The Writers Journey - Shapeshifter Characteristics

As its name suggests the shapeshifter's character will change as soon as you examine it closely and think you understand it. They can change their mood and appearance. They can mislead the hero and the audience and keep them guessing about their loyalty and sincerity.

Vogler explains it in Jungian terms of animus and anima. Animus is the name for the male element in the female unconscious and anima is the female element in the male unconscious. These are concepts that society has repressed: boys don't play with dolls; boys don;t cry.

Hence in the shapeshifter we find a fickle character that we are not sure whether to trust or not, a classic shapeshifter was faced by the hero in Fatal Attraction where the woman shifted from a passionate lover to an insane murderous woman.

In The Writers Journey, Vogler says our repressed animus or anima are sometimes manifested in dreams and fantasies, and can take the form of dream characters of the opposite sex, and encounters such as this are important in our psychological growth.

In real life, we may subconsciously choose a partner who represents our animus or anima and hence our experience of the opposite sex is their changeability and tendency to shift attitudes, appearances and emotions for reasons that are not apparent tous.

It is these projections of our hidden opposite selves that forms the shapeshifter projecting images and ideas about sexuality and relationships.

The shapeshifter is ever present in stories, and we know this when the hero is asking questions such as: Can I trust her? Does he really love me? Is she going to betray me? Is he faithful?

A fairly typical Shapeshifter is the femme fatale which reaches back to biblical times such as Jezebel's scheming or Delilah cutting off Sampson's hair.

Some soap operas thrive off shapeshifting characters - the boyfriend who runs off at a hint of pregnancy, the girlfriend who uses pregnancy as entrapment!

Shapeshifters are really there to confuse the hero, not to kill the hero, although they might. However, there is no doubt that the shapeshifter is about trust and loyalty that is usually compromised. 

Any character can be a shapeshifter, even the hero can temporarily shapeshift if need be perhaps to escape a trap or get past a threshold guardian. Whoopi Goldburg disguised herself as a nun to prevent being killed as a witness to a murder.

Shapeshifting is also an attribute of archetypes such as Mentors and Tricksters in order to help a cause. Maid Marion shapeshifted often to help Robin Hood.

The shapeshifter can be useful in many situations, especially if you need to bring your mentor back into the picture but there is no other logical way to do it.

You have just read Hub # 6 of 11