What Blogs Have to Say Regarding the Female Archetypes.

             In 2012 songwriter and performer Marina Diamandis, better known as ‘Marina and the Diamonds’, released her album ‘Electra Heart’. One concept which is heavily focused upon in 'Electra Heart' is that of female 'Archetypes', which Diamandis puts forth as the idea that there are several models from which all female 'identities' are copied or on which they are based. Through the ‘Electra Heart’ album and surrounding projects Diamandis provides several examples of such ‘archetypes’ for female identities, examples of which may be more historically based such as ideas of 'the housewife' and 'the beauty queen', whilst others take on more modernised characteristics such as ‘the Teen Idle’. These 'archetypes' appear to be a product of society which are deeply rooted within the structure of society and are maintained through the way in which we are socialised along with our interaction with others. It is Marina’s opinion that a women’s personality is a product of different archetypes in combination with each other. Apart from the album Marina delivers her Ideas on the archetypes through the usage of pictures and videos, through a blog like page on her website.

                However whilst it may be the work of ‘Marina and the Diamonds’ that first interested me in the concept of ‘archetypes’, there are many interesting blogs that may be found on the subject, such blogs provide an easy way to research such a concept. In addition to this the use of blogs allows the input from opinions which may be significant, but would be unpublished otherwise. One such blog is can be found at http://incipientideas.wordpress.com/2013/02/14/femme-fatales-tomboys-and-other-female-archetypes-why-they-matter-and-why-they-dont/. This particular Blog entry is based around a conversation the writer took part in with her creative writing group, regarding the role of ‘female archetypes’ in literature.  The questions that the writer aims to outline in this blog are how archetypes are utilised to make a character ‘Sloppy’/likeable/believable? This article features two concepts that where touched on by Diamandis. The first being the idea that the female personality is a combination different archetypes, in the context of this article it is claimed that this combining of archetypes is of great importance when creating a likeable or relatable character. Secondly is a continuation of the idea that different archetypes are present in different eras, however the writer of this blog extends this idea by proposing that whilst different archetypes are created within society, they also change their meaning in that they are interpreted differently.   

                Hopefully through this examination of ideas surrounding the ‘female archetypes’, I have highlighted the usefulness of blogs in sociological research. The provide us with opinions of writers who may not have a chance to be published, resulting in us expanding our own definition and ideology surrounding a concept, resulting in a further understanding of what direction any further research should aim to go. And whilst there are discussions regarding whether or not it is ethical for researchers to utilise blogs, it would be my conclusion that they have willingly submitted their thoughts onto a public domain and that as long as they are generally treated with anonymity, nd given credit when due, that no issues should arise.