Hello, If I may ask a few questions and share a thought;
By my understanding, archetypes themselves are a kinda Platonic from or ideal version of whatever they represent, and by extention are not actually the thing in question, just it's quintessential characteristic. If a human image is used to quantify a charateristic, does that really objectify people? Would it still be objectification if the achetype was based of an idealization of the person percieving it? Does a human image that differs from the viewer's immediate sphere objectify the whole of the culture it derives from?
If the mark was missed, I appologize. The curiosity that got me here, comes from this thought after reading the post...
Characters from stories, I take to be highly specialized archetype forms. Heros, villans, and thier friends, mentors, loves, can come from anywhere, be anything, and come to represent and ideal to fans of thier media. (Books, movies, and especially, interactive medias like video games, and tabletop RPGs.) After absorbing the story, a person may form a custom achetype for a personal characteristic they appreciate the most based off of... an anti-social elf? A do-gooder vampire? A tax accountant? (To have fun with the idea :)
It is understandable that pre-created images have the benefit of being a different race (or even species) then the perciever before bring utilized as an archtype, but would that be objectification? Creating an image consciously or subconsciously to represent an ideal on would wish to obtain seems to be based on pulling from unexplored areas in one's own head, so a radicaly different image may be part of the deal, particularly if the characteristic is something the creator may not see in themselves.
In that light I don't think it's racism that's showing it's head, but if I may ask, to understand your view:
Are archetypical images, themselves, objectifying? Is RPing a character of a different race objectifying, and if not, does the subconscious genereation of such a character count?
And on the chance I've completely missed what you were saying, I REALLY, appologize for blogging your LJ, this was alot longer then I thought it'd be! Happy trails!
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By my understanding, archetypes themselves are a kinda Platonic from or ideal version of whatever they represent, and by extention are not actually the thing in question, just it's quintessential characteristic. If a human image is used to quantify a charateristic, does that really objectify people? Would it still be objectification if the achetype was based of an idealization of the person percieving it? Does a human image that differs from the viewer's immediate sphere objectify the whole of the culture it derives from?
If the mark was missed, I appologize. The curiosity that got me here, comes from this thought after reading the post...
Characters from stories, I take to be highly specialized archetype forms. Heros, villans, and thier friends, mentors, loves, can come from anywhere, be anything, and come to represent and ideal to fans of thier media. (Books, movies, and especially, interactive medias like video games, and tabletop RPGs.) After absorbing the story, a person may form a custom achetype for a personal characteristic they appreciate the most based off of... an anti-social elf? A do-gooder vampire? A tax accountant? (To have fun with the idea :)
It is understandable that pre-created images have the benefit of being a different race (or even species) then the perciever before bring utilized as an archtype, but would that be objectification? Creating an image consciously or subconsciously to represent an ideal on would wish to obtain seems to be based on pulling from unexplored areas in one's own head, so a radicaly different image may be part of the deal, particularly if the characteristic is something the creator may not see in themselves.
In that light I don't think it's racism that's showing it's head, but if I may ask, to understand your view:
Are archetypical images, themselves, objectifying?
Is RPing a character of a different race objectifying, and if not, does the subconscious genereation of such a character count?
And on the chance I've completely missed what you were saying, I REALLY, appologize for blogging your LJ, this was alot longer then I thought it'd be! Happy trails!