Persona is a brooding study of personal disintegration, as Elizabeth, an actress recovering from a severe emotional breakdown, is cared for by Alma, her apparently well-balanced and extrovert nurse. Slowly the barriers that separate and define the two women crumble, and their relationship turns into a bewildering reversal and substitution of their respective identities. Shame pitches Jan and Eva, husband and wife and both professional musicians, into a world torn apart by civil war. Completely brutalised by the progressive breakdown of all civilised standards of behaviour, Jan and Eva's fate reflects how superficial culture, good order and morality are when set against the unconcern of an arbitrary and amoral universe.

Long held to be among the world's greatest filmmakers, Ingmar Bergman shaped international art cinema from the 1950s to the 1980s. Among his many works, Persona is often considered to be his masterpiece and is often described as one of the central works of Modernism. Bergman himself claimed that this film 'touched wordless secrets only the cinema can discover'. The essays collected in this volume, and published for the first time, use a variety of methodologies to explore topics such as acting technique, genre, and dramaturgy. It also includes translations of Bergman's early writings that have never before been available in English, as well as an updated filmography and bibliography that cover the filmmaker's most recent work.

For centuries, the trickster has been used in various narratives, including mythological, literary and cinematic, to convey the idea of agency, rebellion and, often turbulent, progress. In The Trickster and the System: Identity and Agency in Contemporary Society, Helena Bassil-Morozow shows how the trickster can be seen as a metaphor to describe the psycho-anthropological concept of change, an impulse that challenges the existing order of things, a progressive force that is a-structural and anti-structural in its nature. The book is about being able to see things from an unusual, even ‘odd’, perspective, which does not coincide with the homogenous normality of the mass, or the social system, or a political ideology, or some other kind of authority. The Trickster and the System offers an analytical paradigm which can be used to examine relationships between tricksters and systems, change and stability, in a wide range of social, political and cultural contexts. It covers a range of systems, describes different types of tricksters and discusses possible conflicts, tensions and dialogues between the two opposing sides. One of the central ideas of the book is that social systems use shame as a tool to control and manage all kinds of tricksters – individuality, agency, creativity, spontaneity, innovation and initiative, to name but a few. The author argues that any society that neglects its tricksters (agents of change), ends up suffering from decay, stagnation – or even mass hysterical outbursts. The Trickster and the System: Identity and Agency in Contemporary Society provides a fresh perspective on the trickster figure in a variety of cultural contexts. It covers a range of psychological, cultural, social and political phenomena, from personal issues to the highest level of society’s functioning: self-esteem and shame, lifestyle and relationships, creativity and self-expression, media, advertising, economy, political ideology and, most importantly, human identity and authenticity. The book is essential reading for scholars in the areas of psychoanalysis, analytical psychology, myth, cultural and media studies, narrative analysis, cultural anthropology, as well as anyone interested in critical issues in contemporary culture. Helena Bassil-Morozow is a cultural philosopher, film scholar and academic writer whose many publications include Tim Burton: The Monster and the Crowd (Routledge, 2010) and The Trickster in Contemporary Film (Routledge, 2011). Helena is currently working on another Routledge project, Jungian Film Studies: the Essential Guide (co-authored with Luke Hockley). Her principal academic affiliation is the University of Bedfordshire, Faculty of Creative Arts, Technologies & Science.

"From Marianne and Johan, the agonized couple in Scenes from a Marriage, to Charlotte and Eva, the mother and daughter who both love and repel one another in Autumn Sonata, [author] hase created a cast of characters who both uplift and enlighten us, and who bring us more closely in touch with ourselves."--Back cover.

Shame is one of our most central feelings and a universal human characteristic. Why do we experience it? For what purpose? How can we cope with excessive feelings of shame? In this elegant exposition informed by many years of helping people to understand feelings of shame, leading Jungian analyst Mario Jacoby provided a comprehensive exploration of the many aspects of shame and showed how it occupies a central place in our emotional experience. Jacoby demonstrated that a lack of self-esteem is often at the root of excessive shame, and as well as providing practical examples of how therapy can help, he drew upon a wealth of historical and cultural scholarship to show how important shame is for us in both its individual and social aspects. This Classic Edition includes a new foreword by Marco Della Chiesa.

Ingmar Bergman, an undisputed giant of modern cinematic art, here talks frankly and extensively about himself and his films. This discussion with the great Swedish director ranges from Bergman's childhood memories to his admiration for Strindberg to his relationship with the stars whom he made famous - Liv Ullmann, Harriet Andersson, Max von Sydow and Bibi Andersson, among others. Originally published in 1973, this work covers Bergman's career from his early films through the works: The Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries, Persona, The Passion of Anna.

This is a provocative contribution to contemporary ethical theory challenging foundational conceptions of character.