A quick reminder after part one, I’m looking at Psychologist Carl Jung’s concept of the collective unconscious, and how it offers a framework for storytelling and characterisation built around common character traits. Here’s four more of the archetypes, and where you would find them at the Eurovision Song Contest.
The Explorer
France
The Explorer is independent and does what it does for its own sake and not the attention of others (but they wouldn’t turn down accolades).
The journey and its lessons are as important as the destination, and they are not afraid to go it alone. You can see this spirit in characters like Indiana Jones, Huck Finn, and Peter ‘Star Lord’ Quill, who lead lonely, adventurous lives. The country that fits this to a ‘t’ is France.
Despite a lack of success on the scoreboard, it has never lost their sense of musical inquisitiveness. Sticking to its own language while most others have made the leap to English, France has incorporated a wide variety of genres in addition to pop including operatic, Caribbean, blues, jazz, and zouk. In the face of a string of poor outcomes, France refuses to compromise and deliver its own unique style, switching it up year after year on its own terms.
The drawback to being The Explorer is an aimlessness which leads to a lack of connections. With each year, no one knows what to expect, and a lack of trends makes it a hard country to follow. Without a formula, there’s nothing to build on from previous entries, making each successive entry a blank slate. It’s hard to hit a moving target, and if it manages to make an impression, it is almost more out of luck than experience, which is a shame given how good some of the experiments have been.
The Explorer may not get the glory The Hero does, but France avoid creative stagnation and move undaunted to the next challenge with its collective heads held high.
The Outlaw
Australia
When the routine seems safe and unwavering, The Outlaw steps in to shake things up. While their goal is often to make things better, the process is often turbulent and controversial. Who better to represent The Outlaw than the country of (former) outlaws, Australia?
Since its first exposure to the contest in 1983, Australians have remained strong, loyal fans for more than three decades and even got a representation in the 2014 interval act with Jessica Mauboy. Taking advantage of the show’s 60th Anniversary, it arrived with an established artist and a catchy soul/funk tune that, despite not having the cultural ties, managed to pull off an impressive fifth place final and even garnered 12 points from Austria and Sweden. Thanks to a return to the stage in Stockholm and a solid entry at Junior Eurovision with Bella Page, Australia has made it clear that it’s appearance is not just a gimmick, but a country that people need to watch out for.
Since Australia’s time at Eurovision is so short, it hasn’t had a chance to fall into the traps often seen in other famous Outlaws, but there are challenges ahead.
The danger of having an Outlaw on the team is that the methods to invoke change can be more disruptive than positive. Despite the repeated assurances from the EBU that this was a one time event, Australia took the stage with a song about doing ‘Tonight Again’ and other self-referential lyrics. That the country was invited also opens the door for other fan countries to participate including South Africa, Kazakhstan, and China (who finally saw the show live this year).
Long term complications may include the need to figure out hosting duties should we have an Antipodena win, how countries knocked out by Australia at the semi-final stage will feel about its participation, and even moving the start of the Contest to accommodate the difference in time zones.
Accommodating The Outlaw will have unforeseen complications for years to come.
The Lover
Turkey
Lovers are passionate, filled with strong emotions and a desire to experience life to the fullest. What they value most is the ability to form deep connections with others in romance, family, or friendship.
While Italy and France put the romance in romantic languages, the country that has shown some serious love for the Eurovision Song Contest over many decades has been Turkey. The early years were a struggle, coming in last or near the bottom, it learned that love is about compromise and incorporated English into its entries in 2000 with Pınar Ayhan & Grup SOS, before completely transitioning in 2003 with Sertab Erener to take home the victory.
It wasn’t just the language either. Over the years Turkey’s music became decidedly more western, and rock became the dominant style with entries like maNga, Mor ve Ötesi, and Athena (the only ska punk act to grace the Song Contest’s stage). Its passion translated into a number of strong entries that showcased its devotion to the Contest it cared about and willingness to do anything for it.
Lovers can’t stand the idea of being alone, ignored, or rejected. Having love go unreciprocated can enrage a lover. Despite some good performances in recent years, Turkey left the contest in 2014 citing frustration with the voting system which resulted in its failure to qualify for the first time in 2011.
Turkey went on to create its own Contests in Türkvizyon and Junior Eurovision equivalent Bala Türkvizyon, which is so similar that it seems like an act of jealousy more than a celebration of music. Love, when taken to an extreme, can turn into an addiction when The Lover obsesses over their object of desire and a sense of self-worth and identity becomes tied to complete acceptance.
The Creator
Finland
Battling against mediocrity, The Creator strives to produce unique and original work that is an uncompromised vision. Ambitious yet misunderstood characters like Tony Stark, Victor Frankenstein, and even Steve Jobs are often seen as out of sync with the rest of the world, but in retrospect are ahead of their time.
Recently, this mantle is borne by Finland at the Eurovision Song Contest. When it first took to the stage in 1961, there was no linguistic ally until Estonia entered in 1994. Prior to 2006, Finland was considered the weird kid in the classroom, bringing songs like ‘Reggae OK‘, ‘Nuku pommiin‘, and ‘Pump Pump‘ that bewildered audiences and underperformed, putting them in last place a heartbreaking ten times. Even good entries like ‘Lapponia‘, ‘Eläköön elämä‘, and ‘Sata salamaa‘ performed poorly due to a number of reasons like the language barrier or lack of cultural connections.
Just this year, the Finnish public rallied around PKN while most others turned their nose up, putting them in last place in their semi-final.
Despite frequent setbacks, Finland stubbornly persisted in remaining true to its own musical identity. It sends tango and metal, genres that few other countries would consider. It wasn’t until Lordi’s ‘Hard Rock Hallelujah‘ when it finally clicked and the country had its ‘eureka’ moment. The following year saw a number of entries try to emulate what Lordi had done the year before. There were rock songs from countries like Andorra, Iceland, and Moldova, in addition to many other genre-bending acts. Delegations felt free to explore the boundaries of what Eurovision could be in ways they hadn’t in the past.
While there are a number of similarities with The Explorer, The Creator’s aim is one of self-discovery, where The Explorer wants to discover knowledge outside of themselves. This is best seen in Finland’s current national final system, UMK (‘The New Music Competition’). Rather than looking for songs just for the Song Contest, it has created a platform to showcase new talent. Some incredible music has come forward as a result such as Opera Skaala, Shava, and Satin Circus from just this past year.
Like the eccentric scientist or artist tinkering away in their workshop, what looks like madness to the rest of the world is innovation in the making.
Tune in next time to find out why Sweden is full of magic, who wants to rule the world, and how to play it for laughs. You can also catch up on part one here.