Carl Jung in Dune

The influences of Jungian psychology in the characters, setting and dreams in the books and films

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“I am very heavily imbued with Jungian psychology, so I believe we do have in a sense, a sense of the mindless animal in the depths”

– Frank Herbert (author of Dune)

Dunes weird. But a lot of its strangeness can be explained by the writers infatuation with Jungian psychology. We see this in the dreams, worms, characters and heroes journey story arch that are staples of Jung’s works.

We are here to explain all of this. But first, for those unfamiliar with the man.

Who was Carl Gustav Jung?

• A prominent psychologist

• Lived from 1875 - 1961

• A peer of Sigmund Freud (eventually went their own ways due to disagreements)

• Gave us the concepts of:

  • Introverts and extroverts

  • Archetypes

  • The workings of the unconscious mind

  • How to understand and interpret dreams

• And much more…

The influences of his work stretch wide. Though many well known things (like Dune, Star Wars and personality tests etc) were made by others, his theories are often found at the root of them.

A great metaphor is that he sowed the seeds that many later reaped.

The Dreams in Dune

“Dreams are messages from the deep”

This is the opening line of the first film, this lays the foundation for the Jungian themes in the story.

Jung believed that dreams were the means by which the unconscious mind communicated with us. Not just the random neuron firing that most psychologists claim are the cause of our nightly head movies.

The unconscious mind is the ocean that our rain-drop sized piece of consciousness falls into. It is the whole iceberg, lurking in the unseen deep, while I our consciousness only forms the tip.

We think that our consciousness is the whole picture, because its all we see, when in reality our unconscious mind is working unstop in the background:

• Pumping your blood at the right rate

• Maintaining correct body temperature

• Observing your surroundings to spot anything you might have missed

Literally controlling every body function you are not conscious of.

The only thing this super computer doesn’t control is your consciousness, your ego, the part of you that says I am ‘I’. It cannot communicate directly with you, at least not in a healthy human mind, but it can send you messages. Through symbols.

Let me explain with a scene from the film.

When Paul and his mother first meet the Fremen (sand people) in the desert, Paul is tested by having to fight one of the men to death. This is known as facing your ‘Red Knight’, and is in essence a barrier into manhood. If you defeat your opponent, you are strong enough to be considered a man.

This is a symbolic act.

From this point onwards, Paul is respected by the Fremen.

But leading up to this event, Paul has a dream/vision of being killed in this test, but then he wins, so how does this make sense? It makes sense because symbolically, when Paul kills Jamis (his opponent), a part of him dies, allowing him to be reborn.

You may think that this is a vague connection, thats the point.

Dreams give their messages in symbolic ways that are easy to misinterpret. When taken literally, like most do when trying to make sense of their dreams, they will lead you to confusion and dead ends.

In another dream, Paul sees Chani (Zendaya). These dreams are enticing, and pull him into Arrakis (the desert planet) by making him interested in its mystery (and women).

Zendaya is an ‘Anima’ figure.

The female aspect of the male psyche, closely associated with the soul. This is the force that pulls men to their destinies, and is why female names and characteristics are projected onto many things (boats, cars, the ocean etc).

Though the reality of meeting Chani is very different from the dreams of her (she’s more antagonistic in real life), the basic role she plays is the same: Leading Paul towards the Fremen, and therefore his fate.

Worms & Dragons

These creatures are synonymous, Tolkien often referred to dragons in his stories as great worms. This is because, despite visual differences, both serve the same purpose within our story.

What do dragons symbolise?

Problems. A giant, firer breathing, snake lizard thing that can also fly, is an issue for anybody.

Look at this basic story line:

‘A wizard comes and tells a Hobbit to go on an adventure to kill a dragon, and take the treasure it guards’.

Now here it is translated into its meta-story:

A Harald of adventure comes and tells someone who is too comfy and habitual to go into the real world and experience some risk, by solving a problem (killing the dragon) which will give the hero access to the treasure it holds.

The treasure can be absolutely anything of value.

Translated again into a real world scenario:

A young man is too comfortable, and plays video-games all of his free time. A friend suggests that he should start dating, the man starts to work-out and improve his communicational skills. The first date doesn’t go so well (the adventure), but by persisting he solves his problem and finds someone he likes and gets on with (he’s solved the problem, so killed the dragon). Now he has access to the treasure the dragon was in the way of, success with women.

In Dune the worms are the problem Paul has to overcome.

They personify the dangers of the desert, and when Paul overcomes the worms by being able to ride them (a symbol that speaks for itself), he has now mastered the desert.

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