Examining how the behavior of the characters of the “Star Wars” movie series fit well into Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud’s social theories.
The Star Wars movies, especially the first three, are clearly a type of myth written to demonstrate archetypal personalities. The characters are driven by their behavior, which can be used to analyze their characters in terms of Jungian and Freudian theories. Theories regarding self, Type A and Type B personalities. and persona are related to the characters of Lando, Luke, Han, Darth Vader and Jedi Knights.
In the Empire Strikes Back, many of the characters are acting out of great personal need or personal striving, and many of them fit fairly well into Jung’s theory or archetype personalities.
The Self is the highest form a personality can take, well integrated and centered. To become a self-actualized Self is Luke Skywalker’s goal and the final achievement of his mentor, Obi-Wan Kenobe. In an interesting twist, Darth Vader also sees himself that way. He believes self-actualization can be either good or evil, and finds evil more powerful and rewarding.