Jordan Peterson - Archetypes In Fairy Tales

original video: • 2016 Lecture 07 Maps o...
Psychology Professor Jordan B. Peterson explains how old fairy tales represent the fundamental dynamic elements of existence. He gives a brief psychoanalysis / interpretation on a few classic fairy tales.
Dr. Peterson's new book is available for pre-order:
12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos: amzn.to/2yvJf9L
If you want to support Dr. Peterson, here is his Patreon:
/ jordanbpeterson
Check out Jordan Peterson's Self Authoring Program, a powerful tool to sort yourself out:
bit.ly/selfAuth (Official affiliate link for Bite-sized Philosophy)

[@Kevo216666]

I'm fascinated as to how and why archetypes have evolved in the human psyche. They are brilliant.

[@Ephisus]

The contention might be that they didn't.

[@shylajshai3248]

He explains in his longer lectures It has to do with evolution

[@rene.emanuelson]

@@shylajshai3248 Know a link to any of those specifically?

[@shylajshai3248]

@@rene.emanuelson No because it was 4 years ago but I know I was watching these series when I found that information. kzbin.info/www/bejne/nF7aiHV9pJuUaNksi=b5rL8kiqc6EA-ceW

[@TomorrowWeLive]

Anyone interested in this sort of stuff should read Tolkien's 'On Fairy Stories'.

[@calebrobertson5041]

Tomorrow We Live Kids want justice in their stories, its adults that want stories of forgiveness.

[@RalphEllis]

Some of these fairytales are cosmic, rather than social. For instance, Snow Whiite is the snow-whiite moon who is followed by her seven dwarves - the Moon followed by the seven planets that follow the moon in a long line around the ecliptic. The evil witch is the Milky Way, who is being outshone by the glamorous snow whiite moon. So she puts a corset on snow whiite, to make her thinner and thinner, until she dies. Just as the waning moon gets thinner and thinner in the heavens above, until it ‘dies’ (the New Moon). But just as the moon dies (the new moon) she kisses the Sun-prince in an solar eclipse, and comes back to life as the waxing moon. And remember that a solar eclipse can only happen with a ‘dead’ New Moon. Snow White is a tale of the Cosmos. RE.

[@Hamanito]

Very interesting thx

[@EbonyPenmarks]

shoot. if only the movie Maleficient actually followed the archetypes, it would have been a better movie.

[@greyfoxninja1239]

I wonder if Dr. Peterson ever did an in depth analysis of Hansel and Gretel. I always felt there was more to it than what I'm able to get out of it. Especially with the bird symbolism. The pigeon on the roof, the birds eating the crumbs, the bird leading the kids to the witch hut, the bird bone Hansel uses to fool the witch, the fact that the Germans were very specific about Hansel "jumping out of his cage like a bird" when he was freed by his sister. The white duck/swan that they ride across the stream of water back home. What does it mean?

[@Maxinator11-11]

The white 🦢 swan 🦢 that carried them away significance in the ancient Sanskrit. Quoting Wikipedia: Paramahamsa (परमहंस), also spelled paramahansa or paramhansa, is a Sanskrit religio-theological title of honor applied to Hindu spiritual teachers who have become enlightened. The title literally means "supreme swan," and symbolizes spiritual discrimination.

[@greyfoxninja1239]

@@ingefossen8499 Hi, thank you for this comment, I'm reading up on these interpretations now.

[@badfairy9554]

This is good .

[@pendleeldnep]

I like your style.

[@TheKlink]

I wonder what Dr Peterson would make of Bloodborne.

[@ethanlyons3571]

Now that you mention it, it would be an interesting subject, just as how he would interpret Dark Souls since it's also comprised on mythological elements in terms of the hero's journey and the importance of not going hollow. Unfortunately in terms of lore, it is not as easily straightforward as Tolkien's world as it tells you how things came to be, where as Fromsoftware games, you have to piece it all together, even with Vaati's help. However, when you can't easily define a fantasy world such as Bloodborne for instance, that's a really good quality to have because it engages you to find out about the world, yet theres much to learn about it and that I think is the beauty of it.

[@TheKlink]

@@ethanlyons3571 I chose Bloodborne specifically because of how it subverts the hero's journey.

[@ethanlyons3571]

@@TheKlink That's an interesting point, because when you look at the characters, it never ends happily as everyone in yharnam faced death, disease and even dwelled to madness. Even as a hunter, there's no going back after seeing the horrors you gain insight from, let alone getting involved with the great ones schemes. So in short, correct me if I'm wrong, but the story of bloodborne is more about the journey of dwelling to beasthood than that of the hero, since hunters are no different than beasts.

[@TheKlink]

@@ethanlyons3571 I've been thinking about your comment because the story COULD have been "be careful of obsession in the pursuit of your ends", or variants of that theme. to a certain extent you can see that story in the stories around you, but it isn't your story; you never get to turn into a beast. if you have a bad ending, it's being forced to host the dream. more like, its like "why would anyone WANT this?" we never explicitly see the benefits of ascension and great ones seem to be driven by some very powerful, destructive and seemingly quite base impulses. so much for it being us with the beastly idiocy. the dark souls heroes journey is really simple in comparison; sort the problem out. What's all this undead about then? Lets sort that out, because immortal Alzheimer's zombies roaming the landscape would make it difficult to carry on with an agrarian agrarian society. You don't go to that blood minister to become the Beast Police. There's no indication that you ascending would stop the scourge of beasts. are you sick? Why would you need to Dream to get blood healing? others don't seem to need to do so.

[@ethanlyons3571]

@@TheKlink The way you explain bloodborne as a subversion of a hero's journey, which is interesting btw, reminds me of the video: How Bloodborne Transforms the Myth. If your unfamiliar with the video, feel free to check it as it compares two summaries of Dark souls and Bloodborne: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nZ2zXpp-lNNmj8U

[@caleuxx9108]

Sleeping beauty.... Frozen..... ;;; Interesting points.... ;;;;; Now we need the story to be functional now for girls now. Archetypes are nice. Real people are living now. ----- ideas: Anna and Elsa arent really adults... they are teenagers (17 ? 18?) (like most princesses) still learning about life and their emotions.... In some countries you have to have a certain age to run for a certain office (eg. age 40 to be senator in some countries). The brain is mature at about 21 years old, which is why in the USA alcohol can only be sold to 21+ old people. Some people from toxic and/or dysfunctional families dont learn about emotions and how to manage them well, eg. till they are 40, 50, 60 and those who had significant trauma and/or neglect with insuficient developement of the prefrontal cortex may not be able to see their own stuff ever.... Maybe more than judging others, use discernment + people need empathy and assistance in becoming better..... Name the emotion!! No human being is perfect. We all need good kind functional feedback. Oh, and when a person is having a really really really bad day and so did someone else, the person can say "not now, I dont have the capacity right now"..... Especially in a society that does not promote women's assertiveness (for men its assertiveness, when a woman does it, people call it aggression in some societies) - So a story, about an 18 year old learning to understand her anger, making mistakes, and learning to manage it and learning to use it wisely.... isnt that what people need... Most princesses are docile beautiful young women with no sign of an aggressive emotion in her, unable to protect herself - not reality, not functional.

[@mattball7074]

Very interesting!

[@carolyna.869]

It's in Cinderella that the wicked stepmother has to dance in hot shoes till she dies.

[@lanagordon5669]

Dancing in hot shoes til you die is a trope that comes up a few times in a bunch of different stories. I seem to vaguely remember a story about a girl who put on beautiful red dancing shoes that didn't belong to her, when she started dancing she couldn't stop and the shoes wouldn't come off. She danced and danced until she was nearly dead, her life was saved by a woodsman who cut off her feet, with shoes still on, with an axe. Talk about a dark story. It's always stayed with me but funnily enough I love red shoes.

[@alexanderdean8682]

No, it's Snow White! Just google it, if you haven't really read the tales...

[@alexanderdean8682]

And 12 ignorant people liked this...

[@eugenkrause5556]

Has Peterson ever talked about Snow White? I've heard him mention a low of Disney movies, but I thought that was one of the oldest tales and yet I have heard no mention of it.

[@Leviathandk]

Yes he has

[@zoebrugg7594]

I do wonder what he gets out of Cinderella.

[@gdfgdfgdsgdf]

I said these exact words but less fancy the other day, i feel like mentioning it cuz something sure do feels like watching me.

[@thegreenknight1984]

Rudolph Steiner ❤️ AKA Jordan

[@huehuecoyotl1727]

Is it possible to watch the Wohle lecture somewhere?

[@Hertzultra]

"Fairy Tales" are not only Traditional but trans cultural and are susceptable to transfiguration. whey hey!!

[@vanessaholmes7918]

I think that your review lacks contextual understanding....

[@juliefrancis1242]

it is the little mermaid who walked on knives when she wanted to be human and not a mermaid

[@lordlightning2339]

The evil queen in Snow White