A Diamond In The Rough: To Find Your Cave of Wonders You Must Find Your Worth

Movies have often been seen as the perfect two-hour break from life, an escape into the lives of others, allowing you a few hours of bliss from your own personal challenges and struggles.

Sitting in a dark theater, you become fully enveloped in the story of the protagonist on screen.  Truly ironic, as what draws you into the film is not the protagonist’s story itself, but rather your empathetic connection to that story—a connection that is only made by drawing directly from the challenges you intended to leave at the door when you sat in that dark theater.

While we find ourselves rooting for the protagonist or hero in each film we watch, none are quite as loveable nor leave quite as deep an impact as Disney characters do. Loved worldwide, Disney has built an empire of heroes anyone can relate to, regardless of age, creed, or locale. Perhaps most impressive, Disney doesn’t shy away from the human struggle, indeed their characters overcome immense personal challenges, made more palatable through a little song and dance.

Though Disney has no shortage of exceptional protagonists, it is the rags-to-riches story of Aladdin and the courage of Mulan to break free from a patriarchal regime that this article will use to examine the role of villains within our own minds, as it relates to Carl Jung’s Shadow Theory. Through the rose-tinted lens of Disney, this article argues that it is imperative your inner protagonist and antagonist face off in order to see oneself in a whole new world.

It is also important to note the main protagonist in the movie, can also be considered “the hero” and consistently follows “the hero’s journey” The hero’s Journey is a mythic structure for writers. Like the protagonist in the movie, you, the reader, are the hero in your own life.

This structure is present in many Disney movies and we have the pioneering professor of literature Joseph Campbell to thank for it. Joseph worked extensively in comparative mythology and comparative religion to find this structure.

This is also the same structure my book “Vision in Action” goes through to support others in making the career transition in their lives.  

“The flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of all”

The protagonists we cheer for in Aladdin and Mulan are perceived from society’s point of view as low status; Aladdin is a poor boy living above the marketplace and is called “street rat” and “riffraff.” Chased by the law for stealing food for himself and his only friend, Abu the monkey. he lives the life of a lonely thief. Until one day, when he unexpectedly tricked into journeying to a cave of treasure and wonders.

When we meet Mulan, we're introduced to an unexpected kind of heroine. Instead of a damsel in distress, we meet an outspoken, strong-willed but oppressed girl living in a remote unnamed village. Mulan devises a plan to steal her army veteran father's armor and sword and join with the local forces to honor him in the battle against the village invaders.

When viewing Aladdin and Mulan, we see that these characters are very much leading a life similar to the quote, "The meek will inherit the earth."[1] Two protagonists, "diamonds in the rough," presented as everyday people with great potential who have not yet discovered their inner strength to lead fulfilling lives. They are both like a lotus flower that grows in murky and dirty waters.

Disney films create unique characters, interesting and layered, but in a way that they remain relatable. For example, the Little Mermaid, a dreamer obsessed with humans and determined to find a better life out of the sea instead of living under it. In the Lion King, our young protagonist lion cub learns about the power of respect and ruling a kingdom versus the possessive desperation for power and control, driven by jealousy.

While watching the stories of Aladdin, Mulan, Ariel, and Simba, and many other Disney films, the protagonist's stories are regaled with happiness or magic.

Unfolding across the screen, we are enlightened and entertained by catchy, toe-tapping songs threaded with hope and wistful lyrics. Charming and gleeful, those parts of the story—the fluff and the funny—pale in comparison to the protagonist’s journey of redemption, salvation, and self-preservation. No one—whether it be Aladdin, Mulan, or oneself—can fully understand their fate, nor their self-worth, until it is put to the test by an infamous villain, which we will call the “Darkest Character,” an antagonist who behaves in a way that runs entirely contrary to what is generally approved by society.

“A dark man awaits with a dark purpose”

For Aladdin, the dark character is the Sultan’s greedy advisor Jaffar. We see the dark character in Mulan portrayed by the shape-shifting and powerful witch Xianniang, forced to live in exile and work for the evil B?ri Khan.

Is it necessary for a Disney protagonist to consistently experience conflict with a “dark character” to progress the story forward and achieve that storybook ending? Are these films parallel to real life? To find the answer, let’s examine the quote, “I am not what happened to me; I am what I chose to become,” said by Carl Jung, the infamous Swiss psychiatrist, psychoanalyst and founder of analytical psychology.

Through the lens of Jungian psychology, each Disney protagonist must encounter a dark character to face their moral dilemma. Jungian psychology takes the stance that one’s struggles—your darkness—can only be known indirectly through projection. Therefore, dark characters unconsciously take unwanted emotions or traits they don’t like about themselves and place them on someone else.

Much like Aladdin, Jaffar is lonely and insecure. He wants to obtain the powerful status of the rich Sultan. So, he uses his insecurity to make Aladdin feel less than he is and feeds on his vulnerability. He then tricks Aladdin into exploring a cave of wonders, where he ultimately, and accidentally, meets his ally, the Genie. Through Genie's encouragement and Aladdin's realistic but somewhat silly wishes to impress a princess and survive Jaffar's rath, he ultimately beats Jaffar at his own game.

On the other hand, Scar, bitter and desperately jealous of Simba's heir to the throne, works an evil plan using guilt after personally orchestrating his father Mufasa's death. Using his murderous plot against his nephew, he projects the blame solely on his nephew, forcing the young cub to run away, abandoning his family, and ultimately living alone in the jungle. Simba regains his self-esteem only after meeting a pair of kooky, polar opposite, life-long friends who teach him how to grow up, face his fears and accept himself for who he is, which leads him to defeat Scar bravely.

In Mulan's story, the evil, powerful, shape-shifting witch ultimately sees the reflection of herself as good and worthy through Mulan. This opposing form of projection, the dark character learning a positive lesson about themselves, from the protagonist, understanding her vital role to sacrifice their life to empower the protagonist, is honestly telling, and a diamond in the rough to be celebrated.

“When will my reflection show who I am inside?”

Given the dark character’s role in connecting the protagonist to the character of light, you may wonder why, then, isn’t the “character of light” the one who enables the protagonist’s journey forward? The answer is simple: a protagonist’s growth can only come to fruition when the lighter and darker aspects of the Self get in contact with each other. Doing this creates a sense of “psychological wholeness,” as Jung would call it.

 Look at many hero stories captured on film, and you'll come to realize that the stories may be different, but the psychology, like Jung’s example of projection and his Shadow theory, are the same. 

While experiencing a Disney protagonist’s psychological twists and turns, isn’t it interesting to note the Shadow-work at play? At the turning point in Mulan’s and Aladdin’s stories, the first call to action each character must face turns out to be the thing that scares them the most. For Aladdin, it’s exposing the truth of who he is, and for Mulan, she can have no courage without embracing her fears. Each character must introspectively move through the opposing forces of the Shadow, which leads them to find their own “internal treasure,” their real value and worth!

To better understand how to discover one’s internal treasure, look below at the mandala.

A dragon represents the Shadow. Each scale on the dragon is inscribed with the words, “Thou shall not…” Joseph Campbell, a pioneering professor of literature at Sarah Lawrence College surmises that the dragon—in our case of Mulan and Aladdin, the Witch and Jaffar, respectively—is the dark force working to oppress each character and is guarding their internal treasures. Each of the dragon’s scales is a testament to the protagonist’s willingness to face conflict, embrace fear, and turn “Shall Not” into “Shall.”

Mulan, thou shall not honor thy father and see in your reflection a warrior.

Aladdin, thou shall not speak the truth of your riffraff for fear of acceptance. 

The qualities and values we protect so dearly contradict our Shadow’s beliefs and the Shadow feeds upon our fears and negative energies. To combat our fears when the Shadow uses projection as a form of friendly retaliation, to make us believe we have the same traits and beliefs as the Shadow, so we begin to place roadblocks along the way of our journey through life, believing that a strong fortress as a form of protection will serve as an impenetrable castle of self-preservation. This fortress, or castle, is but a temporary measure. No matter how long we choose to remain in the castle, eventually, one must emerge or lapse into depression. We are social beings, it is nearly impossible to live a solitary life, trapped in a single mindset away from all others.

We must make contact with our Shadow and make a choice: allow it to take our energy, zap our mind with darkness, and become depressed, or fight the good fight and calmly confront it. We must choose instead to become allies with our shadow and allow the Shadow to protect our internal treasure with the understanding that it will be done so with mutual respect, on our terms.

“But, oh to be free... to be my own master. Such a thing would be greater than all the magic and all the treasures in the world.”

Thinking further about the implications of the Shadow in terms of human psychology, we can begin to examine what these Disney protagonist’s stories (the struggle against the opposing dark character, and understanding the Shadow as a source of truth) are telling us about depression.

This can be examined by the dark force working against the protagonist as an analogy for regular bouts of depression. In this framework, our protagonist is a human mind. Think of the Shadow as a repressed trauma, emotional abuse, or a significant life event. Think of you as Self.

Could a dark force or Shadow be conjuring a spiritual battle between the light (your happiness and daily activities) and the darker aspects of Self (your vulnerability and self-loathing) and declare war (depression)? If this is the case, could covering up the symptoms of depression with pharmaceutical drugs be seen as a form of projection? Is taking prescription medication for depression similar to putting the “dragon to sleep,” not having to think about it or “deal with it”?

Is it fair to Self to go on each day, as planned, pretending that the medication is empowering the protagonist’s mind? For Aladdin, the “medication” was his inability to tell the truth, pretending he was someone other than a riffraff. For Mulan, it was her inability to be taken seriously and cope with her insecurity. When Jaffar and the Witch circled them, like the dragon, both characters were exposed to the dragon’s “thou shall not” scales, and at that moment, their journey to enlightenment began.

On a personal level, you can learn to navigate the cave with a therapist or specialist that can recognize the triggers causing the depression, and successfully dive deep into the innermost cave, where the dark dragon resides, guarding the internal treasure. Fortunately, Aladdin met Genie, a light force and a beneficially fun-loving therapist-type-of-person. In contrast, Mulan met a dark force who ultimately saved and healed her by comparing the similarities of dark and light working in harmony. A ying-yang balance. 

“Who am I? Who am I? ... I am the powerful, the pleasurable, the indestructible…”

The key to success is to experience the darker moments of life and learn from our Shadow-work. Viewing these kinds of success stories through a Disney film lens helps us understand many of the fundamentals of life, our emotions, and connects with our values. These stories teach us how to push toward finding solutions and victories, both big and small, stopping at nothing and always having a spirit seeking to learn more. Moreover, the main protagonists in Disney movies display courage and strength, which is the kind of courage and strength we must have to ultimately bring ourselves into contact with the darkness, learning to move away from the depression and get us joyously out into the light. 

To completely understand all of the nuances of oneself, to look directly at one’s demons and trauma, one must connect and then make contact with them. Never let a Jaffar rule your kingdom of Agrabah. Remember that Mulan would’ve never stood a chance to honor her father and her heritage if she didn’t see the reflection of evil in all of the goodness she had possessed all along. 

Finally, I'll leave you with the lyrics from a Trevor Hall song. In his low baritone voice, he sings, "You can't rush your healing; darkness has its teaching."[2]

Thou shall not go through the journey alone. Find the light!

[1] "Matthew 5:5 - Wikipedia." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_5:5. Accessed 19 Feb. 2021.

[2] "You Can't Rush Your Healing - Wild Heart Yoga Retreats." https://www.wildheartyogaretreats.com/single-post/2020/01/01/you-cant-rush-your-healing. Accessed 19 Feb. 2021.