Reflections on Carl Jung (Part 5): Become Who You Are

Carl Jung’s theory of individuation is directly applicable to the Protagonist’s journey in a screenplay.

The more I study Carl Jung, the more I discover his ideas about psychology have a direct relevance to screenwriting (specifically) and stories (generally). This week, a 5 part series focusing on Jung’s notion of individuation, the achievement of one’s self-actualization through a process of integrating the conscious and the unconscious. This movement toward a state of what Jung called ‘wholeness’ is an enlightening way to think about what many in the screenwriting trade refer to as the Protagonist Transformation Arc.

In Part 1, we explored Jung’s theory of individuation which he described as the “psychological process that makes of a human being an ‘individual’… a ‘whole’ man.”

In Part 2, we considered the idea that the unconscious, the stuff of an individual’s Authentic Self, naturally seeks to emerge into the light of consciousness, and how we, as writers, can think of a Protagonist’s transformation as a reflection of this dynamic.

In Part 3, we delved into Jung’s notion that “one does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious,” including those negative aspects of the psyche known as the shadow.

In Part 4 , looked at Jung’s idea that “whatever is rejected from the self, appears in the world as an event,” which led us to the notion of a character’s narrative imperative, their inevitable fate insofar as Plotline intersecting with Themeline, the interweaving between the two — event/response — playing out as Transformation.

We end this series with this from Jung:

Become who you are. Become all that you are. There is still more of you — more to be discovered, forgiven, and loved.

— Carl Jung

If we transplant this idea into the realm of crafting a story, this concept quite sums up the arc — at least if the trajectory is a positive one — of the Protagonist’s transformation journey.

Joseph Campbell says, “The hero has to change.”

Ovid says, “The seeds of change lie within.”

Carl Jung says: “The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are.”

Neo in The Matrix: He becomes who he truly is: The One.

Carl Fredericksen in Up: He becomes who he truly is: A man still capable of living and loving.

Annie in Bridesmaids: She becomes who she truly is: An imperfect woman capable of accepting herself and an imperfect man as people worthy of romance and love.

The stuff of the Authentic Self is already there. As we discussed in Part 1, it is being repressed, suppressed, ignored, or avoided. That is the psychological basis of the Protagonist’s beginning state of Disunity.

The Story Universe creates events (Plotline Points) which compel the Protagonist onto, into, and through their adventure.

The events advance the plot, but they also serve as tests and challenges which force the Protagonist to change, even to confront their shadow self as exhibited in opposition figures and dynamics including Nemesis figures.

Along the way, they discover their Old Way of Being is inauthentic and thus has restricted their growth. As those beliefs and behaviors, coping skills and defense mechanisms are Deconstructed, this leads to a process of Reconstruction in which the Protagonist evolves into New Ways of Being, and their True Self emerges.

That’s why in most movies, we see a Protagonist who survives the Final Struggle by embracing all they have learned and using the ‘stuff’ of their Authentic Nature to win the day, and in doing so move toward a state of Unity.

By the way, if you want to know what the primary emotional point of the denouement is, it’s that: To show the Protagonist as a whole being.

When we see the Protagonist having made it through their challenging journey, not only ending up not a better place, but one in which they have become who they truly are… it makes us feel happy. And we all know how Hollywood loves happy endings.

There you have it! Carl Jung: Screenwriting Guru!

One caveat: While most Hollywood movies feature a Protagonist going through a positive metamorphosis, that’s not always true. Sometimes they go through a negative one. Sometimes they refuse to change. Sometimes the Protagonist doesn’t change, but acts as a change agent with others.

But it is almost inevitable that transformation is at work in a movie. What Jung articulates in his take on analytical psychology, as we have seen in this series, is directly relatable to screenwriting and storytelling in general.