The confident go-getter, the nurturing simpleton, the quick-witted firecracker, the horny vixen. From The Golden Girls to Designing Women to Living Single to Sex and the City to Insecure, there's a reason these women character tropes have endured on television for decades.

More than simple stock characters, they're modern interpretations and amalgamations of four powerful, ever-lasting female archetypes we all know from mythology, folklore, literature and art: the Queen, the Mother, the Sage and the Lover.

Let's explore some of the deeper meanings, symbolism, and synergies between these archetypes and their on-screen avatars, now with The Mother aka the nurturing simpleton.

🌺Feminine Archetype Series: 🌹
The Queen:    • The Queen Archetype On-Screen: Why th...  
The Sage:    • The Sage Archetype On-Screen: What Do...  
The Lover:    • Taming the Feminine Appetite: The Lov...  


00:00 The Mother Archetype On-Screen: Golden Girls, Designing Women, Sex and the City, Insecure + Living Single
01:20 What is an Archetype?
02:52 What Defines a Mother Archetype on TV?
04:02 Mothers in Mythology: The Virgin Mary + The Great Mother
06:10 The Mother’s Light + Shadow
07:01 Charlotte from Sex and the City: Relinquishing Control
07:24 Tiffany from Insecure: Her Sacrifice
08:36 Mother, Maiden + Crone: Phases of Womanhood
09:50 Mother Demeter and Maiden Persephone’s Myth
10:18 The Mother: Feminine, Introverted + The Water Element
11:01 The Mother’s SuperPower
11:53 The Mother + The Lover
12:26 The Mother’s Lessons
13:02 Wu Wei: Effortless Action
13:24 The Whole Feminine Psyche: There’s a Bit of the Mother in All of Us

Credits + References:
🔺Sex and the City (HBO,1998-2004)
🔺Golden Girls (NBC, 1985-1992)
🔺 Designing Women (CBS, 1986-1993)
🔺 Living Single (Fox, 1993-1998)
🔺 Insecure (HBO, 2016-2021)
📷 Mother Maiden Crone | goddessgallery https://www.etsy.com/listing/76710062...
🔺 Mary J. Blige Accepts the Icon Award | 2022 Billboard Music Awards:    • Mary J. Blige Accepts the Icon Award ...  
🔺 Oprah's 2020 Vision Tour Visionaries | Michelle Obama Interview:    • Oprah's 2020 Vision Tour Visionaries:...  
🎬 Needed Me | Rihanna (Roc Nation/Universal Music Group, 2016)    • Rihanna - Needed Me  
🎬 Grown Woman (Bonus Video) | Beyoncé (Parkwood Entertainment/Columbia, 2014)    • Beyoncé - Grown Woman (Bonus Video)  
🔺 Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (20th Century Fox, 1953)
🔺 Lady Macbeth (Altitude Films, 2016)
📚 The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious by C. J. Jung
🔺 Why Gaia is The Mother of Creation | Fate & Fabled    • Why Gaia is The Mother of Creation | ...  
📷 A mosaic from the Hagia Sophia depicting Mary with Jesus, c. 1118 AD, Unknown author - Self-photographed by Josep Renalias, December 2005
📷 Our Lady of Sorrows by Giovanni Battista Salvi da Sassoferrato, 17th century
🔺 The Archetype of the Great Mother | andrea antoniani    • The Archetype of the Great Mother  
📷 Erich Neumann's Great Mother Schema III | David Adams | https://www.flickr.com/photos/6585964...
📚 The Great Mother: An Analysis of the Archetype by Erich Neumann
🔺 The myth of Hades and Persephone | Ted-Ed    • The myth of Hades and Persephone - Is...  
🔺 The Archetype of the Warrior – How Films Help Empower Us All | Like Stories of Old    • The Archetype of the Warrior – How Fi...  
🔺 Sex and the City (Warner Bros. Pictures, 2008)
🔺 EASTERN PHILOSOPHY: Wu Wei | The School of Life    • EASTERN PHILOSOPHY: Wu Wei