Thursday, Indianapolis, Indiana

Rocky & Bullwinkle was an enormously popular classic animated program in the 1960’s that featured Rocky, the flying Squirrel and his pal Bullwinkle the moose. Among the colorful characters were Mr. Peabody, the intellectual dog and his “pet boy” Sherman. The adventures of these characters were a staple for both children and adults for a decade. What can we learn from these characters? In a nutshell we can come to understand important psychological principles using these television characters. Let’s consider one illustration.

Have you ever noticed that certain people bother you more than others? Of course you have. For each of us, there are certain individuals whose very being is a source of deep stress and anxiety. Whenever they walk into the room, psychological bile rises in your psyche (if real bile rises in you throat, this could indicate an organic illness).

And what about the reverse situation? Have you yourself ever been a source of persistent irritation to another person? Certainly you have. If you cannot name one person who is repelled by your presence, ask family members and friends to help you identify those individuals who have spoken hatefully about you. Every person has experienced the difficulty of rubbing someone the wrong way, or realizing that someone becomes agitated whenever you are around them.

Have you ever asked yourself what is at the root of these hostile feelings? Probably not. In psychology, the term coined by the great Carl Jung is the “shadow.”1 It refers to the phenomenon of seeing qualities in this irritating other person which you yourself possess but try very hard to hide. For example, if you become very agitated around someone who is very aggressive, it probably indicates that you repress your own strong hostility. Seeing their anger reminds us about our own rage and so we become uncomfortable.

Very often the qualities we work so hard to project to the outside world are a reaction to some very strong impulses we actually have in the exact opposite direction! Isn’t this fantastic to know? Take any quality you project, and you can surmise that deep inside you there are unconscious urges to do and be the reverse!
So, taking this fascinating notion of the shadow, let’s consider question two above.

What qualities does Mr. Peabody have? What image does he project to the world? If you said intellectual, you are quite right. So what is the opposite of intellectual? Stupid, dense, thick! And who does this better describe - Rocky or Bullwinkle? Yes, of course, the obtuse Moose! (Photo of Bullwinkle #4) Thus Bullwinkle, with his open display of moronia, complete with the voice of an imbecile, would expose to Mr. Peabody the part of himself which is also a dull witted ass. Bullwinkle is Mr. Peabody’s shadow!

See!? Television analysis has given you insight into an important psychological dynamic that is otherwise hard to describe.