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The Shadow Archetype In Movies
Which movies show the ultimate Jungian Shadow? Today we’re looking at Black Swan, Inception, and Iron Man.
I remember being in awe when I first saw Black Swan (2010), probably around the time it came out.
Back then I could only partially grasp its unsettling essence — except for noticing that it had vaguely something to do with identity, repressed urges, and polar opposites.
Turns out the Jungian Shadow concept is the perfect tool to get the point of Black Swan.
The Shadow is so much more than just a theoretical concept. We can watch it come alive in movies.
Today I’m looking at three movies: Black Swan, Inception, and Iron Man. They’re all very different, and yet they have this thing in common.
Black Swan
The film follows Nina, a ballet dancer whose pursuit of perfection leads her down an agonizing path of self-discovery.
The movie portrays Nina’s struggle with her Shadow, the part of her psyche containing everything she refuses to acknowledge about herself, like repressed desires and instincts.
And boy does she have a lot of repressed things. We can see the repressed and buried urges in her hallucinations, e.g. her dancing in black.
She starts out as a perfectly self-controlled person, mommy’s little angel. Too perfect to be true.
While the apparent perfection is great for playing the White Swan, Nina struggles at portraying its opposite — the Black Swan.
Enter Lily (played by Mila Kunis).
Lily embodies all the qualities Nina lacks: freedom, sensuality, and spontaneity. And she’s great at playing the Black Swan.
