I Heart Huckabees Essay

It is you ‘Know thyself,’ said Socrates, Greek philosopher. His argument was we must know ‘thyself’ in order to be wise. As people grow up, they want to find out about themselves. Students, for example, think critically about what they want to become because adults say the thought of money equals happiness is wrong. Dr. Carl G. Jung states that, “one must get in touch with the Shadow and Anima/Animus before one can truly get in touch with Self.” The film, I love Huckabees, shows examples of existentialism and the process of finding one’s true self. Albert, Tom, and Brad were successful in dismantling and getting down to their true selves because they accept their shadow, polarize with others, and realize their persona. Albert Markovski is the protagonist who is the director of coalition called ‘Open Spaces.’ He initially seeks the existential detectives, The Jaffes, to question the coincidental incidents with Steven. Through the process of dismantling with the Jaffes, Albert shows signs of his shadows such as jealousy, denial, and over-reaction. One’s shadow can be easily seen from a third-person point of view such as friends. Albert’s shadow is clearly shown when Bernard uses the body bag method. Jealousy, which is a sign of desire of love, is visualized in the image where Dawn says, “Stop looking at me.” Albert’s denial and over-reaction is clearly shown when Brad, Albert’s shadow, first visits the Jaffes with an objective of getting Albert fired. With unsatisfactory results from the Jaffes, Albert follows Tom and meets Catherine, student of Jaffes. Catherine identifies that Albert’s reasoning for feeling embarrassed for sadness is derived from his mother. Catherine says, “You were orphaned by indifference.” After realizing his true self, liar, he accepts and follows Catherine’s philosophy. However, he realizes that the Jaffes philosophy and Catherine’s philosophy are polarizing ideas. Through those ideas, he accepts his shadows; when he derives that him and