Lieutenant Kleenex and the Token Survivor

Jung really hit the nail on the head with his theories about archetypes - they are absolutely everywhere. From Greco-Roman dramas to Prison Break, archetypes and stock characters seem to be at the essence of it all. Now that I have chosen to write a play of my own, I'm starting to analyze my own life in terms of archetypes.

I know where my wounded healer is, who to call when I need a mother and who whisks me away when I have an urge for a magical day. But it is the inconsequential people we meet that tend to show us the way.

From action movies and sci-fi shows, a term was coined for the poor guy that dies to show the impending doom of a situation. "Red Shirt" or "Lieutenant Kleenex" is that man who comes in to die in order for the hero to fight the baddies and ultimately survive.

There are also the token survivors, the ones who magically survive a tragedy of incomprehensible depths in order to allow us to understand a smidgen of the horrible catastrophe.

If I can look at the people in my life and pinpoint most archetypal and stock characters, where is Lieutenant Kleenex to warn me about how horrible it all is? How can I possibly save myself if there is no one here to specify the dangers? What about the token survivor? How can I understand the gravity of my life if there is no one here to tell me about it?

And more importantly... if I can find nearly all the archetypal characters other than the Red Shirt, what does that mean? By process of elimination, am I the disposable soldier? Am I serving as the warning for what not to do? Or, am I crawling from a wreckage dusting off shrapnel screaming about the ferocious force that is life?

These inconsequential characters that are full of consequence could be everywhere - maybe we just have to open our eyes in order to catch these warnings and be all the wiser for it. Or on a scarier level, I could very well be that inconsequential character. If so, who warns me?