Masaryk University Faculty of Arts Department of English and American Studies English Language and Literature Bc. et Bc. Tereza Walsbergerová Not That Kind of Angel A Merger of Archetypes in Recent American Popular Narratives Master’s Diploma Thesis Supervisor: Jeffrey Alan Smith, M.A., Ph.D. 2016 I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography. …………………………………………….. Bc. et Bc. Tereza Walsbergerová 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my gratitude to Dr. Jeffrey A. Smith, M.A., Ph.D. for his helpful suggestions and boundless patience, to Jeffrey A. Vanderziel, B.A. for teaching me about the meaning of myths and introducing me to the trickster archetype, to my friends from the Department of English and American Studies for sending me links to all the angelic depictions that I missed and encouraging me in my darkest hours, to my non- academic friends for pretending to listen when I talked to them about archetypal merging, and finally, to my parents who supported me during my studies and gave me space when I needed to be left alone with my books and laptop. 3 Table of Contents: 1. Introduction…………………………………………………………………….5 2. Theoretical and Cultural Preliminaries 2.1. Angelic Fascination……………………………………………………...7 2.2. American Angels Before the 1990s…………………………………….11 2.3. Angel Stereotypes and Their Origins………………………………......15 2.4. The Archetypal Merger……………………………………………..….17 3. Discovering the Merger: Recent Depictions of American Angels 3.1. The Rebellious Messengers………………………………………….....21 3.2. The Disruptive Guardians………………………………………..……..29 3.3. The Fallen Heroes………………………………………………..……..41 3.4. The Cunning Riddlers……………………………………………….….52 3.5. The Human Mirrors…………………………………………....……….63 3.6. The “Other” Angels………………………………………………....….72 4. Conclusion…………………………………………………………….……….84 5. List of Figures……………………………………………………………..…..88 6. Bibliography………………………………………………………..………...103 7. Summary………………………………………………………………....…..108 8. Resumé………………………………………………………………...……..109 4 1. Introduction Given the emphasis on faith and spirituality connected to the very origins of America as a nation, it comes as no surprise that American entertainment industries seem to love exploring religious motives and particularly topics related to Christian faith. Filmmakers and TV networks have produced a myriad of narratives featuring the topic of religious faith (e.g. Seventh Heaven), adaptations of individual excerpts from the Bible (e.g. The Prince of Egypt), or isolated depictions of biblical characters (e.g. The Passion of the Christ). Additionally, there is one particular group of biblical characters which appears in American narratives so frequently that is is possible to consider it a phenomenon – the angels. From Henry Travers’ Clarence, through John Travolta’s Michael, to Misha Collins’ Castiel, angels have appeared in American popular narratives – and more specifically on American screens – consistently since the Silent Era. Furthermore, the fact that there are, at the moment, at least four angelic TV series on the American air suggests that the fascination with angels, and particularly with angels as certain character type, has not dwindled by any means. In general, the biggest number of angelic characters have appeared in American narratives since the 1990s and it can be said that these depictions differ a lot from the earlier ones. While the early narratives portray the angels in a more simplistic and stereotypical manner – fluffy wings, white robes, innocent, inherently good, obedient, and selfless – these new angels are often distracted, selfish, unreliable, vicious, hypersexual, and morally ambiguous. In other words, it is possible to detect a certain development within the archetype, which has transformed the angels into more complicated and relatable characters. This thesis focuses on this development by analysing the more recent 5 depictions as they appear in common angelic tropes, and identifying the specific features which disrupt the stereotypical understanding of angels as it can be seen in the early portrayals. Moreover, this thesis argues that the features which have in some way disrupted this stereotype and thus stimulated the development of the angel archetype may have derived from another archetype – namely, the “trickster” – as it shares many common characteristics with the recent depictions of angels. Therefore, this thesis proposes that the current depictions of angels in American popular narratives are in fact “mergers” of two archetypes – the angel and the trickster. 6 2. Theoretical and Cultural Preliminaries 2.1. Angelic Fascination In The Angels And Us, Mortimer J. Adler muses that “there seems to be no end to the fascination about angels or to the unexpected corners and corridors of art and letters in which we may encounter them” (Adler 16). Indeed, a case could be made that this fascination has been keeping angelic characters “well and alive” in American popular arts, such as film, television, or radio, to this day, especially seeing as there are at at least four series, featuring angelic characters on air at the moment. Admittedly, it is perhaps not such a surprise, as most things related to Christianity seem to be thriving in American popular culture. Many American films and TV series like to focus on questions of faith, even bringing in actual characters from the Bible – such as Jesus or God, to illustrate their points. In this manner, angels are perhaps the most frequently used biblical characters. Furthermore, it is becoming clear that this angelic fascination which Adler highlights in his book continues prompting American creators, writers, and producers to keep exploring the potential of angels, which is why new films, TV series, and even radio series, keep appearing every year. In general, we can talk about several sources of angelic fascination in America. The most logical source of angelic fascination is, of course, religious faith and spirituality overall. On the whole, the belief in angels can be traced in at least three of the largest world religions – Christianity, Islam, and Judaism – all of which may have had a chance to influence the development of angel mythology and folklore in America. According to Scott Draper and Joseph O. Baker’s article “Angelic Belief as American Folk Religion”, angelic belief in America is indeed very common across-the-board: “The notion that angels exist and are readily available to intervene in the material world is promoted by advocates and adherents from a broad range of religious traditions in the 7 United States, ranging from Catholicism and Protestantism to the ‘New Age’.” (Draper and Baker 624) In addition, as Draper and Baker note that nearly the same percentage of Americans who believe in God also believe in angels (630), it can be said that the belief in angels is therefore in most cases just a natural part of faith. In other words, the belief that angels are real and are capable of intervening in people’s lives can be considered an automatic extension of most American Christians’ belief in God. While the connection to religion and faith is clearly the key source of angelic fascination in America, it is not by far the only source, nor is it the most popular one. In fact, there are many cases where Christian faith does not even have to be there in order to generate interest in angels. Adler, for instance, takes a more philosophical approach to the question of angelic fascination. He claims that angels are “the most fascinating of all objects of fantasy and thought, because, unlike all other forms of superhuman intelligence that fall short of the infinite power of the divine intellect, angels–and angels alone–are minds without bodies” (Adler 4). In other words, another source of angelic fascination is the idea that there are creatures whose intelligence is equal to human intelligence yet they do not need a physical body to contain it like humans do. Therefore, it can be said that angelic fascination may also be connected to human desire for disembodiment and immortality, which is a concept that has fascinated people from the time of Plato to the time of cyborgs. Moreover, Adler mentions that “our fascination with intelligence apart from our own is intensified when minds conjectured or imagined are thought to be superior” (3), which emphasises the importance of the fact that humans are actually supposed to be inferior to angels, which can be both thrilling and frightening to some people. Furthermore, since the handful of descriptions of angels in the Scriptures are not nearly enough to establish their universal image, and the few that exist predominantly 8 depict the angels as spiritual (or celestial) beings, it is perhaps natural that people have been attempting to connect the image to something that they could understand or at least something they could imagine and depict with the help of arts and literature. In America in particular, many parallels have been drawn between angels and extraterrestrial beings. Adler, for instance, claims that “throughout the series of theological treatises, some attempt [has been] made to relate the hypothesis of superior intelligences inhabiting other parts of the physical universe with the Biblical doctrine of God’s heavenly host of holy angels” (Adler 9). This parallel is, for the most part, based on the concept of the human need for entities that exist in order to fill the gap between themselves and God. In addition, Adler also points out another