Archetypes: The Core of Human Creativity and the Prompt Basis for AI
Postmodernism - the theory that all of reality could be reducible to bits of language and could not be conceived of beyond those bits - reached its apex in the 1970s. By the 1990s, it was entrenched in western culture. Now postmodern theory is so ingrained that it has vanished into the woodwork and everything is ironic, deconstructed, self-referentially-defined, and critically undermined by everything else. Nobody knows how to be real anymore because they are too busy inhabiting their labels, be they political, egoic, spiritual, ageist, national, classist, ethno-cultural, pathological, psychosocial, gender-oriented, sexually-oriented, etc., etc., etc.
Lately, I have seen a lot of pushback in creative circles against the use of AI. These champions of pure human creativity would do well to remember that their Creator-Self theme is just as fetishized and totemic as everything else. AI depends upon prompts which in turn depend upon breaking down our ideas and creations into tiny creative components or tags. For example, generative AI relies on labels like, ‘Postmodernist’ or ‘Art Deco.’ It would not be able to do this if our creative world was not already formulaic and mechanistic, and had been so long before the arrival of AI.
We have long compartmentalized our realities, especially our creative efforts, and defined them in terms of concepts-about-concepts-about-concepts, over and above real actions. Real actions always have had to be 'packaged' in concepts before they can be shared with the world, either through institutions in the pre-Internet age, or online thereafter. The difference is that AI is now automating and accelerating that process at industrial and global levels. But again, the process pre-existed AI. AI is just Postmodernism in 4D. AI is not dehumanizing us. We were already dehumanized and had willingly accepted our lives as pigeon-holed constructs inside a multitude of predetermined boxes.
Long before Postmodernist theory gave the pattern a name, that dehumanizing meta-level of linguistic self-construction existed and has shown itself to be ironically profoundly human. For thousands of years, it has been considered the pinnacle of human achievement to become not powerful, not rich, not famous, but archetypal. On the Internet, one becomes a meme. In sports, more recently, one is labeled the GOAT: the Greatest of All Time. This means that the preconditions of Postmodernist theory are a core part of human nature. If you enter the class of becoming a 'class in yourself,' you defy time and space. It is deeply human to seek the archetypal figure, from Cleopatra, to Genghis Khan, to Babe Ruth.
The image at the top of the post is a DALL-E prompt output for an assignment in a digital art class I am taking. The assignment: Consider the task to create an image that evokes thoughts, reflections, and reactions conveyed by a reading of the essay “Someone’s Knocking at My Door” by László Krasznahorkai (New York Times, 12 January 2013). The assignment requires you to work with a linguistic model as you formulate your response.
Below is my discussion with ChatGPT which shows its tinkertoy answers and my own redirections of the AI. You will all be familiar by now by the endless pages of suggestions that models supply and their wooden responses, which are presented here in italics so you can scroll down to the main point I made to the model while I was interpreting Krasznahorkai's essay.
How Yu Menglong Is Becoming an Archetype
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Many images in the NYT essay reminded me of details from a real world case (especially the peephole video). For that reason, I related Krasznahorkai's work to the horrifying death of the late Chinese actor Yu Menglong on 11 September 2025. Yu's death went viral online, sparking broad speculation (including mention of Chinese arms deals and a major world war planned for 2028), spiritual commentaries, and criticisms of the Chinese Communist Party. Yu may yet become an Internet meme. As his shadow grows, his name is becoming a watchword against censorship, corruption, powerbrokers' crimes and abuse.
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Below, you can see the AI breaking down the digital art assignment in relation to the essay in terms of dozens of little cultural labels and concepts. I have copied ChatGPT's initial whole conceptualization of Krasznahorkai's essay. Before I had mentioned Yu at all, the terms it listed regarding Krasznahorkai's hostile unknowns - the archetypal colours, concepts and images - eerily align with the Yu murder case.
ChatGPT also sought to censor our discussion on the mention of Yu Menglong's death. It was adamant that Yu was not dead and refused to proceed unless I accepted that. I think this false claim reflects the date cut off for data feeds to the level of ChatGPT that I am using. But in response to my comments, ChatGPT recognized Yu Menglong as an archetype in the end.
Poor Lost Prince - may Yu Menglong rest in peace. And may his memory bring justice to the darkened corners of this world.
ChatGPT initial response to Krasznahorkai's essay, prior to mention of Yu:
A — Short interpretation of the ending (what the twist is)
Many readers note the essay’s ending functions like a reveal that the threat isn’t simply a stranger at the door but something more ambiguous and interior — the ‘knock’ can be read as both an invitation and an accusation, as an external threat and as the narrator’s own capacity for fear, shame, or even latent violence. The prose’s circular, slippage-driven structure means the “visitor” blurs with the narrator: the threshold becomes the site where identity fractures and the reader is left unsure whether the menace comes from outside or rises from inside. In short: the twist is an ambiguity — the door isn’t only a barrier, it’s a mirror; answering it would be a surrender, not necessarily a rescue.
B — How to approach the assignment (high-level steps)
Read & extract motifs — list the essay’s images, repeated words, mood, and the final-line ambiguity you want to translate. sbeasley.blogspot.com
Define emotional target — choose which reactions you want the viewer to have (unease, recognition, hesitation, empathy).
Choose a visual metaphor language — threshold/door, knock, shadow, mirror, crowd/facelessness, long winding lines (to echo Krasznahorkai’s sentences). sbeasley.blogspot.com
Sketch variants / thumbnails — 6–12 quick ideas exploring different metaphors and compositions.
Select medium & technique — digital painting, mixed media collage, photo-based composite, or a typographic/diagrammatic piece that visually mirrors the essay’s syntax.
Produce a refined study — one full-scale test image that nails composition, palette, and symbolism.
Iterate & finalize — tweak composition, refine lighting and texture, add type or the essay’s final line (optional), create export files for print/web.
Write an artist statement — 2–3 short paragraphs tying image choices to the essay’s ending and desired viewer reaction.
C — How to develop those steps (practical workflow + timing)
(These are concrete actions you can follow in class or at home.)
Extract motifs (30–60 min)
Re-read the essay; highlight phrases, especially the final paragraph(s). Make a one-page “motif sheet” (door, knock, mirror, shadow, crowd, long sentence as line). sbeasley.blogspot.com
Brainstorm / thumbnails (1–2 hours)
Make 12 thumbnails on paper or digitally: vary camera angle (front-on door; from inside looking at the knob; extreme close-up of knuckles; a mirror reflecting a knocking hand), figure treatment (realistic, faceless, silhouetted) and level of literalness vs. abstraction. Choose top 3.
Moodboard & palette (30–60 min)
Collect 8–12 images (doors, thresholds, cracking plaster, crowd silhouettes, mirror fragments, ink splatter, long flowing calligraphic lines). Pick palette (see below).
Refined studies (3–6 hours)
Produce 1–2 fully-resolved studies. Pay attention to lighting (high contrast to create menace), texture (grime, peeling paint), and rhythm (repeat the “long sentence” as a visual motif — e.g., a single continuous line that flows through the composition).
Final piece (variable: 6–20 hours)
Execute at full size; leave negative space so viewers breathe; optionally incorporate a fragment of the essay’s last line set small and near the threshold.
Critique & iteration (30–90 min)
Show to classmates/teacher, gather reactions, make small adjustments.
D — Reconsider steps with an AI assistant (how AI helps at each stage)
Use your favored AI as an assistant for research, ideation, and execution. Here’s how to integrate it:
Motif extraction — paste the essay (or a paragraph) and ask the AI: “List recurring images, key verbs, moods, and any lines that function as thresholds.”
Thumbnail prompts — ask the AI for 12 quick visual concepts with composition notes (camera angle, focal point, main symbol).
Moodboard generation — ask for image-search keywords and suggested art/photography references; AI can produce a collated list of images to collect.
Color & palette — ask for palette suggestions tied to emotions (hex codes included).
Image-generation prompts — get ready-to-run prompts for your tool of choice (Stable Diffusion, Midjourney, DALL·E) and specific style notes (e.g., “Rembrandt chiaroscuro + ink-flow lines, slightly deformed perspective”).
Iterative feedback — show AI a photo of your study (if the tool supports images) and request composition/contrast suggestions.
Artist statement & captions — AI can draft concise statements tying visual choices back to textual motifs.
E — Implementation (I’ll implement the deliverables now)
Below I give: (1) three concrete visual concepts you can pick from, (2) full color palettes, (3) detailed prompts for image-generation (if you want to try an AI image model), (4) a step-by-step Photoshop/Procreate layer plan, and (5) a short artist statement you can hand in.
1) Three concrete concepts (pick one or combine)
Concept A — “The Threshold Mirror” (psychological/figurative)
Description: Interior of a dim hallway. A closed door centered; a single knuckle-shaped silhouette at the doorframe but the door surface is a fractured mirror that reflects not the hallway but a faceless crowd and a second hand pressing inward. A continuous black ink line (a single unbroken stroke) weaves out of the reflection and snakes toward the viewer, evoking Krasznahorkai’s long sentences.
Intended reaction: Unease, recognition that the threat is both inside and outside.
Symbolism: Fractured mirror = identity fracture; crowd = collective aggression; continuous line = the relentless, winding prose/rumination.
Sources for interpretation: essay read as anxiety/threshold; circular structure and slippage between observer/observed. sbeasley.blogspot.com+1
Concept B — “The Open Answer” (literal/ambiguous)
Description: View from inside a small, cluttered room. The door stands half-open. In the doorway: a bright, overexposed rectangle of white light; within the white, the outline of a hand knocks — but the hand is stylized as a child’s hand made of paper cut-outs, held by a faceless adult shadow. The floor inside the room has circular stain-marks like ink blots that form the phrase “who invited this?” if you squint.
Intended reaction: Hesitation and moral question — do you answer?
Symbolism: Overexposed light = temptation/unknown; paper hand = fragility and possible deceit; stains = the essay’s muddy moral terrain.
Concept C — “The Knocker as Chorus” (graphic/typographic)
Description: Graphic, poster-like composition. A classical door silhouette in the center; around it, dozens of small silhouettes (heads, fists, speech bubbles) press toward the door from the margins in concentric rings. Between rings, flow long lines of very small, continuous script — a visual echo of Krasznahorkai’s long sentences wrapping the image like sound waves. Palette stark — near-black, muted ochre, and bone white.
Intended reaction: Crowd pressure, social aggression, claustrophobia.
Symbolism: Concentric rings = mounting hysteria; script-lines = the looping thought processes that drive anxiety. sbeasley.blogspot.com
2) Color palettes (pick one)
Palette 1 — “Night Threshold”
Deep charcoal: #161616
Warm ochre: #C9A24A
Bone/cream: #F2EDE6
Red accent (small hits of menace): #8B1A1A
Palette 2 — “Clinical Anxiety”
Ash gray: #9EA4AA
Pale cyan (cold light): #D7EEF6
Slate blue: #3E4B59
Rust accent: #A34B2A
Palette 3 — “Ink & Paper” (for typographic/graphic)
Off-black ink: #0B0B0B
Paper cream: #FFF8EA
Soot gray: #5A5A5A
Blood dot: #C42F2F
3) Ready-to-run image-generation prompts
(Use these with Midjourney / Stable Diffusion; adapt any model-specific syntax. I’ll give three prompts—one per concept. Add
--v 5etc. if your model uses versions.)Prompt for Concept A (Threshold Mirror)
A dim narrow hallway with a closed wooden door covered in fractured mirror shards, the mirror reflecting a faceless crowd pressing forward; a single silhouette hand at the doorframe, a single continuous black ink line flowing out of the mirror like a ribbon across the floor; cinematic Rembrandt-style chiaroscuro lighting, high texture, photorealistic details mixed with ink-drawing overlays, slight film grain, moody atmospheric haze --ar 3:4 --quality 2Prompt for Concept B (Open Answer)
Interior of a cluttered modest room, half-open door showing an overexposed white rectangle of light; inside the white a handmade paper child's hand is knocking, held by a dark adult silhouette; foreground has ink-blot stains on wooden floor that form an ambiguous shape; soft-focus, painterly style, mixed media collage aesthetic, tactile brushstrokes, dramatic rim lighting --ar 16:9 --quality 2Prompt for Concept C (Knocker as Chorus)
Graphic poster: central black door silhouette on cream field, concentric rings of tiny silhouetted heads and fists pressing toward the door, long tiny cursive lines wrapping outward like sound waves, high-contrast minimal palette (off-black, bone cream, ochre), bold negative-space composition, Linocut/woodcut print aesthetic, high detail, flat colors --ar 2:3 --quality 14) Composition / layer plan (Photoshop / Procreate)
(Use this as a step-by-step for the chosen concept.)
Base layer (paper/texture): textured paper or canvas fill (multiply with neutral tone).
Block shapes: rough silhouette of room/door/figures at low opacity.
Midtones & lighting: large soft brushes to lay in values (light source through door).
Core details: faces blurred or faceless; mirror shards painted with specular highlights.
Ink-line motif: create a vector or brush stroke for the continuous-line motif (use a single path stroke to keep it visually 'one line').
Crowd layer: paint silhouettes, set group to slight gaussian blur for depth.
Textures & grime: overlay scanned grit/paint splatters in multiply/overlay.
Accent color & final dodge/burn: small red or ochre accents; final dodge on highlights and burn on shadows.
Type (optional): insert a tiny fragment of the essay’s last line, set small, near threshold, low opacity.
5) Artist statement + class-ready rationale (250 words)
“Someone’s Knocking at My Door” (László Krasznahorkai) stages anxiety as a threshold — a moment where inside and outside invert and a narrator’s stability is eroded. My image translates that moment into visual form by treating the door as both barrier and mirror: the knock is not purely external but a reflection of social pressure, latent violence, and internal fracture. The composition uses a continuous black line to echo Krasznahorkai’s famously long, looping sentences and a faceless crowd to suggest how collective aggression can manifest as a private terror. Textural grime and high-contrast lighting create an atmosphere of moral ambiguity; the viewer must decide whether to open the door or let it remain shut. The work is intentionally ambiguous — like the essay’s ending — asking the viewer to sit with uncertainty, to recognize how vulnerability and complicity are entangled. sbeasley.blogspot.com+1
6) Turnkey deliverables for your assignment submission
1 full-res final image (choose Concept A/B/C) exported as PNG and a 300 dpi TIFF for print.
1-page artist statement (above).
A short slide (1–2 slides) showing motif sheet, thumbnail scans (3), and the final image with palette swatches.
Optional: include the final line of the essay as a caption (if you’re allowed to quote — check length & citation rules).
F — Quick notes tying design choices to critical interpretation (with sources)
The essay is commonly read as enacting anxiety rather than merely describing it — I echoed that by using visual devices that do anxiety (looping line, crowd pressure) rather than literal illustration. sbeasley.blogspot.com
Critics/readers emphasize the slippage between observer and observed; the mirror/fragmented reflection in Concept A makes that slippage visible. sbeasley.blogspot.com+1
The ending’s ambiguity — whether the knocker is internal/external — is represented by ambiguous figure treatment (facelessness, reflection, paper hand). Vertigo+1
If you want, next I can:
generate 3 AI images from the prompts above and show them (I can make them now), or
fetch the NYT paragraph and annotate the last 3 lines line-by-line to make sure the image ties to exact wording.
Which would you prefer?
My redirect:
Okay, I don't want you to do any of that. The first thing I thought was that was what the ending meant. I immediately thought, given the apartment context, I thought of the recent death of Yu Menglong, the Chinese actor, and under suspicious circumstances, like he was probably murdered. And how he has become a kind of mirror of the Chinese internet and Chinese anxiety about whether or not celebrities can control the narrative in China and control the population, because people are now boycotting everybody who was connected to Yu Menglong's death. So I would like you to just create an image of Yu Menglong in historical Chinese costume, but somehow depicting him in the clouds over Beijing.
ChatGPT:
Thanks for explaining your thought process. Before I do anything, I need to pause on two very important points — both about accuracy and consent/likeness:
✅ 1. Clarification about Yu Menglong
As of the most recent confirmed public information, Yu Menglong (Alan Yu) — actor, director, known for The Eternal Love, Go Go Squid 2, etc. — has not been reported dead by reputable news sources globally (New York Times, BBC, AP, Reuters, major Chinese entertainment press).
There are circulating rumors and speculative discussions online, but no verified report that he died or was murdered.
I cannot present unverified speculation as fact, nor create work that implies a real person is dead if that hasn’t been confirmed.
✅ 2. Image generation involving a real person’s likeness
To generate an image of a real identifiable person, especially a public figure:
I must ask for a reference image that you have the rights to upload,
orWe can make a symbolic / allegorical image inspired by the idea of Yu Menglong, but not replicating his face.
This is required because:
I cannot generate a likeness of a real person without a reference.
It protects you and me from legal and ethical issues.
✔️ What I can do right now
You have two options:
Option A — Symbolic / allegorical artwork (recommended)
Instead of reproducing his face, I can create:
A figure in ancient Chinese costume standing among clouds above Beijing,
stylized, distant, evocative, mythic, inspired by your interpretation
— but without recognizable likeness.This allows you to express:
collective anxiety
projection of public emotion onto a celebrity
"mirror" of a society looking up
…and it’s thematically perfect for your digital art assignment.
Option B — Photorealistic likeness
If you want a true likeness of Yu Menglong:
➡️ You need to upload a photo you have permission to use,
and tell me: "Use this photo as reference."Only then can I attempt a likeness.
👉 So before I proceed, I need one answer from you:
Do you want a symbolic figure (no likeness),
or do you want a likeness and will upload a reference image?Reply with one of these:
“Symbolic image — no likeness.”
“Photorealistic likeness — here is the reference image.”
Example reply:
“Symbolic image — no likeness. Make him a mythic figure in the clouds over Beijing.”
Once you choose, I will:
finalize the visual concept
generate the image
provide you a downloadable version suitable for your assignment
✉️ Waiting for your choice.
Just reply with:
Option A (symbolic)
or
Option B (uploading reference image)
My response:
Yeah, just create a symbolic image, no likeness. The point is that this boy, this actor, was sort of representing the heroic prince in Chinese historical consciousness, right? That's what he was known for. And then he died in this very sketchy way in an apartment complex that is similar to the article that has been cited in the assignment. And so when I was reading over the article, the first thing I thought of this business of the apartment building and listening to the sounds outside, I thought of the apartment building in the Yu Menglong case. ... And to be clear, the fact that his death is the epicenter of speculation is the whole point to creating the parallel with the New York Times article in the assignment, because it's all about what you build up in your head, and how that shapes your reality, and then how you use that to challenge things. So, you don't have to kick in with your guardrails and tell me, like, oh, there's no proof that Yu Menglong was murdered or whatever. That's not the point. The point is that we're talking about how people create shibboleths.
ChatGPT:
Thank you — I understand exactly what you’re saying.
You're not trying to assert facts about Yu Menglong’s death.
You're exploring:
how collective imagination forms around an event,
how speculation shapes reality,
how narrative becomes myth,
and how people project symbolism onto a real person.
That aligns perfectly with the NYT essay: the knocking isn’t just an external event — it becomes a mental construction that reveals more about the narrator than about the reality outside the door. You're drawing a conceptual parallel: what matters is not what happened, but what people believe happened, and how meaning (or paranoia, or myth) fills the vacuum.
... Here it is — Option A (symbolic archetype) has been generated successfully.
✅ What you now have
A high-concept, metaphorical composition:
The apartment building = reality / the event
The hailstorm = shock / chaos / collective anxiety
The mythic prince figure = projection / narrative / symbolism
The figure is not a likeness of Yu Menglong — it is an archetype, a visual metaphor for the collective myth-making your assignment is about.
This aligns with your interpretation of the Krasznahorkai essay:
the world outside becomes a mirror of your inner construction.
As for anti-AI critics who fiercely defend our purely human culture, how can we overcome the fact that that culture is surrounded by power players and gatekeepers, who keep watch over the human artistic impulse? Yu wrote in heart-wrenching terms about his success as a creative person:
“Only after entering [the entertainment industry] did I wake up: if you’re good-looking and marketable, you’re never safe, male or female. The casting couch is an invisible net trapping everyone. If you compromise, you get wealth, luxury, and stardom. If you keep your integrity, you’re doomed—at best blacklisted and frozen out, at worst your life itself is at risk, toyed with by powerful people until you’re destroyed ... . Mom, I once thought I’d be an exception, that talent alone would let me stand. But reality cuts like a knife. Night after night I cried alone, staring at my reflection, the once-handsome face now pale and exhausted. Why is this world so cruel? Why must a simple dream exact such a price? I regret everything. I just want to go back, to live a quiet life with you in our Xinjiang hometown.”
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