wolf

Ecofeminism explores the connection between the oppression of women, people of colour, and the underclass on one hand, and the oppression of the natural environment including nonhuman animals on the other. It deals with perceptions of "otherness" as a means to oppress, and the notion of duality as another tool of oppression. It believes that some feminisms seek to become included in culture, which is part of the male side in the dualism scheme, by distancing themselves from nature and thus contributing to the oppression of the natural world. Ecofeminism seeks an inclusivist outlook, one in which oppression of all types is abolished, and the dualistic system of oppression and division is made irrelevant. (Warren, 1997; Salleh, 1997; Spretnak, 1997; Gaard, 1993; Gruen, 1993)

According to Spretnak (1997) the dualistic worldview takes the following form:

(Spretnak, 1997: 425)

The "feminine" side is devalued in Western societies, and this of course includes nature. Gruen says "the categories 'woman' and 'animal' serve the same symbolic function in patriarchal society. Their construction as dominated, submissive 'other' in theoretical discourse… has sustained human male dominance." (1993: 61) She clarifies the connection between women and animals as a constructed connection, one which justifies continued oppression of both women, indigenous peoples and the nonhuman world. Crang (1998) continues this line of thought, stating that 'discovered' lands such as America and Africa were portrayed as female, and therefore needing to be brought under male (European) control. As such, he points out that the "other" is defined not only by what it is, but also by what it is not (and vice versa) (1998: 61). In this instance, the "other" as feminised is lacking and thus subordinate (1998:76). Crang also mentions the European fixation on boundaries and definitions, that there are lines that the European male cannot cross (1998: 69).

This fascination with boundaries stems from ancient religious and historical notions of the abject (Creed, 1993: 9). According to Creed, abjection functions by separating human from nonhuman and fully realised subjects from partially formed subjects (1993: 8). That which threatens to cross these borders is abject (1993: 11). It can be seen then that European male obsession with boundaries is related to fear of the abject. It can also be shown that women, wolves and werewolves all occupy a position of abjection.

According to Carson (1992);

Women are encouraged to foster a sense of self which is far more malleable than their male counterparts, where their personal boundaries are loose and shift depending upon the needs of those around them (Spretnak, 1997: 428-429). Since there is no clear delineation between woman and her surroundings, she becomes abject. (Creed, 1993: 8-9). Wolves are abject because they have no boundaries; they are not separate from their surroundings as humans are. In the same way, werewolves are considered abject because they blur the boundaries between what is human and what is animal. According to Williams (in Creed, 1993) in horror films there is often an affinity between woman and monster, a shared understanding that their status is similar within patriarchal worldviews. They are both perceived as biologically abnormal when compared with the human male norm, and represent a threatening form of sexuality. Salleh (1997) has said "the great culture of Europe is spiritually sick, economically and environmentally unsustainable. Wilderness in measured doses… has been a salve to the West's malaise, but like sexuality… it must be contained." (1997: 193). The link between women and wolves is such that the wildness of wolves and the sexuality of women are seen as the same and must be contained by men. And from the beliefs on the ancient Greeks it is possible to see a link between the obviously abject werewolf (blurred lines between wolf and human), the wolf (marginalised, unbounded) and woman (shifting boundaries).

Most of the psychoanalytic theories used by this thesis are drawn from Jungian concepts. There are several reasons for this, the two most important are that Freud's discussion of women left much to be desired, and that Jung was and still is relegated to a marginal position in psychoanalysis due to the alien nature of his models. As such Gallant (1996) argues that Jung is the Other in psychoanalysis, and that even though his theories are more thoughtful in terms of female difference (as compared to Freud's belief that the man's psychological development is universal) he has been ignored as taboo by many feminists. Equally important in terms of a workable framework, Jung's theories have more relevance to the idea behind this thesis. Specifically, the thesis will deal with notions of the shadow and shadow projection, and the link between the shadow and the trickster archetype. According to Spinks (1991) Jung sees the trickster as representing the shadow, and states that the trickster is a walker of cultural boundaries (Spinks, 1991: 184). Spinks claims that an integral role of the trickster is to show how cultural boundaries are arbitrary, and he becomes an agent of cultural growth by satirising the conventions of culture. He is the undifferentiated hero, and "…in his rawest form, is pure ambivalence; he is always the border creature who plays at the margins of self, symbol and culture…" (Spinks, 1991: 177). Trickster has been regarded as the scapegoat for cultural blame and the source of cultural violence, due to his capacity for both negative and positive actions (Spinks, 1991: 181). Further to this, Iaccino (1994) maintains that the werewolf figure in films is treated symbolically like the trickster archetype. It can be seen that the trickster is an abject character, and many of the characteristics of trickster are echoed in the werewolf. It may be possible to see if the wolf symbol in films can fulfil the function of the trickster archetype also.

Gray's (1996) discussion of the shadow and projection is anthropocentric, however is can be seen that humans regularly project their own vices onto animals. Gray defines the shadow as the personal unconscious in a personified form, a receptacle for things repressed and forgotten. It can also hold instincts and drives necessary for survival, and is the source of projections (1996: 82-83). Projections are where parts of the subject's shadow are unconsciously transferred to an outside object, so the subject attributes his or her own traits to the "other". Jung states that if the projection is seen as belonging to the subject, it ceases (Jung, 1959/1968a, para. 121 quoted in Gray, 1996: 83).

Wehr's definition of shadow projection is repressing something in ourselves, and seeing aspects of this something in others and denouncing it as evil, wrong, incorrect, or unnatural. Wehr also links fear of female sexuality and matter to fear of the earth, which if we take one step further can be argued as fear of the wild. On the shadow, she states that;

Expanding upon this notion of fear of female sexuality being linked to fear of the wild, Doane (1991) discusses racism within the context of sexuality. She mentions how black people are attributed with a hypersexuality by white people, and how sexuality is the realm where fear and desire find their closest connection, where notions of otherness and the exotic/erotic are often converged (Doane, 1991: 217). The projection of deviant and excessive libido upon black men and women is similar to the projection of the same upon women in general by men, and similar to the projection of the "beast within" onto the wolf. All must be repressed / oppressed.

Whitmont (1969) says:

He states that the shadow can be projected in two forms, individually and collectively. The former relates to people who have had all the evil attributed to them, and the latter is a general personification of evil. Mythologically this has been represented by the devil and fiend, among other things (Whitmont, 1969: 163). He continues by expanding this idea to the environment, pointing out that "…our projections will transform our surrounding world into a setting which shows us our own faces, though we do not recognise them as our own… instead of a real relation to the surrounding world there is only an illusory one… the "evil, wicked world…" (Whitmont, 1969: 165). The roots of social, racial, national bias and discrimination can be found in the social and collective implications of the shadow and its projection (Whitmont, 1969: 168).

These concepts are invaluable in an analysis of the wolf/werewolf symbol in film, to show how many of the beliefs about wolves (and women) are constructed by human fears, and also to show where the werewolf symbol functions in society.

Carson, A. (1992) Glass, Irony and God, New York: New Directions Books.

Crang, M. (1998) Cultural Geography, London: Routledge.

Creed, B. (1993) The Monstrous-Feminine: Film, Feminism, Psychoanalysis, London: Routledge.

Doane, M. (1991) Femmes Fatales: Feminism, Film Theory, Psychoanalysis, New York: Routledge.

Doob, L. (1950) "Goebbels' Principles of Propaganda", in R. Jackall (ed.) Propaganda, London: Macmillan, pp. 190-216.

Gaard, G. (1993) "Living Interconnections with Animals and Nature", in G. Gaard (ed.) Ecofeminism: Women, Animals, Nature, Philadelphia: Temple University Press, pp. 1-12.

Gallant, C. (1996) Tabooed Jung: Marginality as Power, London: Macmillan.

Gorbman, C. (1987) Unheard Melodies: Narrative Film Music, Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

Gray, R. (1996) Archetypal Explorations: An Integrative Approach to Human Behavior, London: Routledge.

Gruen, L. (1993) "Dismantling Oppression: An Analysis of the Connection Between Women and Animals", in G. Gaard, (ed.) Ecofeminism: Women, Animals, Nature, Philadelphia: Temple University Press, pp. 60-90.

Iaccino, J. (1994) "Werewolves: The Lonely Children of the Night, Part 2" in Psychological Reflections on Cinematic Terror: Jungian Archetypes in Horror Films, Westport: Praeger Publishers, pp. 75-89.

Institute for Propaganda Analysis (1937) "How to Detect Propaganda", in R. Jackall (ed.) Propaganda, London: Macmillan, pp. 217-224.

Lee, A. and Lee, E. (1939) The Fine Art of Propaganda, San Francisco: International Society for General Semantics.

Salleh, A. (1997) Ecofeminism as Politics: Nature, Marx and the Postmodern, London: Zed Books Ltd.

Spinks, C. (1991) Semiosis, Marginal Signs and Trickster, London: Macmillan.

Spretnak, C. (1997) "Radical Nonduality in Ecofeminist Philosophy", in K. Warren (ed.) Ecofeminism: Women, Culture, Nature, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, pp. 425-436.

Warren, K. (1997) "Introduction", in K. Warren (ed.) Ecofeminism: Women, Culture, Nature, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, pp. xi-xvi.

Wehr, D. (1987) Jung and Feminism: Liberating Archetypes, Boston: Beacon Press.

Whitmont, E. (1969) The Symbolic Quest: Basic Concepts of Analytical Psychology, Princeton: Princeton University Press.