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Date Posted: 15:50:15 10/22/05 Sat
Author: Celebaelin
Subject: You ask a complex question
In reply to: Roy 's message, "Jossverse Characters and the Shadow Self" on 13:10:14 10/22/05 Sat

Particularly if you subscribe to the view that Spike is Buffy's Shadow (with some contribution from Anya). I've touched on this briefly in a couple of recent posts at least one of which is still on the board (http://www.voy.com/14567/18808.html).

In a conceit which clearly depicts the forces of good and evil in opposition and moving gradually towards a blurring of the boundaries between the two I prefer to view the Ego/Shadow relationships as pre-scripted when 'imposing' a Jungian interpretation.

As an example two classic examples of Ego/Shadow that are used are

1) The "pure Ayran race" of Nazi Germany (Ego) casting its Collective Shadow onto the Jews so that 'THEY' become the embodiment of depravity and evil.

and

2) The departure of Christian tradition from the early mystical view that encompassed a totality of aspects including not only a Shadow side within itself but also in some early Christian interpretation an anima (female soul image). When Christianity moves towards an interpretation of being not only exclusively good and exclusively male but also solely and the sole source of redemption it creates an opponent Shadow, “The Devil”.

There are nevertheless some possible Ego/Shadow relationships in evidence in some of the characters, it is always the dominant, deliberately expressed side that is Ego and the accidental aspect that is Shadow:-

Anya: The man-hating vengence demon who becomes deprived of her powers and falls in love with a man who deserts her at the altar.

Willow: The shy computer geek in love with Xander since childhood who is transformed into a lesbian super-Wiccan dark queen.

Spike: The ‘big bad’ legendary dark warrior and killer of Slayers who is ‘castrated’ by his love for a Slayer and becomes the hero who acts as a conduit to save the world. An example here of observable change having been witnessed, which is Ego? Both, at different times.

Angel/Angelus

Glory/Ben (atypical, perhaps since this, as with the Buffy/Spike suggestion the Shadow is opposite sex but the Animus POV is better served by the toady worshippers).

Giles/Ripper

Dawn: The mysterious ‘key’ who becomes perhaps more intensely, instinctively human than any of the other characters.

Oz: Inherent in the contrast between man and werewolf. In fact Beauty and the Beasts can be seen to function mainly as a parallel for Jeckyl and Hyde which is itself an earlier, more metaphorical, version of Jung’s Ego/Shadow idea with a bit of (anti-)Darwinism thrown in.

I don’t think the Ego/Shadow aspects extend beyond those above but I’m ready to stand corrected.

What do you think?

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