Other Film and Media Studies Commons^™

The Animus : A Jungian Perspective On The Films Of Jane Campion, Taryn Louise Ricketts

Theses : Honours

Carl Jung's notion of contrasexuality allows women to embrace the masculine as well as feminine aspects of their personality. This creates a sense of complementarity or balance that is often lacking in the established psychoanalytic interpretation of female representations within mm texts. The 'animus,' or masculine complex, is an empowering theory in understanding representations of women within the filmic text as embarking on a process of self-realisation, self-acceptance, and the discovery of their own authority in the context of their relationships with men. Furthermore, the animus has been credited as Jung's greatest contribution to the study of the female psyche. …