DISCUSSION

            If we consider history to be the record of what has happened in the development of a people, country or institution, the results of this study can partly be explained by Jungian analysis, particularly the concept of the archetype.

            It is reasonable to state that, by their very nature of having a common knowledge and common frame of reference, as noted by Gilmore, communities would also have a common or collective unconscious. Communities also can be expected to also have developed their own archetypes. The local newspaper often is the historic record-keeper for the community and also affirms the sense community (Lauterer). In the cases of the two newspaper flags in this study, the flags represent community archetypes.

            In the case of the Glenrock flag, those archetypes are the Shepherd as represented by the sheep, the Cowboy as represented by the cattle, the Hunter and the Fisherman.

            The Glenrock flag is in the pastoral art tradition, which depicts the lives of shepherds, often in idealized form. Pastoral art emphasizes the natural world and often will have scenes of civilization pushed to the background or edges, as are the oil derricks and factory on the left- and right-hand sides of the newspaper flag, respectively.

            Archetypal images are often derived from mythological and religious sources, according to Jung, and the Shepherd archetype is found in Greek and Roman mythology, as well as in Judeo-Christian references. For instance, John 10:11: I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. And in Psalms 23:1: The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

            The Fisherman archetype is also found in Biblical references. For example, Mark 6:41: And when he had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and brake the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before them; and the two fishes divided he among them all. And in Ezekiel 47:10: And it shall come to pass, that the fishers shall stand upon it from Engedi even unto Eneglaim; they shall be a place to spread forth nets; their fish shall be according to their kinds, as the fish of the great sea, exceeding many.

            In the flag, man is depicted as the Fisherman catching fish and the Hunter shooting game. Although not pictured, man�s presence in there as the Shepherd of the sheep and the Cowboy tending the cattle. Man�s work is also depicted in the oil derricks and factory, where he takes the substances of the earth and turns them into commodities useful to people. The flag has an Old Testament flavor to it, making the entire scene representative of human experience: Genesis 1:26: And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

            The Guernsey flag also draws upon Judeo-Christian religious symbols. Again, there is the Cowboy archetype symbolized by the cattle. The covered wagon and the wheel could represent the archetype of the Pioneer. The pioneers of the American West often were escaping persecution elsewhere and seeking freedom and paradise in a new land, such as the Mormons who fled persecution in Illinois and Missouri and sought sanctuary in Utah. The Pioneer is an archetype drawn from Exodus, when Moses led the Jews from slavery in Egypt to the Promised Land.

            But the wheel in the Guernsey flag is another symbol filling with religious symbolism. The wheel could be simply a wheel: I Kings 7:33 : And the work of the wheels was like the work of a chariot wheel: their axletrees, and their naves, and their felloes, and their spokes, were all molten. And in Exodus 14:25:  And took off their chariot wheels, that they drave them heavily: so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel; for the Lord fighteth for them against the Egyptians.

            Or the wheel could take on transcendent, mystical qualities: Ezekiel 1:21: When those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood; and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.    

            Jung also was taken by the mystical qualities of the wheel, which could take the form of a mandala and possess archetypal qualities. In �The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious,� Jung refers to the case of Brother Klaus, a Swiss mystic and hermit, who received a troubling vision of a wheel and painted it on his cell wall. The wheel was actually a mandala divided into six parts, Jung wrote (pp. 8-11), and possessed healing properties. "The severe pattern imposed by a circular image of this kind compensates the disorder and confusion of the psychic state - namely, through the construction of a central point to which everything is related."

Native Americans also recognized the spiritual and healing power of the wheel, and the Lakota Sioux still consider the Medicine Wheel site in Wyoming to be a holy place. According to Lakota legend, the medicine wheel is a sacred symbol that represents all knowledge of the universe. The medicine wheel consists of a circle. A horizontal and vertical line are drawn through the circle's center. The circle represents the sacred outer boundary of the Earth often referred to as the Sun Dance Circle or the Sacred Hoop. It represents the continuous pattern of ongoing life and death. The horizontal and vertical lines represent the sun and man�s sacred paths, respectively. The crossing of the two lines indicates the center of the Earth where one stands when praying.

Photographs analyzed for this study also support the archetypes found in the newspaper flags. Although the photos were found on the Internet, many were posted by the local chambers of commerce, businesses or residents. The photos may represent how those groups see their communities, or how they want their communities to be seen by others. In either case, the subject matter often depicted hunting, fishing, ranching and other facets of community life that represent the archetypes in the newspaper flags. One photo of a Guernsey motel included wagon wheels at the entrance to the facility, symbolizing the Pioneer.

The results of this study suggest that community newspaper flags with ornamentation are a product of both collective consciousness and the collective unconscious. The results also suggest that communities create their own archetypes out of the collective unconscious, and these archetypes may be depicted in newspaper flags.

But other questions could be addressed by further study.  Does the redesign of traditional flags with ornamentation change the newspaper�s sense of identity or its role in the community, particularly as it relates to the New West? For instance, does the trend in flag design away from original artwork reflect the changing culture, economy and sociology of Western communities as recent immigrants bring their values into the community? Do newspapers that retain traditional artwork in their flags strengthen the sense of community consciousness? Does outdated artwork still tap into the collective unconscious, particularly that of Western mythology and the Cowboy archetype?

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