Jungian Film Studies: The essential guide (Jung: The Essential Guides)

Put simply, the meaning of an image is not fixed.

the screen also represents the absence of all barriers between fantasy and reality as it ‘becomes’ the site of projection; it ‘comes to life’, so to say.

Once the characters are categorised as ‘shadows’, ‘animas’, ‘animuses’, ‘old wise men’ and ‘representations of the self’, it becomes difficult to see the bigger picture beyond this reductionist description.

– it is polysemic in orientation and regards

He refers to this as the ‘third image’ – not the image on the screen, nor the image that arises from the work of interpretative activity, but a third image that exists in the space between viewer and screen – analogous to the intersubjective space between client and therapist.

change. It is important not to oversimplify Jung’s ideas, and not to use them as tools for the reductive analysis of film texts which could otherwise be amplified – i.e. examined in a ‘respectful’ manner taking into consideration the complexity and independence of unconscious processes behind both filmmaking and film viewing.

In this sense, the cinema is one way that contemporary society keeps the symbolic life and mythological world alive.

Adventure films and stories are always popular because they offer a less risky way to experience death and rebirth, through heroes we can identify with.

Moreover ‘the real problem with applying the monomyth to a female hero’s journey is that her “return” is particularly problematic. There is no leadership role for her to step into. There is no kingdom (queendom) for her to rule