Jung at the Movies:
“The Shape of Water” (Guillermo del Toro, 2017) or Beauty and the Beast revisited. Discovering the Beauty of the Other
In “The Shape of Water”, a 2017 film directed by Guillermo del Toro, Elisa, a mute cleaner at a high security government laboratory falls in love with a captured humanoid amphibian creature and decides to help him escape from death at the hands of an evil colonel.
The movie displays interactions between those with power and those without.
Elisa’s acceptance of the creature and her attempt to free him from government control with help from a gay man (Giles) and a black woman (Zelda) is testament to the human compassion and empathy as well as evidence of solidarity among marginalized communities.
We will look at how the movie exemplifies C.G.Jung’s quote:
“Logically the opposite of love is hate, and of Eros, Phobos (fear); but psychologically it is the will to power. Where love reigns, there is no will to power; and where the will to power is paramount, love is lacking. The one is but the shadow of the other.”
Among the themes explored in our discussion:
-Challenging our perception (as well as society’s perception) of the “Other” both in a literal and metaphorical sense.
-Exploring the qualities necessary for embracing Otherness.
-Considering the concepts of Assimilation versus Individuation.
Format:
We will watch meaningful sequences of the movie and discuss the themes mentioned above as well as any other meaningful themes that you will bring.
I invite you to view the movie ahead of our seminar.