Stockton Rush and the Power of Archetypes

Lessons for writing from our obsession with this story

Photo by Silas Baisch on Unsplash

By now, we all know the story of the OceanGate submersible that imploded. We’ve read a million news articles about it, know the names of the passengers (and that they were actually called “mission specialists”) by the company, know that many whistle blowers stepped forward to warn about the submersible’s problems, know that Stockton Rush considered himself an innovator who eschewed safety standards because they got in the way of his goals.

And if you are at all like me and so many people I’ve talked to, you are still obsessed with the story. I can’t get enough of it. The more I read about Stockton Rush, the more curious I get about why so many have reacted this way. And I think I’ve figured out why. The story of the OceanGate submersible fascinates us because it is a classic example of the hero archetype gone awry. Like all archetypal stories, it resonates deeply in our psyches and also offers lessons for our writing.

Archetypes

Archetypes are collections of traits embodied in one character that have immediately recognizable and universally understood meaning. The most common archetypes vary depending on if you’re subscribing to Jungian theory, which is more psychological in origin, or the writerly view taken by adherents to the hero’s journey. (These are also Joseph Campbell’s archetypes.) They are: hero, mentor, ally, herald, trickster, shapeshifter, guardian, shadow.

The benefit of archetypes is that they are immediately recognizable, and as such present your reader with instant recognition. That doesn’t mean you don’t have work to do to flesh the character out, of course. But it gives you a basis, a foundation from which to work. And it gives your readers a place to start from, too. Archetypes are also useful in the ways they can illuminate relationships between characters and therefore help you with plotting.

Most writers have at least a passing knowledge of archetypes and the intent of this article is not to delve into all of them. So if you want to know more I’ll just urge you to Google it. You’ll come up with a ton of hits, trust me. This is a good starting point, and this stripped down Wikipedia entry is, too. (FYI, my favorite author on the hero’s journey is Christopher Vogler. His book, The Writer’s Journey, is seminal. I originally discovered the first edition of the book, and it is still my favorite for its simplicity. But the updated version is much more robust and also of great value.)

So let’s carry on to talk about the hero.

Hero

The hero is typically the protagonist of the story, the character audiences follow through it. Most often we think of the hero as a good guy, the one who fights terrible obstacles and wins, the one who is forced to leave his ordinary world in order to save it.

Memorable heroes go all in. They are who they are and they make no apologies for it. Who they are will be tested along the way, and they will learn and grow as they face and overcome obstacles. That learning is a key aspect of the hero archetype. The classic hero goes off on his adventure and come back with the boon, or benefit to his world. He brings what he has discovered—about himself and the world—back and shares it.

And that’s where Stockton Rush falls short of the hero archetype and veers into that of the tragic hero or villain.

Villain

The media has had a field day depicting Stockton Rush as the villain of this story. All the major outlets have written numerous stories, with most accounts emphasizing the free-spirited nature of Rush and his company. Social media has been full of people mocking Rush as yet another billionaire who thinks he is above the laws of humanity that the rest of us have to follow. And, honestly, it is hard not to think of him that way.

In Greek mythology, a tragedy needed a hero who falls from grace. Each hero needed to have a tragic flaw, and the most common one was hubris. (I love this definition of the word.) In classic myth, it was also understood that the hero would have a chance to right his wrongs, and see the error of his ways.

As noted, Stockton Rush embodied many elements of the heroic archetype. Since his death, though, he’s because a villain And that’s because he never had the chance to redeem himself. In classic myth, it was also understood that the hero would have a chance to right his wrongs, and see the error of his ways, which created a cathartic moment for the audience. We, the audience for the OceanGate story, never got that opportunity.

A fictional character who Rush has been compared to is John Hammond, from the Jurassic Park movies and books. Hammond, the creator of the dinosaur park, was full of hubris from the get-go.

What can we glean from this?

We can learn a lot from studying archetypal stories. In this case, it reminds me that heroes are flawed, just as we all are. And that we need to keep this in mind as we write. It’s important to let your hero first, go all in, being completely and totally who he is in order to capture the reader’s attention. And second, to have your hero learn and change from what she experiences through the events of the story. That way, she has the chance to redeem herself and the reader is redeemed, too. Because the best heroes make us feel that we are living through them. We feel their joys, their pain, their highs and their lows. We stumble when they trip, pick ourselves up after the ensuing fall and learn what they learn. In the best of cases, we are our heroes as we read.

The power of archetypes and the mythic structure of the hero’s journey is undeniable. If Stockton Rush had been a different sort of person, the type who followed the rules and jumped through safety hoops, I bet the coverage would have a much different tone. It would likely have been seen as a tragedy, of course, but not one caused by a megalomaniac hellbent on following his own rules. Instead, because Rush died before having a chance to redeem himself, he lives on in the media as a safety-averse rich dude who defied the gods of nature and lost. And we continue to be fascinated by him.

These days I sense the the hero’s journey has become a cliche, almost looked down on as quaint. But it still has incredible validity, and the concept of archetypes especially so. Fascination with the story of Stockton Rush proves its worth.

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