Sunday, October 23, 2011

Mulholland Drive analysis - part 9: The meaning of the blue box

CATEGORY: MOVIES


Rita has opened the blue box. Note the 'staircase' shape of the inside top of the box. Swiss Jungian psychologist Marie-Louise von Franz has said, "Such round or square structures usually symbolize the Self, to which the ego must submit to fulfill the process of individuation."[a] Note that when the box is closed, the staircase structure is turned upside down, or inverted, indicating inversion of the Self. In Part 1 ("The Sexual Aberrations") of his Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality (1905), Sigmund Freud referred to the practice of homosexuality as "inversion."



According to Wikipedia, the Self in Jungian theory is one of the archetypes. It signifies the coherent whole, unified consciousness and unconscious of a person - "the totality of the psyche."[b] The Self, according to Jung, is realized as the product of individuation, which in Jungian view is the process of integrating one's personality. For Jung, the Self is symbolised by the circle (especially when divided in four quadrants), the square, or the mandala.

What distinguishes Jungian psychology is the idea that there are two centers of the personality. The ego is the center of consciousness, whereas the Self is the center of the total personality, which includes consciousness, the unconscious, and the ego. The Self is both the whole and the center. While the ego is a self-contained little circle off the center contained within the whole, the Self can be understood as the greater circle.[c]

In our movie, Betty represents Diane's ego and Rita her unconscious. The fact that Betty seems to have disappeared while Rita's opening the blue box, symbolizes the ego submitting to the Self, as mentioned above. The circle near the outside edge of the top of the box (see screencap above) symbolizes the aforementioned off-center circle of the ego. The box as a whole acts as the 'container' for Diane's Self, the totality of her psyche.


a. Man and His Symbols. Ed. with introduction Carl G. Jung. London: Aldus Books, 1964. p. 166.
b. Josepf L. Henderson, "Ancient Myths and Modern Man" in Man and His Symbols, p. 120.
c. Wikipedia, 'Self in Jungian psychology'. Web, n.d. URL = https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self_in_Jungian_psychology.


   





Disclaimers
1) In certain instances it has been determined that the creators of some of the productions analyzed on this blog, and/or the creators of source material(s) used in the making of these productions, may be making negative statements about certain segments of society in their productions. These statements should be taken as expressing the opinions of no one other than the creators.

2) This blog is not associated with any of the studios, creators, authors, publishers, directors, actors, musicians, writers, editors, crew, staff, agents, or any other persons or entities involved at any stage in the making of any of the media productions or source materials that are analyzed, mentioned, or referenced herein.

3) In keeping with the policies of the filmmakers, authors, studios, writers, publishers, and musicians, that have created the productions (and their source materials) that are analyzed, mentioned, or referenced on this blog, any similarity of the characters in these films or source materials to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

All images on this blog are used solely for non-commercial purposes of analysis, review, and critique.

All Wikipedia content on this blog, and any edits made to it, are released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.

Marcus Aurelius's Meditations - from Wikisource (except where otherwise noted); portions from Wikisource used on this blog are released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.

Saint Augustine's Confessions and City of God from Wikisource (except where otherwise noted); portions from Wikisource used on this blog are released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.

Saint Thomas Aquinas's Summa Theologica from the 'Logos Virtual Library' website (except where otherwise noted), compiled and edited by Darren L. Slider; believed to be in public domain.