The Influence Of The Shadow On The Story Of Star Wars

Carl Jung is known for his analytical psychology. He believed all people were connected by their collective unconsciousness, which is populated by archetypes. Archetypes are hidden forms and patterns which every human being experiences. Since they are hidden, it is best to look at mythology and religion do deduce the archetypes. In fact, mythology is full of them. Archetypes such as the patriarch, the young man and the trickster can be found in the Greek gods Zeus, Apollo and Hermes. But, can these archetypes also be deduced from moderns stories, such as Star Wars? In this essay I will explore the impact of the archetype the Shadow on the story of Star Wars.
One of the most important archetypes in the Jungian theory is the Shadow archetype; the evil inside. The Shadow is part of one’s individual unconsciousness, it represents the negative aspects of one’s personality. The Shadow is in fact a manifestation of a person’s flaw. This archetype, or personality side, begins to form during childhood, Once a child discovers morality and societal rules, the child will try to separate its flaws from

itself, creating the Shadow. Since most people try to become their best selves, they will try to suppress their Shadow, they don’t want the Shadow to be part of their personality. According to Carl Jung, there are three ways people initially deal with their Shadow; they try to repress it, to deny it or to project onto someone else. But in this way people will never learn to live with their flaws. By keeping their Shadow unconscious, people will start having feelings of shame and inferiority. Only when they acknowledge their shadow will they be able to make moral decisions instead of merely following societal morality. In fact, taking responsibility from the Shadow is so important that without a conscious Shadow, one can’t recognize any other archetypes.
Because of its importance it’s no wonder that Star Wars had made great use of the shadow archetype. The two main heroes, Anakin and Luke Skywalker, both have to face their shadows. In the universe of Star Wars the Dark Side of the Force represents evil, and the Light Side represents good. The Force is an all powerful energy that can be found everywhere and can be harnessed to do great things. But the Force in itself is neutral, it’s all about the way the force is used. While the Jedi, who use the Light Side, strip away their emotions and use the force for justice and morality, the Sith Lords, the Dark Side users, harness the force through their emotions and anger.
Anakin Skywalker’s journey starts in the movie ‘The Phantom Menace’. Anakin is a young and gifted boy, who is also slightly overconfident. However, he is also very afraid of losing people and losing control. This is why the Jedi Order first hesitated to let him train to become a Jedi: Jedi must live an unattached live and must not be led by their emotions. But when Master Gui-Gon died, the Jedi master who introduced Anakin to the order, the Jedi order decided on training Anakin anyway. During his training years, Anakin had to suppress his fear of loss and his fear of losing control; he denied his Shadow, his biggest flaw. While the Order encourages Jedi to remain unattached, Anakin does the exact opposite.
Ten years later, in the movie ‘Attack of the Clones’, Anakin starts a forbidden relationship with Queen Padmé Amidala. He becomes more arrogant, aggressive and impulsive, which are emotions suited to the Dark Side of the Force. The young Jedi starts to project his shadow onto others, namely Master Obi-Wan, who decided on training Anakin after Gui-Gon died. Anakin tells his lover Padmé that Obi-wan refuses to listen to him and never gives him any tasks. In this way, Anakin blames his unpredictability on the critical mindset of Obi-Wan and does not face his own shadow.
After a while, Anakin’s shadow even starts to take over his consciousness.

According to the theory of Jung, when one’s shadow is repressed long enough it will take over the ego-conciousness. This happens to Anakin when he goes back home to save his mother from the Tusken Raiders, thereby disobeying the Order. When he discovers that his mother has been killed by the Tuskens, he becomes enraged and kills all of the members of the tribe, even the children. After that he flies back to the planet of the republic and the Jedi Order, Coruscant, and speaks with Padmé. During his conversation Anakin once again projects his own shadow onto Obi-Wan; he believes he is an all-powerful Jedi and Obi-Wan is just jealous of him and is trying to hold him back. But after raging at Obi-Wan, Anakin confesses to Padmé that he killed all of the Tuskens and tells her he should be better than

this.
Even though Anakin has now recognized his shadow instead of denying it, he is far from taking responsibility for his flaw; Anakin still won’t admit he is in need of help. His desire to be in control of everything and to ‘fix’ everything prevents him from learning from his mistakes. According to Carl Jung ‘one has to admit that there are problems which one simply cannot solve on one’s own resources’. Therefore Anakin has to accept that he cannot always be in control of everything. Some things cannot be fixed.