Modern Manifestations Essay, Research Paper
The modern world consists of many different forms of entertainment in which certain ideas and
philosophies can be portrayed. They can manifest into literature, painting, sculpture, television and cinema. It is in
the last two that I find myself most attracted to as I have always been a big fan of cinematography and, in short,
moving pictures. It is said that a picture tells a thousand words, and television and film work on about twenty-five
frames a second, thus in a second one experiences about eight different pictures (about 3 frames per shot) which
works out via this theory about eight-thousand words a second, not including the dialogue and music on top of this.
There are hundreds of films and programs which use the idea of an individual breaking from the normal to save
the day, and in this subtitle I hope to relate the most potent examples I have encountered and judge the significance
of Jung to every one.
Probably one of the most successful sagas of all time is George Lucas Star Wars (in fact in a poll to
find the movie of the millennium the first film in the trilogy came top place as Britains favorite film). At first
glance the film just seems to follow a young boy Luke Skywalker as he trains to become a Jedi, fight the bad guys
and eventually save the universe, but if explored more closely one can find numerous parallels to the ideas behind
Jung s theory of individuation. Firstly as Luke is growing up he is restless but still does not seem to be something
special. Finally after meeting a friend of his Fathers his guardians are killed and Luke has to think for himself,
immediately choosing to escape and persue training as a Jedi. Jung insisted that the major development only
occurred in adult life and one must choose to develop before one can become a successful personality, just as Luke
decided. The main opposition to good in the universe is named the Empire and is a collective of planets and
citizens who are run by the evil Emperor and governed by storm troopers and martials, who all look the same in
their respective uniforms. This would represent society as a whole, with the aim according to individuation to
break free, just as the good rebels have done. In fact the only members of the empire who do not wear a uniform
making them look like everyone else in the same roll are the emperor (the most evil presence of the universe) and
Darth Vader, Lukes father who was evil but turned good when the personality of Luke believed he could make up
his own mind. Thus we can see once again that it is one who is individual who can turn the tide and make them
good. On the other hand we can consider the Emperor to be an individual, as he has come up with his own ideas,
even if evil, and used them to start a collective in which he is the most powerful. Yet he is defeated even though he
started a new idea (individualized and decided by himself as we find in Episodes II and III only in adult life)of the
dark side. The Final comparison that I have made is that of the process one must go through to become a Jedi. Jung
believed one must free there mind to become a personality, and this is exactly what Yoda needs Luke to do to
unleash his jedi powers. On the other hand Jedi s are supposed to start their training very young and we are told
that Luke (and in the newest addition, Episode I even a 10 year old Anakin) are to old, even though Jung thought
the transition to personality can only happen in adulthood, so this is adopting more of the ideas of Freud.
Another revolutionary science fiction saga was that of Arthur P. Jacobs Planet of the Apes in which
many controversial political and philosophical matters are addressed but the idea of individuation was not really
addressed until the forth out of five movie Conquest of the Planet of the Apes. In this story we are introduced to
an evolved ape who is a result of two other evolved apes coming back in time and giving birth before being
persecuted (the whole saga has to be seen to be understood). Talking and thinking apes are feared by society as
they are different and also as these apes are predicted to take over the planet from humans one day (thus the
persecution). We see here an example of how individuals may be persecuted due to their difference, the motivation
according to Jung behind the avoidance of individuation, however in this example the ideas live on. So our hero,
named Caesar, is hidden from authority and raised by a lonely circus man who does not like the way the rest of the
world is run (Jungian) as monkeys have now evolved into nearly human stance only with less intelligence, and
treated as slaves. Thus we see the mistreating of the primates until Caesar loses his temper and Alfonso his master
must cover for him. Unfortunately they guess Caesar must be the evolved ape s child and Alfonso dies trying to
keep the secret. With the death of the only good human in Caesars eyes it prompts him to take revolutionary action
and organize the apes into an overthrow of their dictators. So we see the stance f one ape who can think for itself
loosing faith in the collective then striving to overthrow the wrong and demonstrating himself as a personality even
if not strictly human. This is further enphasised by the slogan to the movie and the headline at the back of the
video box reads the Ape who said NO . It also parallels to Jung as he must wait to be an adult before this can
take place.
When it comes to a modern example of science-fiction with philosophical and psychological ideas mixed
in the film that stands above all others would have to be the Matrix by the Wachowski brothers. In this movie we
are once again told by the teacher, Morpheus, to free your mind in order to achieve the great powers that lie
within. The Matrix is a computer programme designed to look like the world at the end of the twentieth century in
which machines, as in a group of artificial beings who can only do what they are programmed to, are prisoning the
human mind into a world where the mind can be happy performing routine day to day services but the body is
unconscious and stored into a machine where it is used to provide the machines with energy. Thus we can see
examples of a collective in the machines and the real worlds walls of human batteries. Our hero Neo has to escape
both of these before he can develop his powers, just as Jung believed it had to be. Neo is also an adult when he is
released (as insisted by Jung) and told he is the chosen one and told of his potential powers. However contrary to
Jung he is told that it is not best to be freed as an adult and they would not have released him if it was not for the
importance of his roll because he is too old. We encounter in the movie several children who are perfectly content
with the revelation of the world not being real while Neo and the Judas figure of Cypher who are both adults find
the idea difficult to swallow. Another parallel with this film and Jungian theory is that Neo is only freed by his own
realization and not by being told he is the one. In his training Neo is considered an outstanding member in the
skills department as he is faster then any of the others. However when he is told by Morpheus that he is the one to
escape the system that binds the rest of them he does not show any signs of messiahship. It is only after a trip to the
Oracle, an all knowing guide for the force of good in the Matrix, that he is told he is not automatically the one and
he can then follow his own path and develop by himself. Eventually he breaks away, and dying from conformism
he can then understand his meaning of life and he can manipulate the world in any way he should desire. Jung was
a big believer in being left alone to formulate purpose by yourself, as Neo did.
It is not only in the movie format that we see the demonstration of individuation for example the most
successful cartoon since the craze of Pokemon named Dragonball Z is a prime example of science-fiction and
philosophy and is designed for children. In the stories we follow our hero Goku as he primarily defends earth
against the most powerful adversaries in the universe. However Goku is not human, rather an Alien warrior race
named Saiy-jinn who are destructive evil warriors by nature. We are told of how this was demonstrated by Goku as
a child as he destroyed anything he wanted with unbelievable power. However one day he fell a long distance and
bumped his head. By doing this he lost his Saiy-jinn instincts and began to train as a human warrior showing even
greater power. In fact it is due to this goodness in his sole that he can reach a level of supreme power known as
super saiy-jinn before any over member of his race. So it is primarily his differing from other members of his race
and his training after leavin childhood that makes him the most powerful being in the universe i.e. following
Jungian theory as a result of an accident realeases his power and it is also a parallel that it is his attitude that
changes to unleash this power.
However no every example of a hero needs Jungian ideas to break free and release their potential. For
example one of the biggest success of recent times have been the writings of Harry Potter books. In this it is a
young boy who develops already to be our hero, and not by his own either, rather mainly using his friends and
enemies to balance off. This is more or less completely the opposite to all the Jungian concepts and yet displays
other scholar s works about the super-natural and morals of life. This book has proven to be the biggest literary
success in recent years particularly for children, but adults as well, yet it demonstrates at points anti-Jungian
theories towards people wishing to further their mind.
( Goku from Dragonball Z once he realised this (Neo from the Matrix as he is liberating his mind but
greater stage) first he must resolve the child, hence the gun.)
I could spend all day talking of how writers have intentionally or inadvertently brought to attention
aspects that Jung concluded is the fondation of a decent adult mind but it would lead to no further undrstanding of
points needed or to the evaluation of the theory. As it is it is my belief that I have shown these ideas occur even if
subconciously at least during the later twentieth century.
As I have said it is unrealistic to claim that all of these parallels are from the work of Jung, and possibly I
have read to much into the meaning of each of these films writings or television programs. We must also remember
for every film with philosophical ideas, whether Jungian or not, there are several others with no connection what
so ever so one must ask does the ideas really tell anything about our society? I believe the success of each of these
movies or programs speak for themselves as they all have cult followings or huge box office success so we can
conclude to a degree that the modern society do give a consideration to the philosophy of Jung depending on how it
is put across. We must also remember that not all films agree with Jung and so it is possible that the theory does
not really stand up today. However if these ideas are bought about without intent of drawing a parallel to Jung then
this would be more evidence that deep down in the root of our unconscious does lie Jung s idea, demonstrating
more evidence of it s accuracy. It is a well accepted that every mind is different even if only to the slightest degree
as there are so many variables to include so that the more ideas that lead to this idea surely increases the chances of
accuracy.