There are always certain character roles that you will see story after story.
An archetype by definition is the original, something that serves as a model to be copied, in the case of stories this would be a person, personality, or behavior.
Carl Jung, a 20th Century psychoanalyst studied dreams and the unconscious of many patients. Jung found that reoccurring images and themes manifesting in the dreams of his patients are not products of individual concoctions because they were so universal, instead these images and ideas came from the collective unconsciousness of society. Jung defined these ideas into 4 psyches: the self, the shadow, the male and the female. The male may be the eternal child, the female may be the mother, the self may be the hero or wise one (even the trickster) and the shadow may be the trickster or distraction.
In films archetypes are apparent and are the basis for all characters in movies. Chris Vogler in A Writer’s Journey, identified 7 characters found in films:
1– The Hero: The character through which the story is told.
2- The Mentor: The ally to the hero.
3- The Herald: Delivers the important news, the ‘Call to Adventure’. Sometimes there are numerous heralds within a story.
4- The Shadow: Protagonist. In Miyakai’s films, the shadow is sometimes within the hero.
5- The Threshold Guardian: Passageway or guardian that the hero must get past in order to continue on or complete her quest.
6- The Trickster: Comic relief and can also distract the hero from her goal.
7- The Shapeshifter: Character who does not appear to be who she appears to be. We usually find out in the end.
Archetypes are NOT stereotypes. While a stereotype may be a generalization (all kids like ice cream, all fat people are mean), an archetype is a base behavior-character player that fulfills a role within the storytelling process.
I watched Despicable Me and How to Train your Dragon and identified the character roles found within these films.
Remember: Just because a character is a big monster does not mean it is the threshold guardian or shadow. Shrek for instance is an ogre and the hero. Just because a character is a cute bouncy creature does not mean it is the trickster. Scrat (Ice Age) in the animated shorts is most often the hero. Character archetypes are the roles that facilitate the larger story.