Modern day mythologies


Perhaps all the stories about individuals have already been told. The hero's journey, the transformation, the rise and fall of the anti-hero...
Jung said that every human mind is predisposed to comprehend a universal set of archetypes. These archetypes manifest in many organic creations of culture: story telling, painting, music, movies. At one time the most resonant narratives were religious stories, myths and allegories, legends based perhaps on exceptional individuals.

Today we live in a society of spectacle (a survivor society) where, thanks to 24 hour news coverage, instantaneous and universal publication possibilities, and a snowballing public appetite for celebrity detail, celebrity characters rise and fall and play out our fundament archetypal stories with inflating realness and intensity. But at the same time that these celebs and high-rising youtube amateurs take the archetypal stage as our heros, maidens, jokesters, etc., every aspect of their lives is scrutinized and exposed. As a result, they become less like archetypal characters and more like real, complex, paradoxical humans. If they no longer fit the role for which they were intended, they become different archetypal characters, or are cast aside all together. The society of spectacle finds a new subject and keeps on rolling.


How do brands fit into this? As the personality of a company, brands can inhabit the same archetypal stage as celebrities and fictional legends (I can totally see Jason Bourne taking down Enron and Blackstone with the help of UnderArmour, Timberland, and Gatorade). The question is: should brands maintain a perfect archetypal personality (like gatorade does with the hero) or should they embody a more complex, humanistic, paradoxical personality (think vitamin water)?
Is to preserve a perfect archetypal myth to stagnate?
Does making a brand personality real cause it to fall off the stage?