The Night is a time of rest, where one can sleep uninterrupted by the outside world. In this time, the brain is awake, creating images that leave us perplexed in the morning; we call them dreams. Although seemingly random, a school of thought argues that dreams hold the weight of the individual's life, worries, hopes, and dilemmas. Dreams hold the clues to guide a personal evolution. This school of thought came about from the mind of the Swiss psychologist Carl Jung, whose theories laid their unmovable roots in the world of psychology, inspiring psychologists and Jungian analysts alike. Beyond psychology, though, Jungian theory has branched beyond the confines of the intellectual psychology world and into the world of art. 

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Jungian theory in art is especially evident in the films of Italian director Federico Fellini, specifically. In his 1963 film 8 ½, The distinguishing detail about 8 ½ that separates it from the rest of Fellini's and other Italian directors' films is its blend of dreams and reality. The dreamlike waves hit the main character, Guido, an Italian director, and stand-in for Fellini, struggling to create his feature film and all the while dealing with the women in his life, the shadow of Catholicism reigning down from his past, and feelings of guilt and dissatisfaction. The audience is given an in-depth view into Guido's mind and behind the ungraspable fantasy in Fellini's films is the deliberate implementation of Carl Jung's theories of dreams. Specifically, Jung's theory of Individuation and the Shadow is evident in both dreams and daytime sequences in Fellini's  8 ½. 

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Carl Gustav Jung was a Swiss psychologist known for his theories on dream analysis with an emphasis on Eastern psychology, myths, and religion. Sigmund Freud prompted Jung's initial interest in the importance of dreams. Carl Jung introduced the idea of Analytical Psychology, in which he emphasized his patient's immediate problems, from which he could gain a better understanding of their childhood problems (Analytical Psychology). "Jung saw dreams as the psyche's attempt to communicate important things to the individual, and he valued them highly, perhaps above all else, as a way of knowing what was really going on" (West). The thoughts, genuine emotions, pain, experiences all lie behind a wall inside of the head of all individuals. Still, through dream analysis, Carl Jung believed one could piece apart what lies below the surface of the subconscious and conscious mind. Jung believed the mind and body work together as “a self-regulating system with all psychic contents - thoughts, feelings, dreams, intuitions, etc. – having a purpose" (West 1). The mind and body are inseparable in their reliance on each other to live and their deeper unconscious reliance that runs the body. 

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Beyond the mind and body's default connection runs a deeper root that distinguishes humans from animals; that difference is in the individual's need for wholeness in the conscious and unconscious mind. Jung believed that one's wholeness derives from an isolation of sorts, where the individual is complete; Jung called this individuation. Schmidt Martin commented that "Jung saw it as the process of self-realization, the discovery, and experience of meaning and purpose in life; the means by which one finds oneself and becomes who one really is.” The ascension to a state of individuation requires the step of facing the darker side of the psyche, the shadow. Carl Jung wrote that "the shadow is that hidden, repressed, for the most part, inferior and guilt-laden personality whose ultimate ramifications reach back into the realm of our animal ancestors" (Perry). While the daunting thought of the shadow holding the dark side of the mind stands; to face the shadow means to recognize that it is there; only then can one pursue individuation. Carl Jung gave us a glimpse into the pieces of the psyche. Federico Fellini would do the same. 

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Federico Fellini was an Italian director born in 1920. Fellini is most famous for his use of surrealist imagery and out-of-the-norm themes and story structure; best known for his works La Strada (1953), La Dolce Vita (1960), 8 ½ (1963), and Giulietta Of the Spirits (1965) (Federico Fellini). Federico Fellini came across the theories of Carl Jung with the help of a Jungian analyst named Ernst Bernhard. Aldo states that Fellini and Bernhard's encounters would evolve where "A relationship of friendship and total trust was formed, to the extent that one could say that 8 ½ was created in the wake of this encounter.” Aldo goes on to write, "According to Fellini, Jung is the psychoanalyst most loved and most nurturing for the artistic type, because he is a sort of guide who protects without suffocating, Jung does not say what you must do, he tells you what you can do." Fellini saw in Jung a mentor whose advice did not infringe upon his preferred path but instead stood and pointed towards what was feasible. Federico Fellini's 8 ½ contains Jungian theory in many aspects. From the dreams sequences in the mind of the main character Guido (played by Marcello Mastroianni) to seeing his shadow in other people, 8 ½ serves as the best example of Jungian theory in Fellini's filmography. 8 ½ is about a director named Guido who is struck with an artistic block that prevents the creation of his film. While Guido is stuck not directing, he must deal with the oncoming consequences of juggling women. While both art and women serve as Guido's real-time dilemmas, he is faced with thoughts of the disappointment of his parents, images of his childhood, and guilt regarding the Catholic Church.

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The beginning of 8 ½ is a dream sequence, where the audience is given a first look into Guido's mind and emotions. As Isabella Conti and William A. McCormack states, "The film opens with a nightmare in which Guido finds himself in a grotesque traffic jam which reflects the state of his life. He feels blocked creatively. The nightmare can be interpreted as a warning from the unconscious.” Further expanded, Guido's car begins to fill with gas suffocating him, but he escapes. After escaping, he has a euphoric moment of freedom, flying through the sky, only to be pulled down by his scriptwriter Daumier and the executive producer. Federico Fellini cleverly tells of Guido's entire dilemma in this one dream sequence. The audience is shown Guido's directing block and his feeling of wanting to escape but being restrained and pulled to the ground.

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During the beginning dream sequence, this is the time where the first of Guido's shadows makes an appearance. The first of many shadows in the dream sequence is an older man rubbing Guido's young mistress's arm. Later into the film, it is learned that Guido has a reputation for liking younger women while at the same time aging himself. Guido does know on some level that he is aging, hence the appearance of the shadow, but has neglected to accept this fact, thus leaving only the lingering subconscious image of an older man as a symbol of this dilemma. The shadow and the recognition of the shadow is the first step to individuation. (Conti and McCormack)

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The beginning of individuation naturally requires recognizing that need, such as in a scene where Guido sits in a spa. During this time, Guido is aware of this need and is ready for a psychological journey to get in touch with his inner self. The director is awakened by Daumier, his scriptwriter (Conti and McCormack 297). To begin the path of individuation, Guido must first face his shadow. The shadow he will face is the second of Guido's shadows; his scriptwriter Daumier. The reason that Daumier serves as Guido's shadow is that "Guido, an intuitive artist who follows the call of his emotions and needs, will necessarily have a shadow that 'appears as a cold and negative intellectual" which personifies poisonous judgment and negative throughout 8 ½” (Conti and McCormack 297). Daumier serves as a figure of negative self-talk, but Guido, accepting the path of individuation, faces Daumier head-on. Guido faces his shadow in one scene by executing Daumier by hanging, a symbolic killing of his shadow, Daumier serving as Guido's non-creative critical part of his brain. In another scene at the end of 8 ½, where Guido sits with Daumier in a car, Guido listens to Daumier's rant, "It is better to destroy than to create . . . Why leave behind these abortions like the deformed footprints of a cripple?" Guido then abruptly exits the car, leaving Daumier locked inside, officially separating himself from his shadow (Conti and McCormack 297). At this point in the film, Guido has accomplished individuation. The Shadow, Individuation, and the analysis of dreams is only one example of Carl Jung's influence in Federico Fellini's 8 ½. The presence of Jungian theory expands beyond  8 ½ and into the rest of Fellini's work thereon. 

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Carl Jung sought to piece apart the psyche to find the solution to an individual's dilemma and as a means of possibly guiding someone to personal wholeness and freedom by showing them the path of individuation. The long and painful path of individuation requires that one look upon the darkest parts of themselves in the shadow. With his newfound inspiration from his Jungian analyst Ernst Bernhard, Federico Fellini would apply Jungian theory to his film 8 ½. Through his dream sequences, Fellini expressed the Jungian theory of individuation to create a more human approach to filmmaking, where the dreams, memories, and reflections of the character are presented within narrative storytelling.