Carl Jung’s archetypes in Malayalam film: A case study on the film ‘Urumi’ Sona Varghese 1 , and Arumugam Balasubramanian 2a 1 Department of Communication, Coimbatore, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham University, Tamil Nadu, India 2 Department of Communication, Coimbatore, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham University, Tamil Nadu, India Abstract. Movies are the visual- auditory symbolic narrative that explains the living reality of people. Films employ Carl Jung’s concept of archetypes-prototypical characters. This research provides an insight about the theory of archetype based on the assumption that archetypes resides deep inside human mind. The researcher proposes that the Malayalam film industry in India showcases the western concept of archetype using the movie Urumi as a case study. For this study, different clips are taken from the movie to represent six essential archetypes, namely, Hero, Anima, Animus, Mentor (sage), Shadow, and Trickster. The psychoanalysis of this movie carried out in this paper provides evidence for the existence of all six essential archetypes identified by Carl Jung. Thus this article will be a fruitful resource for future research in the field of psychoanalysis of movies. Key words: Archetypes, Carl Jung, Urumi, Content analysis. 1 Introduction The mass media has gone through various development and refinement in past centuries. The contemporary information age is dominated by mass communication media such as movies, television and internet [1]. The stories and characters presented in this mass media are important for sharing human experience. People use movie plot analogies and metaphors in their life due to its effect on the mass audience [6]. The phenomena of using the examples of movies and other mass media in ordinary life, points to the existing internal psychological forces that allows people to connect with these commonly shared metaphors and analogies. The shared cultural phenomenon which unites people in a thread is the archetype. The concept of archetypes is taken from collective unconsciousness, a theory developed by the Psychologist Carl Gustav Jung. In collective unconsciousness, Jung suggest that, all human beings share a deep level of unconscious mind universally which is hidden beneath the personal psyche [16]. The collective unconsciousness contains modes of behavior and some contents which are identical in every human being that include a common psychic content of a universal nature present in individuals across the globe. Thus, human beings shows a tendency to perceive common meanings embodied in a particular symbol as same, even at the unconscious level [2]. Jung developed the concept of archetypes in 1964. Archetypes were defined as the components of collective unconsciousness which is an inborn tendency acquired in the unconscious mind. They exist in psych and prepare individuals to deal with life experiences psychologically that are common for everyone [22]. An extreme analogy of describing archetypes will be as the structure of psyche, which is similar to organs inside physical body [13]. Archetypes are represented as ancient motifs and preconceptions about the behavioral patterns that are symbolically manifested as archetypes in all cultural forms, arts and in dreams. Jung formulated and identified archetypes from his patients and from his own emotions by verbalizing the visualized images for certain concepts [16]. Drawing Mandala archetype symbol from Hinduism helped Jung to represent ‘The self’. Mandala is also considered as a telematic design of cosmos and consciousness which represents high spirituality among humans [11]. The other archetypes include, Anima, Animus, Sage and Mother, and they have been identified as the major elements in the common language which involves the stories people communicate with others [6], [18]. Archetypal characters assert certain characteristic motives and other qualities to promote actions that everyone can recognize. In modern day media, these archetypal figures take form through visual narratives. Movies are the visual- auditory symbolic narrative that explains the living reality of people [4]. Based on Jung’s theory, movies have become a resource for studying archetypes in popular culture and contemporary society. Cinema offers the content and also the means for psychotherapeutic sessions which enables the viewer to identify their psyche with the projection in screen. The cinema also 12a Corresponding author: a_balasubramanian@cb.amrita.edu