DİN, JUNG VE SİNEMA ÇALIŞMALARI AÇISINDAN, JEKYLL VE NEFS/GÖLGE

Abstract

This work examines the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde through an analysis of the film of Rouben Mamoulian’s, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1937). The main theme of the film is Jekyll’s creation of a new character, Hyde, from himself. This theme raises a philosophical question regarding the battle between good and evil. Mamoulian associates the character of Hyde with the metaphor of the primitive man; he explores the potential of evil in man as a consequence of the repression of his primitive needs. Mamoulian’s interpretation points to a conflict between the spiritual and material aspects of man. As such, it presents a perspective which can be interpreted by different disciplines. In this regard, this work examines the context which produces and supports both the film and Mamoulian’s theme. It examines how this context shapes the characters. Further, this context is explored as a possible means of reading the film through Sufism and psychoanalysis. In Sufism it is the nafs, when it is not properly tamed, which represents the dark and material aspect of the human. In this respect, this work first investigates the relationship of the nafs with the character Hyde, and the nature of the conflict created by the nafs. Following this, the work outlines Carl Jung’s definition for the potential of evil in psychoanalytic theory and explores the conflict of Jekyll/Hyde by considering the shadow archetype of Jung.