Myth and film act as a collective dream. Their stories show us the shadowy aspects of our culture and illuminate a path for cultural transformation. They provide hope and healing for us individually and collectively.

I wrote an article about how the film, The Shape of Water, reveals the shadow side of American culture in the context of the environmental crisis. Guillermo del Toro goes down to our culture’s “psychological roots,” as Jeffry Kiehl calls it, to try to understand why, despite all of the scientific research showing that we are in an environmental crisis, there is little change in human behavior.

Del Toro provides us with a clear view of our current relationship with nature through the character of Colonel Strickland, who shows us our drive to dominate and control nature for our own benefit and progress. However, the protagonist, Elisa, provides us with a new myth, a new way to re-relate to the world by engaging with the heart and through the imaginal, musical, and symbolic.  

My paper exploring was published in the journal of Ecopsychology in March 2019.