Monsters & Masculinity: delving further into the Jungian Shadow

In this episode we continue our exploration of the Jungian shadow in our lives and in literature. The two texts we are primarily concerned with are A Monster Calls and Fight Club. Both began as novels and both were adapted into fine films— Fight Club, especially, is an excellent adaptation and deserving of its popularity.

A Monster Calls (2011), is a novel written by Patrick Ness, developed from an original idea by Siobhan Dowd, who died of breast cancer in 2007. Ness writes of Dowd that she, “had the characters, a premise, and a beginning. What she didn't have, unfortunately, was time.”

In A Monster Calls, we suggest that we can consider the shadow as the appearance of the “unthinkable thought”— a thought so terrible that the young protagonist, Conor, represses it and refuses to acknowledge it, until it consumes him with guilt and he unconsciously summons a monster to help him face it.

Fight Club is a novel written by Chuck Palahniuk, and later adapted into a film by David Fincher. In Fight Club, the shadow is represented by the mysterious and charismatic Tyler Durden, who serves as a projection of the narrator's repressed desires and rage. Tyler represents the narrator’s desire to break free from the constraints of society and live a life of freedom and adventure.

We hope you enjoy the episode

References:

Episode 7— Jung, The Shadow, and A Wizard of Earthsea

Carl Jung —The Collected Works of C. G. Jung, Vol 9. Part 1 and 2

• Part 1: The Archetypes and The Collective Unconscious
• Part 2: Aion: Researches into the Phenomenology of the Self

Carl Jung — Memories, Dreams, Reflections (1962).

Maggie Hyde — Introducing Jung: A Graphic Guide

Scott J. Hill — Confrontation with the Unconscious: Jungian Depth Psychology and Psychedelic Experience (2019).

A Monster Calls (novel), written by Patrick Ness (from an original idea by Siobhan Dowd), published 2011

A Monster Calls (film), directed by J. A. Bayona from a screenplay by Patrick Ness.

Chuck Palahniuk — Fight Club (novel)

David Fincher — Fight Club (film)

Tool — Forty-Six & 2 — Ænima

Links:

Altered Mates Website

Altered Mates Instagram

Music for the show by Si Mulumby.