Good movie. Full of Jungian archetypal images and symbols

Rating: Null/10 (9 October 2001)

I saw the movie Cast Away and enjoyed it, not only for the fine acting by Tom Hanks (who doesn't need my praise) but for the thorough integration of Jungian psychological symbols throughout the movie.
The image of the island is an age-old symbol of alienation where the ego is `cast away' (note that the name of the movie separates the two words usually conjoined when referring to a person, but separated when referring to a physical state or in this case, a psychological state) and meant to engage in a task of self-discovery. Hanks does so throughout the rest of the movie. We see the character played by Hanks at the beginning of the movie, a slave to the clock - an executive of a company - a cog in a system. Who cares if it is Fed Ex as some of the other commentators have mentioned. So what? Would they feel better about the movie if the air courier service was named `No-Name Airlines'?
After the plane crashes he makes his way to the island where shortly afterwards he undertakes a symbolic burial of his old self or ego when he finds and buries the crew-member of the airplane. Then he descends into the island cave - an image of his unconscious where he encounters himself. Four years on the island. To any Jungian this is a quaternity symbol. Other Jungian images are apparent: the faint light he sees in the distance to which he tries to swim after on the island a short time - his goal that he is not ready to assume: the waves (his unconscious) push him back. Wilson, the basketball, a symbol of his self with whom he converses by why of psychological projection. The primitive paintings on the wall of the cave in which Hanks sleeps - reminiscent of the ancient wall paintings in France and Spain - all archetypal images of the collective unconscious. The whale which looks at Hanks after his release from the island - a symbol of the dynamic unconscious with which he has reconciled or rather integrated. Finally, the eagle wing symbol on the Fed Ex package - the symbol of the archetypal Self in Jung's psychology, the very place he seeks at the end of the movie and which he finally realizes at the very end while standing at the cross-roads. He has arrived at himself and integrated his life, no matter what direction he goes in, it doesn't matter.
There are many other Jungian symbols in this very good movie. Some are very explicit while others are subtle. Think I'm over psychologizing this movie? Ask Semekis the director. I bet he has either undergone Jungian analysis or read an awful lot of Carl Jung himself. Those are my thoughts.