Challenging poststructuralist character analysis: A systematic review supporting archetypal depth over surface complexity

Muhammad Daffa Syafiq Nashr Ad-Diba’i

doi:10.55942/pssj.v6i1.729

Authors

Muhammad Daffa Syafiq Nashr Ad-Diba’i Department of Qur'an and Tafsir Studies, UIN Sunan Gunung Djati Bandung https://orcid.org/0009-0006-7063-887X

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.55942/pssj.v6i1.729

Keywords:

character analysis, poststructuralism, archetypal theory, mass psychology, systematic literature review, cultural transmission

Abstract

This systematic literature review examines Jack Horner's characterization in "Puss in Boots: The Last Wish" as a paradigmatic critique of poststructuralist shallow-depth approaches to character analysis. Drawing on mass psychology theory, archetypal analysis, and Individual Psychology frameworks, this study challenges the dominant poststructuralist emphasis on interpretive complexity and semantic instability in contemporary character studies. Using a systematic review methodology, this research analyzes 33 high-quality studies across interdisciplinary domains, including character analysis, poststructuralist theory, mass psychology, and audience response research. The data sources included peer-reviewed articles, theoretical works, and empirical studies examining the effectiveness of character construction and cultural transmission mechanisms. The results demonstrate that Jack Horner's pure evil characterization achieves superior psychological resonance and collective engagement through archetypal depth rather than poststructuralist surface complexity. The physiological evidence of audience synchrony, cross-cultural validation of archetypal patterns, and pedagogical effectiveness in moral instruction consistently support depth approaches over interpretive multiplicity. This study contributes to cultural psychology and media studies by revealing how universal psychological patterns transcend poststructuralist limitations while maintaining practical applicability across diverse contexts. The findings indicate that archetypal character construction serves essential functions in collective meaning-making, moral development, and cultural transmission that poststructuralist deconstruction actively undermines, with significant implications for media production, educational policy, and contemporary approaches to character analysis in academic and cultural contexts.

Author Biography

Muhammad Daffa Syafiq Nashr Ad-Diba’i, Department of Qur'an and Tafsir Studies, UIN Sunan Gunung Djati Bandung

Muhammad Daffa Syafiq Nashr ad-Diba’i is an undergraduate in Qur’an and Tafseer Studies with an interest not exclusive to religious research, but interdiciplinary humanities studies, including continental philosophy, cultural identity on sociology, literature theoretical framework analysis implementation and existential psychology. His works mainly focusing on qualitative hermeneutical methodology, exploring and analyzing textual-contextual values, while maintaining methodological rigor which alligns with paradigmic accepted epistemology. His main principle is that all knowledge is inherently neutral as a tool, hence many can be utilized to push the progress towards civilization advancement without putting the humanism aside, providing contributions by putting the theoretical frameworks following said criterion as a foundation.

References

Angermuller, J. (2020). Poststructuralist discourse studies: From structure to practice. In J. Flowerdew & R. Richardson (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of discourse studies (pp. 209–230). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108348195.012

Ardizzi, M., Calbi, M., Tavaglione, S., Umiltà, M., & Gallese, V. (2020). Audience spontaneous entrainment during the collective enjoyment of live performances: Physiological and behavioral measurements. Scientific Reports, 10(1), 3813. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-60832-7

Beck, E. S. (2018). Religious medievalisms in RTVE’s Isabel. In J. North, K. Alvestad, & E. Woodacre (Eds.), Premodern rulers and postmodern viewers (pp. 123–142). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-68771-1_8

Bonus, J., Matthews, N., & Wulf, T. (2019). The impact of moral expectancy violations on audiences’ parasocial relationships with movie heroes and villains. Communication Research, 48(4), 550–572. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093650219886516

Culler, J. (2020). Poststructuralist turn? Diacritics, 47(4), 28–49. https://doi.org/10.1353/dia.2019.0033

Dolaykaya, P., & Mira, M. (2017). Characterization in postmodern novel: Analysis of John Fowles’ Mantissa in the context of postmodern character. Ankara Üniversitesi Dil ve Tarih-Coğrafya Fakültesi Dergisi, 57(2), 1000–1019. https://doi.org/10.1501/DTCFDER_0000001548

Drury, J. (2020). Recent developments in the psychology of crowds and collective behaviour. Current Opinion in Psychology, 35, 12–16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2020.02.005

Hong, T. (2019). Distortions of supervillainy, radical interiority, and victimhood in Sam Kieth’s The Maxx. In R. L. Cummings & M. J. Kim (Eds.), The supervillain reader (pp. 564–577). University Press of Mississippi. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvx5w9cj.39

Jeffery-Schwikkard, D., Li, J., Nagpal, P., & Lomas, T. (2024). Systematic review of character development in low- and middle-income countries. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 20(2), 169–191. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2024.2322464

Kjeldgaard-Christiansen, J. (2016). Evil origins: A Darwinian genealogy of the popcultural villain. Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences, 10(2), 109–122. https://doi.org/10.1037/ebs0000057

Kjeldgaard-Christiansen, J., Fiskaali, A., Høgh-Olesen, H., Johnson, J., Smith, M., & Clasen, M. (2020). Do dark personalities prefer dark characters? A personality psychological approach to positive engagement with fictional villainy. Poetics, 80, 101511. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.poetic.2020.101511

Kyriakou, G., Drivelou, V., & Glentis, A. (2020). Villainous hair: Ba(l)d to the bone – Would they be so evil if they had hair? British Journal of Dermatology, 184(1), 182–185. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjd.19508

Marzi, G., Balzano, M., Caputo, A., & Pellegrini, M. (2024). Guidelines for bibliometric-systematic literature reviews: 10 steps to combine analysis, synthesis and theory development. International Journal of Management Reviews, 26(2), 137–156. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijmr.12381

Nurazizah, V., & Junaidi. (2025). Effectiveness of student character education in the digital age of elementary schools: A systematic literature review. International Journal of Elementary Education, 9(1), Article 92656. https://doi.org/10.23887/ijee.v9i1.92656

Orsolini, L., Longo, G., Bellagamba, S., Kato, T., & Volpe, U. (2024). Could the construct of modern-type depression predict internet gaming disorder in Italian video gamers? A case–control study. Brain Sciences, 14(1), 48. https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci14010048

Páez, D., Rimé, B., Basabe, N., Wlodarczyk, A., & Zumeta, L. (2015). Psychosocial effects of perceived emotional synchrony in collective gatherings. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 108(5), 711–729. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000014

Paul, J., Khatri, P., & Duggal, H. (2023). Frameworks for developing impactful systematic literature reviews and theory building: What, why and how? Journal of Decision Systems, 33(4), 537–550. https://doi.org/10.1080/12460125.2023.2197700

Saar, M. (2018). Critical theory and poststructuralism. In P. Gordon, F. Rush, & A. Honneth (Eds.), The Routledge companion to the Frankfurt School (pp. 345–359). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429443374-23

Salzmann, Z. (1998). Linguistic criticism (2nd ed.) by Roger Fowler (Review). Language, 74(2), 448–449. https://doi.org/10.1353/lan.1998.0258

Simkova, E. (2020). The meeting of the postmodern and metamodern in the characters of Ali Smith´s Autumn. Сучасні дослідження з іноземної філології, 18, 262–271. https://doi.org/10.24144/2617-3921.2020.18.262-271

Templeton, A., Drury, J., & Philippides, A. (2015). From mindless masses to small groups: Conceptualizing collective behavior in crowd modeling. Review of General Psychology, 19(3), 215–229. https://doi.org/10.1037/gpr0000032

Umscheid, V., Smith, C., Warneken, F., Gelman, S., & Wellman, H. (2022). What makes Voldemort tick? Children's and adults' reasoning about the nature of villains. Cognition, 233, 105357. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2022.105357

Van Mourik Broekman, A., Koudenburg, N., Gordijn, E., Krans, K., & Postmes, T. (2019). The impact of art: Exploring the social-psychological pathways that connect audiences to live performances. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 116(6), 942–965. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000159