The+Underdog



=THE UNDERDOG=

The underdog archetype by definition is the character that is least likely to win, and in other ways there are underdogs that are in a position of inferiority to other key archetypal characters in mythology... the bottom line in the text book definition of the underdog is a general basis around this character is “expected” to lose, fail, call it quits and in the end the crowd is most commonly found cheering in favor of the estranged outsider. In many ways the archetype character of the underdog is closely related to other archetypes. For example the archetypal flawed hero, although usually comes out victorious in the shows some corresponding similarities to the underdog in the sense of the outsider, and that is not expected to come out a hero. Although if the said archetype so cast out from everyone else dominated by a higher power; the underdog is one of, if not the most recurring archetypes in mythology.

In Greek mythology the god Hephaestus, the god of fire of fire and forge, is most closely to be considered an outcast among the gods. The son of Hera, and was born la me. For this unfortunate deity described as A dark haired man who has difficulty walking due to malformed feet. Some accounts make him small in stature. Was cast of mount Olympus by his mother and not allowed back in until he tricked his mother into letting him stand on mount Olympus among the gods. The luckless god never got any respect among the other gods. Although he was never expected of much but seemed to win the favors of the most beautiful women, but as the women would fall away from him in infidelity such as Aphrodite did and thus he would be dominated and made fun of by the other gods upon mount Olympus.

In the Old Testament stories, one of the most recognized underdog to old Christian and Jewish, the story of David and goliath is one of the best examples for an underdog that one can think of. The story is based around the philistines going to war against Israel. During a confrontation a young teenager who was just getting a message from the king Saul at the front lines where the Israel armies faced a army of philistines one of which stood over nine feet tall brandished in great armor. When the young David saw the great philistine he was out of all the men there the most determined to do battle with the great goliath, so he proposed to king Saul to do so and let him do combat to take down the philistine. After a long persuasive battle with the king he let David battle goliath. So as legend goose, David went into battle with goliath with only a slingshot and a pouch of stones. As goliath moved in to surly destroy the young David, he quickly as he could reached for a stone, armed and wielded his sling do so shouting in the lord of Israel’s name and the lord almighty sank the stone deep into goliaths forehead through a small opening in his armor. So as he did the great Goliath fell, David the least expected person to do the job was victorious and came out a hero.



In the movie The Royal Tenembaums the main character, Royal Tenembaum, the father of the two Tenembaum children and adopted sister that Royal throughout her life has made a point to remind her of the fact she is not an actual Tenembaum tries to find forgiveness from these children he has not been there for throughout their entire lives. thought the children as kids were all prodigies of one kind or another whether it be theatre, business, or tennis their father royal was a terrible father during their child hood and into their adulthood because of their father and him leaving them had turned the family to feuds, broken bonds, heart ache, and social turmoil. But when Royal finds out that his wife, who he has never officially divorced, is going to marry the family accountant Henry sherman. So when royal becomes broke and out on his keister, from his hotel he has been staying at for the past twenty something years he goes to win back his family by infiltrating the dysfunctional family unit by pretending to be dying of stomach cancer and only has six weeks to live; hilarity ensues. And like the terrible father he was finds in the end that the time he spent trying to win back his family was the best time of his life and slowly after the attempt suicide of his youngest boy Richie he makes things right with his family and dies of heart attack soon after in a twist of irony.

The underdog has been a recurring theme in character creation and development for centuries for a various reasons. One is that I believe that the underdog can be related to even the simplest, strongest, weakest, dumbest, or badest people in the world because there will always be another force or struggle in the nature of humanity and nature where there will always be this other force acting against you in some way or a group trying to outsource your every wit and decision. Second the underdog itself is no hero or heroine, but in many ways is a important play in the direction of the protagonist or antagonist, or whether or not the underdog is both. The underdog can best just be put as the everyman, The character from the real perspective.

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