papers

academic writings

in a world of pure imagination:

the complex wounds of Charlie Bucket

DJA 805 Mythopoetic Imagination
September 2022

A look at the challenges and complexes of Charlie Bucket, protagonist of Mel Stuart’s 1971 film, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. What if the story’s ‘naughty’ children represent Charlie’s shadow material? Could Wonka be an avatar of Bluebeard — or even Kalsched’s ‘Mr. Dissociation’? paper

mistaken identities:

making sense of Jung’s anima/animus muddle

DJA 800 Archetypes: Universal Patterns of the Psyche
June 2022

Post-Jungian thought opens the door to the reappraisal of Jung’s original ideas. This paper challenges Jung’s original conception of the anima and animus, suggesting that the theory may depict not two intrapsychic figures, but four. paper

“the very mirror image of death

the Titanic and Connie Willis’s novel Passage

DJA 720 Jungian Psychology: The Individuation Journey
January 2022

Connie Willis’s novel, Passage, deserves far more praise and critical attention than it has received. This paper, then, is an appreciative inquiry into the role archetype and symbol play in this soul-shaking novel about near death experiences and the great What’s Next. paper

England O.

a case history of the BBC miniseries Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell

DJA 700 Introduction to Depth Psychology
January 2022

Alternately playful and serious, this paper examines the Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell miniseries through a depth-psychological lens. In particular, hints of the early history of the psychoanalytic movement play out in Clarke’s magical world, inviting readers to consider the striking commonalities between Strange and Carl Jung, Norrell and Sigmund Freud. paper