Born in the seventies, raised in the eighties and early nineties, I’ve had my fair share of trauma. It’s a Gen X thing, we all have it. For the latchkey generation trauma was unavoidable. We lacked parental supervision, were taught no self-advocacy skills, and learned lessons the hard way. We found ourselves in vulnerable situations on a daily basis and rarely walked away from situations unscathed.
I saw too much, heard too much, and experienced too much. But I still consider myself relatively normal (I can practically hear the hysterical laughter from my closest friends as they read this sentence).
I managed to get through each day, just about. I’ve raised four somewhat normal children and have had a hand in raising dozens more across two continents. What I’m driving at is that I don’t think that I’m sociopathic. Of course, that does raise the question of whether a crazy person actually recognizes they are crazy…..but lets not pull on that thread today.
It was only when I was knee deep within a plot line that I discovered just how dark the darker side of my psyche was. In fact, some of my most twisted scenes flowed with such ease that I was left questioning, just how fucked up am I?
Wes Craven and Stephen King dominated the horror genre in the eighties between books and movies. I don’t know of a single Gen X’er who didn’t torture their teen self with Freddy Kruger. Aside from Stephen King, my go to books during my early tween years were the Point Horror series. Looking back through adult eyes I don’t consider what I watched and read during my formative years as anywhere close to appropriate for my age. But do I consider the material I was exposed to as damaging? Not really.
What I think and feel about myself is one thing. How I am perceived by the rest of society however is another. Quentin Tarantino's films are widely recognized for their use of graphic violence. It's a characteristic that has become synonymous with his cinematic style. Now, do I think this extremely talented individual is a psychopath? No of course not. Have I, on at least one occasion, questioned the state of his mental health? If I’m honest, yes I have.
So where does the darker side of our imagination come from? Should writers feel free to bare all? And when is it considered too much?
Depending on where you look, the world can be an extremely dark place. It isn’t hard to theorize where the origins of our darker thoughts may lie. Fears and anxieties, explorations of the sinister side of humanity, mythology, folklore and disturbing historical events or crimes can serve as a platform. Nightmares can provide startling subconscious imagery as inspiration for terrifying storylines. And if you really want to take a deep and morbid dive, religion possesses possibly some of the darkest twists of all.
Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung was the first to float the idea of a collective unconscious mind shared by all humans, containing universal experiences and symbols called archetypes. Archetypes refer to inherited tendencies or patterns of thought, such as the Shadow, Persona and Self, which influence how people perceive and interact with the world.
The shadow represents the unconscious aspects of the personality that are not acknowledged or accepted by the individual, often containing undesirable or negative traits such as greed, lust, envy etc. (anyone else seeing Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman at this point?).
It's the "dark side" of our personality, containing repressed emotions, desires, and experiences that we disown or hide from ourselves and others. Jung believed that understanding and integrating the shadow is crucial for personal growth and wholeness. And it isn’t all doom and gloom.
Good qualities can also be derived from the shadow, such as realistic insight and creative impulses. According to Jung, the door to our individuality is accessed by consciously embracing our dark side.
It makes sense. In order to produce authentic and compelling tales, writers need to be willing to visit their darkest places. The act of writing involves a deep dive into emotions, experiences, and the human psyche. This immersion in the narrative and the emotional landscape can be seen as a psychological journey for the writer, leading to self-discovery, growth, and a profound connection to the story.
Could it be that acknowledging and accepting the darker sides of our personalities is the key to artistic greatness?
Theres no debating that writing can be a therapeutic act, even if it unearths emotions and trauma from past events. Sometimes, by digging up what has long since been buried and dismissed aids healing.
Normal people living happy mundane lives are quite simply boring. Readers want storylines that take relatable, normal, everyday people and throw them into disturbing and distressing situations.
You take a normal scenario and fuck it up. Find a way to make the bad even worse. Try to fix it. Fail. Involve a third party who manages to open up a can of worms and turn the bad situation into an absolute disaster. When it appears that all hope is lost, you throw in a get out of jail free card or a plot twist to pull it all back together. Or you take a more realistic approach and construct an end without the happily ever after. God I’m cynical.
Obviously, when writing you ask yourself okay, what would the worst-case scenario be in this situation. And to find the answer it makes sense to delve into the recesses of your mind to dredge up personal experiences from when bad went to so much worse.
In conclusion, the darker side of imagination likely comes from a combination of evolutionary adaptations, unhealed trauma, repressed memories and emotional processing. How deep and dark the abyss is may very well depend upon exposure to situations and/or life experiences. I mean, every fear started somewhere.
So on that note I’m off to price up therapy. Have a safe and nightmare free weekend one and all.