EXPERIENCING ANIMA IN FILM FROM A JAPANESE BUDDHIST PERSPECTIVE

Based on C. G. Jung’s concept of anima as “the archetype of the  feminine” and “the archetype of life,” James Hillman (1973) concluded that “anima development has thus become a major therapeutic tenet in the minds of many analytical psychologists.” Film viewing provides a way for anima development in that Beebe (1992) describes the anima in film as characters/actresses with “unusual radiance,” “unusual capacity for life or life force energy,” “a desire to make emotional connection as the main concern of the character,” and “who exert a protective and often therapeutic effect on someone else,” among other qualities. 

Both “Twenty-Four Eyes” (1954, 2’ 36”, K. Kinoshita) and “Tokyo Story” (1953, 2’ 16”, Y. Ozu) employ transcendental style in film (Paul Schrader, 1972). Film clips will encourage participants’ contemplative, mindful viewing/processing to experience directly the anima qualities of compassion and wisdom from a distinctly Japanese aesthetic perspective rooted in Japanese Buddhism. Going beyond anima symbolized by the Virgin Mary and Sophia, these films reinforce the concept of anima as a universal archetype and not simply a Western one.

 

 

 

 

FRANCIS G. LU, MD, is the Luke & Grace Kim Professor in Cultural Psychiatry, Emeritus, at University of California, Davis. As an American Psychiatric Association Distinguished Life Fellow, Dr. Lu has contributed to cultural psychiatry, psychiatric education, film and psychiatry, and psychiatry/religion/spirituality. Since 1987, he has led or co-led 36 film seminars at the Esalen Institute; 28 were with Brother David Steindl-Rast.