Dexter Morgan, age 42, blood splatter analyst for the L.A.P.D., hardworking, focused, and determined, a serial killer of serial killers. Wait, what? That’s right, a man seemingly just like you and me harbors a substantially large secret. But don’t all of us harbor secrets as well? Secrets that we don’t want anyone else to find out? Is this why we’re so drawn to people like Dexter Morgan, the anti-hero? The answer is yes because secretly they are representations of our own unconscious. Whether we want to admit it or not these “anti-hero” characters that show up so often in mainstream media indirectly help us through Carl G. Jung’s process of individuation. This process has helped many sift through their dreams to get to the center of their own
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But instead of dreams, Jung’s process of individuation can also be applied to the TV character Dexter Morgan from the popular TV series Dexter to help us better understand ourselves and the culture that we find ourselves living in.
The Shadow is the first being that one must come into contact with in order to achieve individuation. This Shadow, however, is not like the one that follows you around on a sunny day. Although similar in some aspects, this shadow cannot be seen easily by many people. In fact, it is not a physical manifestation at all. The realization of said shadow can help an individual progress further into understanding their unconscious. With that in mind, the realization of Dexter Morgan’s shadow can help us understand our own much better. It will also help us better understand why we gravitate toward characters like him. Jung wrote in his book Man and his Symbols that the shadow is a representation of attributes or qualities of the ego that we do not consciously know about. When a person attempts to see their shadow, “he becomes aware of those qualities and impulses he denies in himself but can plainly see in other people,” (Jung, 168). In the case of Dexter Morgan, his …show more content…
By realizing Dexter’s shadow, we indirectly realize our own. We can see the fault in Dexter’s doings but now it occurs to us that these are the same faults that we have as well. They are not as extreme as murder, but we too have impulses that we keep quiet, we too do things that we shouldn’t. We in a way can relate to Dexter and all these anti-heroes seen in the media. They hold a part of ourselves that we cannot readily access, and they are being broadcasted across television screens as likable people with conflicting emotions and everyday dilemmas just like us. They, in turn, are accessible to us, which is why we so readily watch and gravitate towards them. The function of the shadow, according to Jung is to, “represent the opposite side of the ego and to embody just those qualities that one dislikes most in other people,” (Jung, 173). Ultimately we take those qualities that we find in our unconscious and project them onto other people, thus finding qualities in them that we don’t like. These projections can also, in fact, change our journey to
But instead of dreams, Jung’s process of individuation can also be applied to the TV character Dexter Morgan from the popular TV series Dexter to help us better understand ourselves and the culture that we find ourselves living in.
The Shadow is the first being that one must come into contact with in order to achieve individuation. This Shadow, however, is not like the one that follows you around on a sunny day. Although similar in some aspects, this shadow cannot be seen easily by many people. In fact, it is not a physical manifestation at all. The realization of said shadow can help an individual progress further into understanding their unconscious. With that in mind, the realization of Dexter Morgan’s shadow can help us understand our own much better. It will also help us better understand why we gravitate toward characters like him. Jung wrote in his book Man and his Symbols that the shadow is a representation of attributes or qualities of the ego that we do not consciously know about. When a person attempts to see their shadow, “he becomes aware of those qualities and impulses he denies in himself but can plainly see in other people,” (Jung, 168). In the case of Dexter Morgan, his …show more content…
By realizing Dexter’s shadow, we indirectly realize our own. We can see the fault in Dexter’s doings but now it occurs to us that these are the same faults that we have as well. They are not as extreme as murder, but we too have impulses that we keep quiet, we too do things that we shouldn’t. We in a way can relate to Dexter and all these anti-heroes seen in the media. They hold a part of ourselves that we cannot readily access, and they are being broadcasted across television screens as likable people with conflicting emotions and everyday dilemmas just like us. They, in turn, are accessible to us, which is why we so readily watch and gravitate towards them. The function of the shadow, according to Jung is to, “represent the opposite side of the ego and to embody just those qualities that one dislikes most in other people,” (Jung, 173). Ultimately we take those qualities that we find in our unconscious and project them onto other people, thus finding qualities in them that we don’t like. These projections can also, in fact, change our journey to