Female archetypes in the mythological model of television news culture

Lavrova Elena Nikolaevna ORCID: 0000-0001-8299-5061 Postgraduate student of the Department of Theory and History of Culture at the GITR Film and Television School 125284, Russia, Moscow, Khoroshevskoe highway, 32a elena_478@mail.ru Other publications by this author

Problem statement. In the modern world, ethical issues are formulated quite explicitly and are often polarized. One of them is the theme of feminism, which carries not only a socio-legal context, but also a cultural one, drawing our attention to the perception of the female image as a whole. Due to the development of global media, these trends are global in nature, and regardless of the location of the first manifestation, they have an impact on the cultural background of the entire world community. Cultural critic Marshall McLuhan, several decades before the spread of the Internet, noticed a trend towards the formation of a common information field in the world, calling it a "global village". The accelerated transfer of information contributed to the unification of the cultural space and made it possible to draw the attention of the whole society to one particular problem, which immediately became public knowledge. According to the scientist, this trend is favorable for society and should have led to an increase in the level of responsibility.

American sociologist Paul Lazarsfeld introduced the term "opinion leaders" in the middle of the last century, studying the influence of media on the results of the US election campaign. The scientist comes to the conclusion that society is filled with certain "heroes" who are listened to and trusted, based on their appeals, and form their own behavior. An unlimited number of such characters can be present in the modern information space. It is worth considering the large number of different platforms on which information is broadcast. Consumers of exclusively television culture may not know a blogger with an audience of millions. Since the early 2010s, the field of bloggers has been developing, competing with traditional journalism. Given the heterogeneity of society, each of the social groups chooses the leader closest to it. Researcher Elie Pariser calls this phenomenon an "information bubble" or "filter bubble".  Thus, each viewer chooses the strategy that is beneficial to him and meets his needs, regardless of the truth of this concept. Alternative arguments given in another, neighboring information field are hidden for him.

The question deserves special attention: by what criteria does society choose a particular hero? Based on the mythological concept, the presence of archetypal features in the character is necessary for this worship.

A mythological model in television culture. The 20th century was the height of the heyday of women's emancipation and feminism, but even in our time there is a place for discussions about the privilege of the sexes. The most striking example of the last decade, which has become widespread in the global information space, actualizes the issues of protecting honor and dignity. In October 2017, American actress Alyssa Milano on a social network invited women to share stories of sexual violence and harassment under the hashtag #MeToo. The action aimed at drawing attention to the problem of harassment has transformed into a major feminist movement, which has been joined by women all over the world. Analyzing the coverage of this topic in television news, we can also see a model of a mythological cliche. The hero of this story is a collective, collective image of a woman, while the personification of evil and a mythological Dragon is the figure of American producer Harvey Weinstein. All the numerous subsequent criminal cases related to the topic of harassment within the framework of the MeToo campaign are a reference to the first case. A mythological society is built according to certain laws. It is characterized by the presence of the figure of the leader who controls the group and the presence of the image of the "ancestral spirit" - the sacred basis of the spiritual, magical component of the group. The basic story associated with Weinstein becomes archetypal and is the embodiment of that very image of the "ancestral spirit". The topic of harassment, covered in the media, has been reflected in many scientific articles by domestic and foreign scientists. Elena Kaverina and Elena Dekic in the article "The development of feminist discourse in digital media (the experience of Russia and the USA)" emphasize the presence of feminist discourse in the modern media space, noting the greatest activity of dissemination in the Internet environment. Scientists note that the campaign, which has been published under the hashtag known since 2006, MeToo is not the only one, citing other movements in the United States as an example: #YesAllWomen, #BringBackOurGirl, #WhylStayed, and Russia: #I want to tell you, #I want to die, #I'm a man, #I need to be unanimous. However, largely due to the participation of many famous people, it was the MeToo campaign that became the personification of this problem.

Filippova S.V. and Makarova E.V. in the scientific article "Weinstein Gate": commentary as a means of representing public opinion" pay attention to comments on social networks on the topic of sexual harassment by Harvey Weinstein. In this study, comments act as a means of representing society. To analyze the news agenda based on a mythological cliche, it is worth paying attention to the viewer who is a consumer of this product. In modern society, an act of violence is negative, but comments and opinions accusing victims are no less common than the opposite.  A number of certain factors contribute to this. The first is the psychological aspect, the subconscious desire to join the aggressor as a stronger person and thereby avoid the attack, the position of the victim. Anna Freud explored this topic by introducing the term "identification with the aggressor." Sociologist Gustave Lebon in the scientific book "Psychology of Peoples and Masses" notes: "The formation of legends that spread easily in a crowd is due not only to its credulity, but also to the distortions that events undergo in the imagination of people gathered in a crowd. In the eyes of the crowd, the simplest event quickly takes on completely different dimensions. The crowd thinks in images, and the image conjured up in its imagination, in turn, causes others that have no logical connection with the first. ... The crowd does not separate the subjective from the objective at all; it considers real the images evoked in its mind and often having only a very distant connection with the fact it observes" (G. Lebon "Psychology of Peoples and Masses", 2021, p. 206). The second is distrust of the source of the transmitted information. Through the media, during the decoding of information by the viewer, as Roland Barthes called it, the situation can undergo distortions and be perceived in the opposite way. Taken together, this emphasizes the mythological essence of the information space or hyperreality in the term J. Baudrillard.

Female archetypes in the concept of K. Jung. The theory of archetypes, developed in scientific works by psychiatrist and philosopher Carl Jung, finds its embodiment in television culture. The archetype of the Divine Baby symbolizes the hero and is found most often in news stories. This is a character acting, changing the world around. Through his passivity, the image of the Virgin (Cora) manifests itself. Developing this archetype, K. Jung refers to the transformation of the image, to its changes through contact with other elements: feminine and masculine, life and death.  The image is realized in the myth of Persephone. Forcibly married, Persephone finds herself between the power of her mother, the goddess of fertility, Demeter, and her husband, the god of the underworld, Hades. The main feature of the archetype is the lack of transition through initiation: even after becoming the wife of Hades, Persephone does not realize the transition to the stage of a woman, her mother archetype is not activated, she remains the prototype of Virgo.

This story is specific, but we can see its embodiment in the modern news agenda. Let's look at the news releases devoted to the criminal case of the Khachaturian sisters. In the summer of 2018, information appeared in the media about the initiation of a criminal case: Mikhail Khachaturian was killed, and his three daughters were declared suspects. The investigation found that all three sisters had been sexually abused and physically punished by their father for many years. Later, the figure of the girls' mother appears in the information space, who was deprived of communication with them. At this stage, we see the manifestation of the Persephone myth: there are two worlds on the collision of which the story of the Khachaturian sisters takes place. The reaction of society is important for the study. In most of the plots^[1] the terms are used: "girls", "children", "sisters" - "father", "parent". We understand that the reason for this is not only their age. The death of the father refers us to the theme of the afterlife. 

An important feature for this story is the lack of reference to the topic of women's rights. A committed crime does not become an act of liberation. The Khachaturian sisters are under investigation (they will be recognized as victims only after five years), they do not become heroes in the media like Perseus who defeated the Gorgon. In many reports, the question is considered: are the sisters of the perpetrator or are they still victims. For several minutes of the plot^[2] of the program "Time", we see the middle sister behind bars, she is handcuffed. The whole ethical complexity of covering this topic and discussing it in the information space is emphasized here.

Note that the Virgo archetype is found not only in such voluminous themes. On TV screens, we can see the presenters who appear in the images of women, which are a reference to Cora.

Two informational topics: the MeToo movement, which originated in the United States, and the story of the Khachaturian sisters, which took place in Russia, reveal the complexity of public discourse about feminism and the visualization of the female image on the screen. It is noteworthy that both topics, filled with a multitude of arguments, facts, and opinions, do not find a final interpretation in the public consciousness. In 2020, the sculptor Luciano Garbati, in front of the court where the Harvey Weinstein cases were considered, installed a statue of a "Jellyfish with a severed head Perseus", thereby rethinking the ancient myth and proclaiming the beginning of the next step of the "women's issue" in the social paradigm. Russian culturologist O. V. Stroeva in the scientific article "Hermeneutics of the neo-mythological image " of a Jellyfish with a head Persea interprets the sculpture as follows: "in the image of "Medusa ...", from the point of view of the logic of the archaic myth, chaos in the image of the Great Mother conquers the cosmos and the symbolic order built by the Apollonian element, which in modern cultural interpretation can embody the rebellion of the chthonic unconscious against the rational binary worldview, its deconstruction and transgression. From the point of view of feminism, Medusa takes revenge on the entire male symbolic order of the system by killing a hero who did not encroach on her feminine dignity, but sees in her the monster she became, being a victim of this order."

The multilayered nature of the topic and the ambiguity of the conclusions complicate the visualization of the images presented in the media, but does not deprive them of recognizable archetypal features, and ultimately, these plots (the MeToo movement and the "Khachaturian sisters case") develop according to a mythological model.

K. Jung in the scientific work "Myth and Soul" draws our attention to the fact that the image of the mother is the broadest female archetype, can manifest itself through the image of Cora, and through the myth of Cybele and Attis (the mother is the beloved). Each of them has a number of differences, and if we talk about the features of the "Great Mother", then her main criterion is the care of offspring. Archaically, this image is associated with fertility, feeding, at the same time wisdom and spiritual elevation. Let's recall the image of the presenter Ekaterina Andreeva in the information programs of Channel One: her strict suit, her hair gathered in a bun, calm, confident and seemingly somewhat edifying tone. She does not "flirt" with the viewer, does not radiate fragility and defenselessness, on the contrary, shows the "authority of a woman" and a willingness to "take under the wing" of the viewer himself. This style is typical for news programs and is found on many TV channels. But the presenter of the same TV channel, Ekaterina Berezovskaya, appears^[3] in front of the viewer in a more romanticized and passive image: loose hair, light clothes, a softer voice is associated with the archetype of Virgo.

It should be noted that the sexualization of the image, rarely found in news programs, but present on television screens, also refers us to the archetype of the mother. This model is characterized by the presence of visual images that convey fertility, the ability to conceive and reproduce.

In a metaphorical sense, the archetype of the Mother manifests itself in the following objects, which Jung lists: "Other symbols of the mother are figuratively present in things expressing the goal of our passionate desire for salvation: paradise, the kingdom of God, heavenly Jerusalem. Things that arouse our piety or a sense of reverence, such as a church, university, city, country, sky, earth, forests and seas (or some other waters), the underworld and the moon, or just some object - they can all be maternal symbols" (K. Jung "Myth and Soul", 1997, p. 218).

Of course, we can find these symbols in news programs: fields in messages about agriculture, annual news about preparations for the first of September (schools, universities), the performance of the anthem at sporting events. 

Do not forget about the opposite side of the mother archetype associated with the earth: this is a manifestation of pressure, absorption, destruction. In a later period, these are associations with magic, witchcraft and the appearance of a Witch character.

Erich Neumann continues the theme of the female archetype in the scientific work "The Great Mother", creating a circle of 6 figures. The scientist examines the negative side of the image in the most detail, introducing images of Lilith (negative Anima – ecstasy, madness, impotence), witch (negative changes), Kali (terrible Mother – illness, death). All these images are present in news stories, subconsciously referring us to these feelings.

Mythological archetypes of communication. Having analyzed the archetypes according to the Carl Jung system present in the structure of the news story, we will highlight the mythological images that contain the features of the media. Hermes, the god of commerce, cunning, eloquence and good fortune, is traditionally considered the key way of communication. He was a windy and winged god, but he could socially protect those who needed it. Hermes stood on the borders and saved everyone who was destined to cross the line. It is no coincidence that the philosopher J. Derrida calls him "god the signifier." Siegfried Tsilinsky, who studies this topic, also turns to mythological plots and mentions that it was Hermes who defeated Argus - a hundred-eyed monster, nicknamed "The All-Seeing", which concentrates large amounts of information. 

The female embodiment of this image is the Goddess of the rainbow – Iris, whose name in Greek "eirein" means "to use the word". With its help, people learned the will of the almighty, but its main mission was the ability to be a "connecting link" and unite all three worlds: heaven, earth and the underworld. In the description of the external image of the Iris, we can find references: Iris flew with the speed of the wind, and the flapping of her golden wings scattered the darkness. In paintings, Irida is often depicted with a jug filled with water from the underground river Styx. It is noteworthy that the name of Iris is consonant with the name of another character in ancient Greek mythology – Eris, who, on the contrary, was the goddess of chaos and discord, who unleashed the Trojan War.

Media culturologist Alexander Galloway identifies three ways of mediation in the modern world and correlates them with figures of ancient mythology: exchange (Hermes), illumination (Iris) and the network (furies): "the first is communication in the most everyday sense of the word, mediation as expansion, transition, representation, reflection, mimicry or alienation. It includes both the circulation of the message and its interchange, as well as the risks they entail: disappointment, deception or delusion. The second middle is pure, true communication, this is communication, which is characterized by instantaneity, immanence and belonging. And the third is communication in its multiplicity, it is a tangle in which the communicative infrastructure multiplies or expands by itself..." (And Galloway "Excommunication: three essays on media and mediation", 2022, p. 42).

Let's add that the furies, according to Galloway, as "a distributed network expressed in a body unable to restrain itself," reject the media device like Hermes and Iris and represent a chaotic and uncontrolled anti-media system.

In the mythological system, Hermes, Iris and Argus are far from the only characters responsible for information. Let's remember the prophetic birds with female heads: Sirin, Alkonost and Gamayun. In Western European and Slavic mythology, their interpretation of their images differs, but whichever of them performs "songs of joy and sorrow", whoever proclaims the truth and promotes epiphany, they correspond to the images of informants.

Having expanded the geographical space of this work, in Scandinavian mythology we can find male images of ravens-informants Hugin and Munin. The birds "Thinking" and "Remembering" fly around the world and tell the main god Odin all the information. Hugin and Munin may also be the personification or prototype of mythological correspondents. Thus, we see that the images of informants can represent both a female and a male element.

Conclusion. Analyzing television programs, we see the presence of "eternal": mythological and biblical plots, as well as recognizable archetypes, which proves the presence of a mythological model in news releases. The heroes of news stories not only perform specific, expected actions-functions, they embody various ideas embedded in the work. Thus, the article confirms the hypothesis: when covering topics about the feminist #MeToo campaign and the criminal case of the Khachaturian sisters, the media use a mythological model, and as a result, a system of archetypes that forms the viewer's opinion.

^[1] News release at 15:00 from 08/02/2018 [Electronic resource] // 1tv.ru URL: https://www.1tv.ru/news/2018-08-02/349719-vypusk_novostey_v_15_00_ot_02_08_2018 (Accessed 13.11.2023)

^[2] The release of the Vremya program at 21:00 on 09/27/2018 https://www.1tv.ru/news/2018-09-27/353048-vypusk_programmy_vremya_v_21_00_ot_27_09_2018 (Accessed 13.11.2023)

^[3] The release of the Vremya program at 21:00 on 09/27/2018 https://www.1tv.ru/news/2018-09-27/353048-vypusk_programmy_vremya_v_21_00_ot_27_09_2018 (Accessed 13.11.2023)