“Each myth is psychologically symbolic. » Joseph Campbell (1985) argues that myths are an allegory of everyday life and should not be taken only literally. That there are hidden ways in which characters written hundreds of years ago resonate with people in the 21st century. Guillermo del Toro's The Shape of Water is a “fairy tale for troubled times” (Del Toro, 2018) that begs to be analyzed and understood by its audience for its unusual nature. It contains mythological representations and archetypes, similar to that of the story of Psyche and Cupid written by Lucius Apuleius. Archetypes are certain universal symbols that have served to trigger the collective unconscious, a fundamental collection of shared memories that reside in the unconscious mind of every human being. (Jung, 1959). Even though it is unrealistic that gods and monsters exist, the story still appeals to its audience. Jungian psychology states that archetypes are ancient personality patterns that constitute the common heritage of the human race. This essay illustrates how the film The Shape of Water follows the archetypal presentation of the young woman in the Greek myth of Psyche and Cupid, suggesting shared memories or a shared heritage that reflects the fundamental human condition. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”?Get the original essay The Shape of Water is an Oscar-winning film directed by Guillermo Del Toro in 2017 that is more like a mythological fairy tale. The action takes place in 1962, against the backdrop of the post-World War II era and the period when America was flourishing. It follows mute woman Elisa Esposito, who works as a housekeeper at a top secret military research center. She encounters a half-amphibious, half-man creature who has been trapped by the scientist. Elisa gradually establishes a strangely close relationship with this being and ends up falling in love with him. Knowing the grave fate the creature will face in the science facility, she plans to smuggle this river god out of the facility and back to her home. In the last scene, Elisa was killed by the military officer. She fell into the river but was resurrected by the power of the River God as another living being in the river. The other story, Cupid and Psyche, is a Greek myth, first discovered in Lucius Apuleius' book, The Golden Ass, written in the late 2nd century AD. According to Thomas Bulfinch's (1855) version of this myth, Psyche is revered by her fellows because of her divine beauty. This angers the goddess Venus, who in return asks her son Cupid to hurt her with his arrow. Meanwhile, Psyche's parents consult an Oracle about their daughter's marital problems. The Oracle claims that Psyche is destined to be with a monster. However, Cupid himself falls in love with Psyche and assumes the identity of her monstrous husband. Therefore, he forbids Psyche from seeing him in the light, but she disobeys him. Their happy marriage is shattered when Cupid runs away from their home, leaving Psyche to find a way to find him. Although The Shape of Water and the myth of Cupid and Psyche were not created in the same time period and feature completely different characters, settings, and plots, they nevertheless share some similarities. If mythologies are a continuation of our human condition, then perhaps both stories reflect some fundamental truths that are still applicable to our society today. The analysis below will highlight these aspectsimportant to both stories. You might also be interested. Long essay topics on history: how to choose the best? The main goal of the extended essay is to provide students with the opportunity to engage in independent activities. research and develop writing skills through… First, Shape and C&P depict male protagonists as gods. In The Shape of Water, the male protagonist is a man-like amphibian creature that "the natives of the Amazon (worshiped) him as a God." Although the creature is well built with broad shoulders, similar to that of an athletic human male. Yet the military sergeant describes it as "ugly as sin" due to its more obvious monstrous exterior. It also possesses healing powers that magically resurrect Elisa after her death By transforming the scars on her neck into gills, he gave her a new life to live underwater with him Similarly, in Cupid and Psyche, the male protagonist. is described by the Oracle as "a monster that neither gods nor men can resist", although it is revealed to readers that Psyche's husband is in fact Cupid, the "most beautiful and charming of all". gods,” the characters still speculate that he was a monster and head toward his fate “which is more like a funeral than a nuptial pomp.” Psyche then opens a box from the underworld and falls into a “Stygian sleep.” ", but Cupid also resurrects her using his divine abilities. The male protagonists' immortality and supernatural powers place them high in authority and worth. This gives men an air of domination and they appear as untouchables; transcendent individuals in relation to the other characters of the film and the myth. Second, the female protagonists are portrayed as lesser mortals. The protagonists of Shape and C&P are both mortals, not gods. In Shape, Elisa is a mute woman who works nights cleaning at a military research center. She clearly comes from a modest working-class background, far from pious. As she is mute, she can only communicate with certain people through sign language. This includes his neighbor Giles and his colleague Zelda. They often served as Elisa's interpreter to the public when she signed for others. Zelda tells the military officer, “I mostly answer because she can't talk. “In one way or another, both Elisa and Psyche are presented as helpless individuals who need help from others. Psyche also has people around her to decide and do things for her, such as her family who quickly arranged a consultation with an Oracle to assure her of her marriage. Knowing that she was carefully stigmatized as an unfortunate person, she told her parents to “submit” and “lead me to this rock to which my unfortunate fate has destined me.” "Muteness and blind trust in an oracle portray the female protagonists as meek. They are presented as meek and easy to impose on others, completely submissive to their fate. Both are doomed in one way or another , victimized as lesser mortals Third, the godly man and the mortal woman victim form a natural hierarchy Men are placed in a higher position of power, as shown by the archetypal couple of gods and mortals, Elisa and. Psyche falls helpless under their spell, perhaps because their lovers are. They come to depend on the gods for their romantic love and ultimately to resurrect them. In the mythology of all cultures, mortals have been subjected to the worship of. divine beings orgods, as they control everything from the weather, agriculture, and even their own lives. The gods have their own specialties that they control. Some are the rulers of sky, sea, earth, love, etc. Stories of gods seducing or taking advantage of mortal women are different in each pantheon, but they are common. For example, Medusa (Greek) and Rindr (Norse) who were raped by Zeus and Odin respectively. The River God and Cupid not only hold physical power over Elisa and Psyche, but also sexual and emotional powers. This reinforces the power imbalance that is the normal structure between men and women, with men at the top of the social hierarchy. Fourth, in Shape and C&P, the two female protagonists are juxtaposed as incomplete or excessive. Being a mute woman, Elisa is considered incomplete not only by society but also by herself. This is conveyed to the audience when Elisa confronts Giles about her plan to break the creature out of the military's research lab. She gets into a heated argument with Giles over his refusal to help her. The audience understands Elisa's feelings for the creature during her passionately signed monologue, which she has Giles repeat verbally. “And what am I?” I move my mouth – like him – and I don’t make a sound – like him. What does this do to me? » She explains that "the way he looks at me." He doesn't know what I'm missing. . . Or how incomplete I am. He just sees me for who I am. As I am. " Del Toro uses this scene as a tool to explain how society views her disability as something that diminishes her value as a human. She knows that people look at her and think she's broken; not enough and she has need for others to recognize that she is not. Thus, she considers herself an outcast and aspires to complete her incompleteness through this love affair with the river god. In contrast, Psyche is presented as excessive. . Her beauty “was so marvelous that poverty of language cannot express the praise due to her. “Men are too intimidated by her beauty to court her and she is worshiped as if she were a goddess. brought to the fall because she is considered at fault by the goddess Venus She sends her son Cupid to take revenge on Psyche When he also falls in love with her attraction, this angers the goddess even more. brought is jealousy and trouble, wanting her into a seemingly unfavorable marriage with a monster. She was “fed up with this beauty which, while providing an abundance of flattery, had failed to arouse love. » (Bulfinch, 1855). Both Elisa and Psyche are humiliated, either by themselves or others, for something that is in their nature and cannot be changed. Elisa's feeling of incompleteness and Psyche's feeling of completeness are ironically treated as being at fault. They reflect an uncompromising reality, so extreme that it suggests society's strict expectations of women. This shows that women are expected to fit into a box that society places them in and that women themselves reinforce it to perpetuate a feeling of incompleteness or a desire for acceptance from the outside. Fifth, the film and myth see the woman sacrificing herself after being accepted by the pious man. It may seem like this is a result of the love they feel towards their lover, but like the archetypes of mythology, it is also an acknowledgment of the union of mortals and immortals. In Shape, Elisa gradually develops a sort of kinship with the creature because like her, he is incapable of communicating.