Episode 8
Monsters & Masculinity: delving further into the Jungian Shadow
February 28th, 2024
45 mins 10 secs
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About this Episode
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:
Music for the show by Si Mulumby.