Archetypal images of modern social mythology

Shintar Tatyana Anatolevna Researcher at the Moscow Museum of Modern Art 107497, Russia, Moskovskaya oblast', g. Moscow, ul. Baikal'skaya, 48, of. 2 tair@bk.ru

It is difficult to imagine the organization of the world according to the laws of the universe without understanding the collective forms of the unconscious. The model of the world, expressed in archetypal images in all epochs, is present in the public consciousness of people as a kind of "hiding place" of metaphysical meanings of the world order. These meanings are embodied in various forms throughout the existence of mankind: pagan rituals, ideals of religions, plots of mass culture, the structure of utopias, works of art, etc. Being in an unstable situation, one can find spiritual support for rethinking in archetypal images, transfer classical scenarios to what is happening in real time and try to understand people from other cultures. Knowing archetypal images, you can use this knowledge to understand everyday life. In all the ongoing social processes and phenomena, social mythology in general and myth in particular are correlated. Today, society exists in situations of crisis of national identity, information and psychological wars, anomie of cultural and social values.

The prevalence of neo-mythological consciousness and its presence in all spheres of life, in mass culture, in the media, in art, education, politics, advertising, etc. makes the analysis of mythological images an important scientific task.

To describe and understand the myth, it is impossible to do without such definitions as the primordial image, the primordial elements, the primordial types. One of the most popular theories of myth systematization based on the principle of generality was presented by K. Kerenyi and K. Jung. They managed to unite various areas of the world of mythological legends. The basic principles of this theory are actively used in psychology and in a number of other scientific disciplines in which mythological systems are studied.  Including in social mythology. As S.S. Averintsev wrote: "The term "mythology" loses nowadays the obligatory limits of application absolutely everywhere necessary for any term" ^{[1, p.113]}. The very concept of myth in the context of social mythology has many definitions depending on the context under consideration. P.S. Gurevich, within the framework of Marxist scientific philosophy, understood the term social myth as "a special type of ideological consciousness" ^{[4, p.6]}. In the work of P.A. Plutto, the social myth is a form of socio-cultural illusions ^{[14, p.38]}.

The study of social mythology is the subject of interest of scientists of social and humanitarian sciences. In the study of modern social mythology, four major trends can be distinguished – structuralist (K. Levi-Strauss), semiotic (R. Barth et al.), phenomenological (A.F. Losev et al.), psychoanalytic (D. Campbell, M. Eliade, D. Hollis et al.).

K. Levi-Strauss tried to identify structural patterns in myths, based on the works of F. K. Levi-Strauss believed, considering myth primarily as a linguistic object, that the entire social reality is permeated with symbolic forms that are known only when their structure is realized. In the book "Structural Anthropology" K. Levi-Strauss defined myth as a "phenomenon of linguistic order" ^{[8, p.243]} and that it "is an integral part of language" ^{[8, p.243]}.          R. Barth investigated the mythological content of modernity of social processes, believing that the modern era is a field for mythologizing, that any social event is described with the help of myths. And the impact of myths on a person cannot be controlled. Therefore, in the book "Mythology", the philosopher proposed to create an "artificial myth", and the author suggested "that such a reconstructed myth would turn out to be a true mythology" ^{[3, p.296]}. R. Barth proposed to consider myth as a semiological system with a three-membered structure in which the sign, the signifier and the signified are connected. The signifier of the myth is dual – there is a deformation and alienation of the original meaning. R. Barth wrote: "... Myth is a dual system; it is as if omnipresent – where the meaning ends, the myth immediately begins there" ^{[3, p.248]}.

A.F. Losev, studying the myth from the standpoint of dialectics, revealed the effectiveness of scientific, philosophical and literary myths. In the work "Dialectics of Myth", the scientist demonstrated that "mythical consciousness is least of all an intellectual and mentally ideal consciousness" ^{[9, p.38]}. The myth is not aimed at analysis, but at the synthesis of ideas embedded in objects. If the logic of reason requires consistency in the analysis of a particular meaning, then the myth is distracted, detached from such a meaning.

In the psychoanalytic concept of myth by M. Eliade, myth is considered as a tool for resolving contradictions in the worldview. The main purpose of the myth is the elimination of problems in the perception of various life situations, giving meaning to life. As an example, we can cite the adaptation of Christianity in the early stages to the perception of the inhabitants of rural regions from the book "Aspects of Myth" by M. Eliade. "The specific religious experience of rural residents was based on what could be called "cosmic Christianity." The peasants of Europe understood Christianity as a cosmic liturgy. The Christological mystery also affected the fate of the Cosmos. All nature groans in anticipation of Resurrection — this is the main motive of both the Easter liturgy and the religious folklore of Eastern Christianity" ^{[19, p.131]}.

Scientists of antiquity have been searching for an understanding of the principles of the impact of myths on society. And even then, many concepts of this term were understood. Plato also spoke about the myth both as stories about the life of gods and heroes, and as words bearing various semantic shades. Including in the ideological context. For those who reproached the gods and doubted their goodness and power, according to Plato, it was necessary to create special myths, "soothing" ^{[6, p.60]}. Since the rulers were often seen as legitimate representatives of the power of the gods, this also applied to the rulers. According to the theory of the Greek philosopher Euhemerus, all heroes and gods are the transformation of real personalities, and myths are the interpretation of events that once happened. That is, the beginning of the social myth was laid back 500 years BC.

In the Middle Ages, as M. notes. According to Eliade, there was a "rise of mythological thinking" ^{[19, p.173]} and "all social classes proclaim their own mythological traditions" ^{[19, p.296]}. And this is despite the fact that ancient mythology has been discredited by Christian theologians and philosophers. 

During the Renaissance, there was an interest in mythology as allegories of higher values. This is most clearly demonstrated in the European art of the XIV-XVI centuries. Abstract concepts materialized in visual images. And with the help of allegories, the artists conveyed an unambiguous idea embodied in the depiction of ancient mythological heroes and their lives. Since in antiquity almost every phenomenon had a patron- a spirit, the artist expressed his intention in his image. So Sandro Botticelli is considered the ancestor of mythological painting.

In the Age of Enlightenment, J. Vico, in the work "Foundations of a New Science about the Common Nature of Nations", "created the first serious philosophy of myth. It is no accident that the philosophy of myth as part of the philosophy of history arose in the era when the time of bourgeois "prose" began ^{[12, p.13]}.

Since the end of the XIX century, the focus of the study of myths has changed in science. From the moment when they were considered exclusively as "witnesses of the past" and were based on archaic forms of mentality, the emphasis shifted to "complicity in what is happening." As a result of studies of mythology in the mainstream of anthropology, sociology, analytical psychology, semiotics and philosophy, many theories of myth arise that interpret this phenomenon in different ways. Therefore, mythology was often mentioned in the philosophical works of F. Nietzsche, E. Durkheim, C. Jung, E. Cassirer, A. Bergson, Z. Freud. Many theories of myth were based on the criteria of authenticity of its content and the degree of its correspondence to historical reality to the level of facts, symbols and allegories.

At the beginning of the XX century with the advent of such a direction as psychoanalysis Z. The prerequisites for the creation of social mythology appeared in Freud and analytical psychology of C. Jung. At the same time, there was a scientific interest in mythology as a result of creative and spiritual activity. Jung's analytical psychology allows us to look at social mythology through the prism of the theory of archetypes and make sure of its transformation and relevance in today's reality.

Now the concept of "archetype" is used extremely widely: from science to interior design and clothing branding. The multidimensional nature of the problems of archetypal images has been noted by many scientists: "It is difficult, if not impossible, to overcome it. Everything we can say about the archetype is said from the standpoint of our consciousness and what is conditioned by this consciousness" ^{[11, p.178]}. V.M. Naidysh noted: "K. Jung's teaching about the collective unconscious entered the golden fund of philosophical and psychological thought of the XX century." ^{[10, p.27]}. In the works of K. Jung, the collective unconscious is a set of mental processes and phenomena. The collective unconscious "is absolutely universal" ^{[20, p.80]}.

According to Jung, archetypes are universal images that have existed since time immemorial and are passed down from generation to generation. Also to the archetypes of K. Jung attributed both the potentially existing possibility of structuring consciousness, and the manifestation of this possibility in the form of understandable images. V.M. Naidysh noted that K. Jung singled out among the features of the archetype the influence not only on the collective unconscious, but also on a single person, on his fate. The archetype "acts as a special accumulator of historical experience, the resultant of countless experiences of many generations of people. Some special experience of nature crystallizes in archetypes through the world of experiences of millions of people, their sufferings and pleasures" ^{[10, p.32]}.  In all myths, the ongoing activity is transmitted through images and the fantasies they evoke. For example, the Slavs in the myths about the explanation of the seasons, there is a story of the destruction of life in winter and its resurrection in spring. At the beginning of spring, the thunder god Perun rides a fiery chariot across the sky, awakens life-giving rains and fights evil forces.

In the works of C. Jung, the meaning of the archetype was associated with mythological and fairy-tale heritage. Prototypes arise as myths and are found in everyone, anthropomorphizing reality, allowing fantasy to go beyond the rational world. All stories, beliefs and fears have settled in the unconscious of humanity for many thousands of years and are transmitted to each of us individually. K. Jung noted that there are many areas where our collective unconscious manifests itself – dreams, religious dogmas, fairy tales and myths, installation behavior, etc.

To. Jung in the work "Soul and Myth. Six archetypes" identified those that exist in the collective unconscious. These are: Baby, Virgin, Mother, Rebirth, Spirit, Trickster. Each of these archetypes has an infinite variety. Now, since Jung's time, scientists have identified a more extensive system of archetypes. We will rely on C. Jung's system with six archetypes, taken from his work "Soul and Myth. Six archetypes."

The archetype of a Baby is perceived as a primordial attitude to life with such qualities as emotionality, spontaneity, curiosity, rigidity, joy. Any adaptation to reality takes a person further away from the integrity inherent in the infant. Because initially he is "deeply related to the primary element" ^{[21, p.54]}. For example, the Eros child in Greek mythology, riding a dolphin, or in Indian mythology, the divine infant Narayana, living in water. The beginning of life is often associated with both water and children. However, children can also carry a militant part of their essence. Bala-Krishna is one of the forms of a revered deity appearing in the form of a baby or a child. In the pictorial art, Bala-Krishna is often represented as a crawling prankster stealing and eating butter. This divine baby is not harmless. In the myth, when the demoness Putana, defeated by him, begged her to let go – he did not take pity - he sucked the life out of her. The archetype of the Baby exists in every person and manifests itself throughout life. Any adult goes through the physiological stage of growing up, then educating either his children or those who perform their function, and then, in old age, he becomes a child for his grown-up children. The archetype of the Infant represents both individual childhood and universal childhood. In this archetype, E. Samuels saw that it was "a projection of the human inability to renew oneself" ^{[15, p.39]}. This archetype manifests itself in various works of art, influencing world culture. In folklore, the archetype of the Baby is transformed into stories about dwarves, elves, and dwarfs – that is, into the embodiment of the secret forces of the existing order of nature. And there was evidence of this in life – there have always been people with dwarfism. And in the fairy tale "Little Muck" by V. Gauf, the main character is a dwarf. The archetype of the Baby is still relevant. For example, the image of the infant Jesus is considered and popularized separately from the adult Jesus Christ.

The archetype of Virgo in the collective unconscious according to K. Jung is the life path of a woman – from girlhood to old age. An example is the Irish goddess Sadb, who embodies meekness and beauty. According to myths, she was turned into a deer against her will, then, returning to the image of a man, she was able to experience the joy of motherhood. But then she was turned into a deer again, forever. Sadb was able to adapt to life in the body of an animal.

The archetype of the Mother in C. Jung's typology is important and universal due to the frequency of mention in the mythology of all cultures. Without the birth of a woman, there can be no man, and the image of the Mother becomes a kind of "key" to inner diversity. The archetype of the Mother can be both in a negative and in a positive representation. The ambivalence of the image is connected with the creation of life and with its destruction. One example is Tiamat from Sumero-Babylonian myths. Changing her appearance and functionality, she gave birth to the universe and all the gods from the primordial chaos, but, declaring war on them, she died at the hands of the god Marduk, who created heaven and earth from her body. The mother can be both evil and the mother of evil, and protect this evil, obeying the primordial instincts. As, for example, in ancient Greek mythology, Echidna, a half-woman, half-snake, the mother of the Nemean lion, the three-headed dog Cerberus, the Lernaean Hydra and five other practically unkillable creatures. In the symbols of the mother archetype there are both favorable and malicious objects, images. These are: spring and the grave, a plowed field and troubled waters, a cow and a snake, etc.

The archetype of rebirth is associated with five forms: transmigration of souls, reincarnation, resurrection, rebirth and transformation. K. Jung noted that: "The statement about rebirth should be attributed to the most ancient statements made by mankind" ^{[20, p.254]}. An example of this archetype can be the Egyptian Osiris, the god of rebirth who was killed, dismembered, was born again and changed his functionality.  The idea of transformation has been used for the last 40 years in marketing mythological patterns, for example, in the beauty industry.

The archetype of the Spirit combines many male images. According to C. Jung, the Spirit is an object of emotional experience and experience that cannot be proved to exist in the outside world and cannot be understood rationally. As written by E. Samuels and B. Shorter and F. Raft: "The spirit as an immaterial aspect of a person can neither be defined nor described" ^{[15, p.53]}. Dozens of characters can be the embodiment of the Spirit. This is a hero, a wise elder, and a divine blacksmith who, having power over elemental forces (fire), serving reasonable purposes of creation, combines the features of heaven and earth, revealing their embodied harmony, balance and law. The image of the divine blacksmith often merges with the image of the creator of culture, the creator of extraordinary things, the legislator of social relations and the winner of death. One example of the image of the divine blacksmith may be the character of Karelo-Finnish mythology Ilmarinen, forging the firmament, chained death in a chest for 300 years and sent it to the bottom of the sea.

The Trickster archetype is a curious combination of traits found in many mythological characters. He can take on a different appearance and show an extraordinary creative approach, inaccessible to other gods. The image of the Trickster is an integral part of culture, which can be traced at all stages of the development of society in all countries. This is the raven Kutkh – the Chukchi hero of cosmogonic myths and household tales, and the Scandinavian god of cunning Loki. Trickster is one of the most popular artistic images. The character of O. J. Grant from the movie "Route 60" is a wizard with a peculiar idea of ethics, combines the characteristic features of Loki and leprechauns. Even outwardly – the hair color, red, like Loki, and the tube, like leprechauns.

The embodiment of archetypes in modern social mythology forms social and cultural patterns and behaviors that are imitated.  Transformed folklore, containing mythological fragments, was expressed both orally and through drawings. This led to illustrated stories born at the junction of fine art and literature. Most comics are stories about heroes and gods adapted to modern reality. Wonder Woman, the main character of the comic book of the same name, is born and grows up in a world based on ancient Greek and Roman myths. From there, the tribe of Amazons, and the gods of the pantheon (Hermes, Demeter, Athena, Artemis, Aphrodite, Hestia), who gave her extraordinary abilities and allowed her to cross huge distances instantly, the sandals of the god Mercury, and many other borrowings. Looking at Wonder Woman, since the 1940s, first American children, and later children in other countries could take her story to implement a behavior model.  All this is close to an unconscious desire to become one of the mythological gods or heroes. Moreover, this fusion occurred at the junction of the awareness of divine destiny and the heroic desire to streamline reality, subordinating it to the idea of justice. In ancient Greece, there was also a typology of characters that more or less fits the definition of "hero", manifested in various degrees in the myths of other cultures. You can see the typology using the example of the Marvel Comics universe. A hero with physical power, whose goal is the destruction of monsters (Hercules is Captain America), an intellectual hero who performs certain cultural functions (Daedalus is an Iron Man), a singer and musician hero whose talent is associated with understanding and mastering sound harmony and rhythm (Orpheus is Dazzling), a wandering hero endowed with cunning and curiosity (Odysseus is a Star Lord), the hero is a legislator who establishes and honors a just legal order in society (Theseus is a Daredevil). Marvel Comics has a series of comics "Eternal" about space aliens who came to Earth many thousands of years ago from the planet Olympia. According to the plot, taking them as an example, people came up with gods and heroes. Among them, Fina (Athena) is the best warrior who can wield any kind of weapon, Fastus (Hephaestus) is the inventor of technology, Cersei (Circe) is a sorceress who can turn some objects into others.

A person's fascination with something unusual that requires special, hard-to-reach knowledge, for example, modern art, is similar to initiation rites that have practically disappeared in today's world. Thanks to the understanding of something unconventional, which only a small number of adherents possess, people reduce the connection with the bored majority. All kinds of mythological patterns allow people in their daily lives to have hopes for the transformation of the real into the desired. As an example, Ernesto Che Guevara, who became a prominent symbol of media culture, where he turned into a revolutionary hero fighting the monsters of capitalism. The image of Che Guevara is used everywhere in advertising, serving the very capitalism and consumer society with which he tried to fight. According to research by the Maryland Institute of Arts, his image has become the most famous symbol of the 20th century, associated with the desire for freedom in all those senses that are necessary to promote a product. The image of a Latin American figure appears on T-shirts, ice cream packages, coffee, computer equipment, and so on. Wearing a cap with Che Guevara's silkscreen, an ordinary person, consciously or unconsciously, seems to adopt the qualities that the media image broadcasts. This brings our contemporary closer to the way of thinking of ancient people who use homeopathic magic to realize their plans. This term was introduced by J. Fraser for the designation of witchcraft techniques of primitive people based on the principle of similarity. The similarity of things causes their identity. This principle can be traced in the life of primitive people, in ancient Greek myths, and in modern life. A warrior wearing a lion skin, or its elements, becomes just as strong and formidable, Hercules in the skin of a Nemean lion is invulnerable to any weapon, soldier Steve Rogers after taking the serum becomes a perfect example of the human condition of Captain America fighting for freedom and the power of Che Guevara is transmitted through branded attributes. The uniqueness of the perception of the myth with homeopathic magic is that when performing the ritual, only the desired qualities of the bearer are transmitted.

 Despite numerous changes, over the many thousands of years of the existence of mythological patterns, they continue to be present in everyday life and influence the consciousness and behavior of people, as K. Jung correctly noted. Social myths constructed artificially, unlike archaic ones, are invariably present in modern society. Only knowing about them, you can understand the meaning of mythological symbols and images. As can be seen from the above examples, archetypes can be found in all manifestations of social and creative activity. They are passed down from generation to generation, accompanying human development and blurring the boundaries between mythological and objective reality.

At the same time, it can be assumed that archetypes contribute to social reproduction. Using the terminology of T. Parsons, we could say that modern social mythology performs the function of maintaining a model, reproducing the value-normative system of society. In this one can see the similarity of modern social mythology and archaic myths. With the help of the myth, society adapts to changing conditions, which allows it to respond to the challenges of the external environment. Therefore, the inconsistency between the elements of the socio-cultural structure, as well as the destruction of the mythological and folklore foundations of social existence, leads to an imbalance and can be considered as a prerequisite for anomie.