This and the following two chapters examine films that present the spectator with images of the archetype of wholeness, the self. The followers of Jung, in the course of their ruminations about the nature and functioning of the psyche, developed two distinct models of the self. Although they are not irreconcilable, they do have a different basis. The older model, originally delineated by Jung himself, is the Classical configuration. It characterises psychological development as progress towards an individuation in which unity is achieved through the balancing out of opposites. The many are contained within the one: the entire pantheon of archetypal energies is held in balance within the one overarching dominant, the self. It goes with this that the Classical model often features the self though a single godhead, and is for that reason described as monotheistic. Given the dominance in Western cultures of belief in the individual as a unique personality, it is not surprising that our screen fictions often feature monotheistic models of the self. We shall analyse examples of such fictions in the two chapters that follow this.

The Classical model has limitations which inhibit good therapeutic practice, in the opinion of some Jungian psychoanalysts.