Linguistic characterization of the Overcontrolling Mother archetype (in mass culture English language films)

Abstract

EN : The article delves into the linguistic characterization of nine female characters that represent the Overcontrolling Mother archetype in English-language mass culture films. The research draws on C. Jung’s idea of an archetype as a recurring image in the collective unconscious, V. Schmidt’s typology of master archetypes in fiction, and content analysis of the language used by the archetypal characters. The Overcontrolling Mother archetype is represented by characters that achieve selffulfillment by over-protecting other characters whom they deem as vulnerable. This archetype presents female antagonists who inhibit the development of their wards by exerting excessive control and manipulating them with guilt. The Overcontrolling Mother invests all her aspirations and desires in the character she claims to protect, which hinders both the heroine and the child. The conflict is mostly resolved when the other characters are relieved of excessive care. When the Overcontrolling Mother is the main character, she needs to overcome her traumatic experience, accept new circumstances in her life and rebuild her identity. The themes of children’s upbringing, obedience, duty, conformity, expectations, order, control, care, safety, loyalty, and betrayal are characteristic of the narratives of the Overcontrolling Mother. The language used by the Overcontrolling Mother is characterized by frequent first-person singular and plural pronouns, high numbers in the ‘clout’, ‘drive’, ‘power’, and ‘affiliation’ linguistic categories, and low numbers in the ‘tentative’ and ‘question mark’ categories. This indicates that the Overcontrolling Mother is a decisive, powerful, and purposeful woman of a high social status who is prone to conflict. Low numbers in the ‘authentic’ category and high percentages in the ‘moral’ and ‘adjective’ categories reveal the insincerity of the characters and their desire to manipulate their wards. The Overcontrolling Mother, who keeps everything under obsessive control but is unable to provide the child with psychologically and physically comfortable conditions for development, receives mostly irritation and condemnation from the audience. The fate of the Overcontrolling Mother, who seeks total control and uses the ward for her own purposes, is unambiguous: social or physical destruction. Characters of the archetype who can understand their shortcomings, change their moral valence, and shift to the protagonist Nurturer archetype.