¶ … Film Psych
Analyzing the Sopranos through the eyes of Carl Jung
Unconscious Eyes
The award-winning HBO television series, The Sopranos, is one that can be analyzed by people everywhere. Each time a new episode airs, it has more symbolism than the last. The various storylines, plots, and characters are divulged in a way that creates a certain tension among the audience; and week after week, people feel compelled to come back for more.
So why is it that people feel bound to their television sets each fall when a new season of The Sopranos commences? Most people in America will answer this way: "It's great drama." But there must be a driving force behind the drama, a technique that the writers, directors, and producers use to hold America's interest. Carl G. Jung, author of Man and His Symbols, might have a few ideas regarding this.
In Man and His Symbols, Jung goes into great detail about various archetypes; one in particular is the power of one's dreams. Jung believes that "dreams may sometimes announce certain situations long before they actually happen" (51). This does not necessarily mean that one has psychic powers, Jung says; on the contrary, one dreams of images that are part of an unconscious history, which cannot be processed in the conscious state. Thus, Jung thinks "what we consciously fail to see is frequently perceived by our unconscious, which can pass the information on through the dreams" (51).
A perfect example of this is shown in the second season finale of the Sopranos. Tony Soprano, the head of the mafia
Tony is concerned that ***** is talking to the Feds; however, ***** is like a big brother to Tony, and Tony does not want to believe this could possibly be true. Thus, he does not pursue it in his conscious state of mind, because he can not process such a thought. However, Tony has a dream in which ***** is an actual fish on ice (another form of symbolism). In the dream, ***** tells Tony that he's been working for the Feds and that Tony's known all along. According to Jung's theory, Tony's unconscious state passed the information on through the dream. Even though Tony has known all along, his mind wouldn't go there.
Now, however, Tony does know, and when he wakes up, he's determined to find out the truth. Sure enough, when he searches *****'s house, he finds a wire and some tapes meant for the FBI. For Tony, this means he has to do something he never wanted to even think about: kill one of his closest friends.
Another important character in The Sopranos, Adriana La Cerva, fits a wild woman archetype described by Clarissa Pinkola Estes. In Estes' book, Women Who Run With the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype, she discusses the story of Bluebeard. Bluebeard is a symbol of a predator to women. In this story, the youngest of three sisters marries Bluebeard, even though her sisters' warn her otherwise. The youngest sister is drawn to Bluebeard because he is rich, lives in a beautiful castle, and he "wined and dined her" in the woods.
Adriana is drawn to her fiance, Christopher Moltisanti, in a similar way. While she does truly love him, she is drawn to him by his money, his power, and of course, because he is a "made man."…
Carl Jung's Theory: Carl Gustav Jung is a well-known pioneer of analytical psychology who was born in 1875 in Kesswil, Switzerland and the only child of a Swiss clergyman. His early family life played a critical role in shaping his theory as the huge focus placed on religion by his family contributed to the spiritual aspects of his theory. This is despite of his statement that he was bored by this
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