“Unfortunately, there can be no doubt that man is, on the whole, less good than he imagines himself or wants to be. Everyone carries a shadow, and the less it is embodied in the individual's conscious life, the blacker and denser it is.” - Carl Jung (Psychology and Religion)
What would happen if the whole society suppressed the shadow?
One of my favorite pieces of dystopian fiction talks about just that.
I’m talking about the Japanese anime series Psycho-Pass.
Before I dive into how Psycho-Pass portrays the society of suppressed shadow and how it relates to the work of Carl Jung, I want to make a disclaimer:
Psycho-Pass is one of the most philosophy-filled fictional stories I’ve ever watched or even read. However, the actual main theme of the story is not the Jungian shadow. The story actually deals with free will and determinism much more, and is brilliant in expressing some of the main existentialist ideas. However, I noticed that, even though the story might not be talking about the shadow, at least not in the obvious way it does about free will, it at the very least leaves an opportunity to talk about the shadow and its suppression. I plan on covering all the philosophical aspects of Psycho-Pass in my future essays, but since a lot of my readers have been asking me to write more about the Jungian shadow, I decided to start with this one.
Now let’s get into it.
As always, I will be sharing only those details of the story that are necessary for understanding the idea that I will be trying to convey.
Psycho-Pass is set in a futuristic, utopian Japan. I feel that the "utopian" part is important to note because, in my opinion, the most realistic future dystopia, the one that should serve as a warning, is the one that, at first, seems like utopia.
In Psycho-Pass, society is governed by the Sibyl System, a super-computer that endlessly scans and measures brain activity of every single citizen using a "cymatic scan." The result of this scan is called Psycho Pass, and it consists of the person’s Crime Coefficient and the Hue.
Crime Coefficient is a numerical index that shows a person’s probability and propensity of committing a crime. It is calculated and determined by the person’s stress levels (Hue) and other biological readings via the cymatic scan. When someone’s crime coefficient rises above 100, the person is regarded as a "latent criminal" and is arrested and sent into isolation at a "rehabilitation" facility for a period of time, which, for most people, ends up being for the rest of their life. And if one’s crime coefficient goes above 300, they are executed on the spot because the Sibyl System deems them unable of becoming a "normal" citizen again.
The system I just described results in what seems like a utopian society. Crime is at an all-time low and people are living safe, happy lives.
Or, are they?
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