The big one that I can think of off the top of my head would be the cowboy, as inspired frequently through Western films. However, are there any other such character archetypes, so to say, that appear often in American media and entertainment?

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  2. Anyone who is super intelligent has a British accent, regardless of country of origin.

  3. Off duty cop/soldier on vacation turns into a hero

    Person that needs money turns into criminal

  4. * The popular jock

    * The bully from a broken home

    * The popular girl who, under a veneer of sweetness, is actually quite vicious

    * The overbearing and/or incompetent policeman

    * The corrupt and lecherous politician

    * The well-meaning but somewhat clueless suburban couple

  5. Nerdy, tomboy girl who can hang with the boys was really common from the mid-90s to 00s.

  6. The work-obsessed Dad who doesn’t have time for his family.

    I feel like this has been a constant in tv and movies for at least 40 years.

  7. The chill, friendly, realistically a good person, non push over individual who has common sense/voice of reason but not over bearing, who everybody hangs with

    Like Arnold off of Hey Arnold

    Or Huey off of the Boondocks

    Doug off of Doug lol

    Pepper Ann

    Virgil off of Static Shock

    Peter Parker

  8. The guy (or girl) who “knows cars” and tends to rattle off a bunch of vaguely car related jargon that rarely has anything to do with the car they’re talking about.

    Example: Megan Fox in Transformers.

  9. The ex cop/off duty cop/ex military who turns into a hero and saves the day.

    The Jock/Cheerleader

    The nerds

  10. Characters who can afford to live in spacious apartments in expensive cities while working as waiters, baristas, or other service roles.

  13. The (often single) working woman struggling to “have it all” is a common one. On a similar note, the hooker with a heart of gold. Probably not unique to America.

    The crazy intense coach/drill sergeant a la Full Metal Jacket. Ted Lasso is not really a common archetype.

    The greasy oily crooked politician and/or union boss and/or CEO who is a small time huckster at heart.

    The “big black lady” who has a big warm personality and gives hard advice and doesn’t take shit from anyone.

    The heroic capitalist who changes the world through the purity and brilliance of his business vision is kind of a common one too, even though it gets challenged a lot.

    The kind-of crooked (or inexperienced or naïve) lawyer who ends up saving the day.

  15. The horrible businessman. I think it’s almost against the rules to portray anyone in business in a positive light.

  17. In a lot of sitcoms the dad is a total childish idiot and the mom is the serious, no-fun-allowed actual parent.

  19. Newer (relatively) than some of the other mentioned: Girl power! Think Buffy the Vampire Slayer. This is the girl who can fight a man twice her size and hold her own in a fair fight.

    Christ figure: Someone who has to sacrifice himself to save everyone else. May come back to life later.

    Han Solo: Yes, we could say “charming pirate with a heart of gold”, but let’s give credit where credit is due. They’re all Han Solo clones.

    Smart but socially dysfunctional guy: Sherlock Holmes started it, but it’s pretty popular in American media. Most recent notable example is Sheldon from Big Bang Theory.

  20. The sitcom dad that is kind of dumb and average looking but has a smoking hot wife.

    See: “According to Jim”

  21. The snake oil salesman is another classic western trope. A quack or fraud who pedals cure all “elixirs” or “miracle tonics”.

  22. The villain who’s goals are good in theory, but for some reason they need to use the worst methods to achieve them, making them the villain. The MCU does this a lot.

  23. Are archetypes in this day and age really sorted by country? I’m tempted to just point at [the TV Tropes archetypal character page](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ArchetypalCharacter) and say they all occur in all literature. Except, of course, TV Tropes tends to over analyze concepts into narrow pigeonholes, some of which may be more recent or more narrow than others. But perhaps they can be abstracted up into genuses or orders to make something tractable. Or look at any book or article on character types in writing.

    Maybe a better question, perhaps for r/writing or r/literature, is what character types aren’t ubiquitous across modern cultures.

  24. “Scientist.”

    As in, the guy who knows about all the science and sciences all the problems away by harnessing the power of science.

    Science in movies is a singular thing, like the same character will have deep insights and knowledge about totally unrelated disciplines.

    I can’t wait for a movie to use this as a joke. “Thank God we’ve got you, Dr. Beknowenschitt, you’re an expert in hyperblasmogoric antropocrumpulent fields!” “Are you crazy man? I’m an authority on INTRAhyperblasmogoric antropocrumpulent fields. This bomb is shielded by EXTRAhyperblasmogoric antropocrumpulent fields!”

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