The Shadow
Shelton D. Davis, M.Div., M.A., LCMHC, NCC
We know them all, the villains that populate our fictional culture. In literature, Harry Potter’s nemesis Voldemort seeks ultimate power and immortality through unspeakably horrible means. Captain Ahab searches for years on end for Moby Dick, the greatest conquest of his life, putting his crew in mortal danger and constant fear of his towering temper. Iago’s subterfuge of Othello through ceaseless machinations results in tragic consequences. Cinema has provided us stark images of evil as well. Hannibal Lecter’s twisted game of cat and mouse with Agent Clarice Starling leaves viewers with ample fodder for nightmares. Freddie Krueger’s blood baths brought his victims’ fears from dream to reality. Even children cannot escape the shadow of evil within, as the Big Bad Wolf tries to devour those three little pigs, Cruella de Ville steals precious puppies, and the giant tries to eat poor little Jack before he scampers down the beanstalk.
Why do we spend our time “entertaining” ourselves with these awful tales of terror, death, and manipulation? What is enjoyable about using our rare free moments disturbing our mental peace? We seem to use these moments of sanitized fear to safely explore our own, albeit mostly far less violent, darker sides. Perhaps one does not have a secret inner desire to torture another soul emotionally or physically, but most of us do guard a part of ourselves from the bright shining light of public knowledge. We are often ashamed of our jealousies, inadequacies, fears, and hatred. The darkest parts of the human soul are not always filled with murderous fantasies and Machiavellian plots, as popular culture might suggest, but those shadowy areas are often the places where we hide what we most need to cope with in life, but somehow are not able to engage fully. So, we seek out entertainment that helps us identify those dark parts of ourselves in ways so exaggerated that we hardly recognize them in the printed word or on the stage or screen. To see these vile characters portrayed outwardly is to allow ourselves the opportunity to loathe a shameful part of our own psyches through a catharsis that does not require that we engage our own darkness.
But a life without self-reflection is one that will never fully satisfy. Considering our most reprehensible feelings brings them into the light of understanding and makes them much less disgusting. Engagement with shame and guilt removes their power from our lives and allows us to live them more completely. Exploring our fears shrinks them and helps us to strike out in new directions we never thought possible before. To paraphrase a line spoken in Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix, we are neither good nor evil, but there is light and darkness in each of us. In our faith, there is greater hope, though, as the gospel writer John reminds us, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it” (1:5).
