Getting it Right

Abstract

John Beebe, “Getting It Right”, JUNG JOURNAL: culture & psyche, 2007, 1:2, 49-53. Stephen Frears's film The Queen (2006), which stars Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth II of England, is reviewed by a Jungian analyst who finds in it the record of a growth of consciousness about the way a country may be governed. Elizabeth and her new Labor Prime Minister, Tony Blair, though different in age, styles, and values, are forced to confer in the summer of 1997 when the sudden death of Princess Diana has created a public relations crisis that threatens the monarchy. The movie becomes a comedy of manners focusing on the Queen’s inability to comprehend why for political reasons she must participate in her subjects' mourning and on Blair's refusal to let her off the hook. That the Queen is finally able to listen to her Prime Minister and develop beyond this impasse suggests a potential for much greater integrity in the future governance of England. As the Queen picks up on the mood of the country, her bred-in assumption that a ruler stays in power by divine right is gradually sacrificed in favor of an understanding that the ruler has power only to the extent that his or her subjects can feel that their feelings are being respected. Using Jung's theory of psychological types, the author tracks the different kinds of consciousness that are represented by the two central characters of this film, who by extending themselves learn to complement and cooperate with each other, assuring not only their continuance in power, but also the continuity of the realm.