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In their new book, Jung and Film, Christopher Hauke and Ian Alister have brought together a collection of analysts, therapists and academics from the
world of film and media to comment on the moving image from a Jungian perspective. The result is a stimulating, thought-provoking and varied book that invites one to take both a broader look at the cultural commentary of contemporary film and look closer at the detail and themes running through particular movies. The book pays close attention to symbols and symbolic attitudes and, for a medium where art might be sacrificed to commercial interests, maintains typical Jungian links with depth, myth and teleological meaning.
Three sections follow the introduction. Part I, entitled ‘A Jungian Perspective’, includes chapters by Don Fredericksen on ‘Jung/sign/symbol/film’, Lydia Lennihan on ‘The alchemy of Pulp Fiction’ and Pat Berry on ‘Image in motion’. These three opening chapters set the scene for the book, introducing the Jungian and post-Jungian views that encourage a deeper analysis of popular culture and complex thought, and are primarily aimed at those who are not totally familiar with a Jungian point of view. The concise glossary at the end of the book will also be helpful if some of the terminology used is unfamiliar. I particularly enjoyed Pat Berry's chapter. She makes the point that film began at the same time as depth psychology, and goes on to state that art requires and responds to pathology within the context of our modern world, film being one way in which we become more aware, collectively, of the objective psyche at work.
Part II, entitled ‘Four Films and a Director’, includes chapters by John Hollwitz on ‘The Grail quest and Field of Dreams’, Jane Ryan on ‘Dark City’, Don Williams on ‘“If you could have seen what I've seen with your eyes …”: post-human psychology and Blade Runner’, ‘2001: A Space Odyssey: a classical reading’ and Christopher Hauke on ‘“Let's go back to finding out who we are”: men, Unhei