many of them happened to be from Star Wars, simply because many of the characters from the star wars universe fit so well into each archetype. Luke Skywalker fits perfectly into the role of the hero, Yoda and Obi Wan fill the role of the wise old man, most characters from the series fit neatly into an archetype.

One archetype i couldn't place within the star wars universe was that of the death mother. The name did however immediately draw me to the Animal Mother character from Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket. I began to wonder if the gender archetypes could cross gender lines.

In the film Animal Mother is a nihilistic, killing machine. He seems to be an invulnerable force, moving through the battlefield. During the climax of the film he advances on a sniper's position, against orders, to help his comrades. Mother blazes a trail forcing the others to follow, to prevent separation. In the same way Kali, the Hindi god of death and template for the devouring mother archetype, moves through time as an unstoppable force, initiating change and causing death. the characters follow the same basic archetype, always moving, causing change in their environments as they move through them and bringing death with them wherever they go. The only discrepancy between the two of them is their gender, Animal Mother is a red blooded american warrior and Kali is a goddess.

The idea that gender specific archetypes seem to cross the gender gap is very interesting to me and is something that I will look for in literature from now on.