Eminem as a healthy expression of Jung’s shadow?

It’s 2002 and Eminem explains it himself...

In 2002 Eminem was filmed saying:

“Eminem is the rapper,
Slim Shady will kill you,
And Marshall Mathers is the person, like, behind the whole mask…
That’s how I see it.”

Eminem’s career has been filled with raging fans and raging controversy. But it hasn’t stopped the Rap God from making music that has entertained, shocked, and amused us for the last 20+ years.

And as a 90’s baby…

Eminem holds a small, sacred part of my heart.

Only a few weeks ago, I found myself on a plane visiting a sister-friend in the hospital. As I sat in my 4 hour flight—I decided to cruise down nostalgia lane and blast The Eminem Show through the best headphones ever.

Left: Photo credit: Michael Caulfield Archive/WireImage. Right: The Eminem Show Album Cover

And as I bathed in the words—several questions hit me:

• Why did we love Eminem so much as teens?

• Why were we so drawn in by the indecent lyrics usually spouted by Shady?

• Why did these visceral lyrics give us so much pleasure?

Eminem never shied away from any subject—no matter how uncomfortable. And I respect that. Especially now I’m an adult who knows how hard it can be to speak your truth.

And as I was sitting in my seat (23F)—this idea popped into my head:

What if Eminem is a healthy expression of the Jung’s shadow?

Carl Gustav Jung is probably my spirit animal. In the opening chapter of Psychology and Alchemy—he changed my life:

The labours of the doctor as well as the quest of the patient are directed towards that hidden and as yet unmanifest “whole” man, who is at once the greater and the future man...¹

My interpretation:

The goal of therapy is not to fix or heal the person who is hurting—it is to help them become WHOLE.

BOOM.

Jung continues:

Without experience of the opposites there is no experience of wholeness and hence no inner approach to the sacred…²

My interpretation:

There is no ‘whole’ without duality. All the pain and duality I experienced in my younger years was my psyche learning to become whole. And hence, find inner peace.

After I read this—my entire life just made sense!

Even long after that click—Jung’s work continues to impact me deeply and profoundly. Hence why he popped into my head while I was sitting on a plane, listening to The Eminem Show.

Again: What if Eminem is a HEALTHY expression of the shadow???

The shadow: what is it?

You’ve probably heard of the shadow by now. But what is it?

The way I see it—it’s the dark part of human nature. It’s the part of us that’s drawn to pain, discomfort, suffering, and (if left unchecked) evil. It’s also the parts of us we’d rather ignore, reject, or pretend that it’s not there.

Jung describes the shadow simply as “the negative side of the personality” which has a “most disturbing influence on the ego”.³

Your shadow lives inside you—whether you’re aware of it or not. It lives inside each and every one of us. (The other parts of the collective unconscious is a topic for another day.)

I got this image from Murry Stein’s book called Jung’s Map of the Soul. You can see the shadow deep inside your collective unconscious.

We have all experienced our shadow in some way, shape, or form:

• Ever stood on a cliff/ledge and felt that weird urge to jump off? Or worse PUSH someone?!!!!! Where on earth that come from? Say hello to your shadow!

• That voice that berates you mercilessly when you make a mistake. Even if it’s silly! Like your waiter says “enjoy your food” and you respond, “thanks you too!”—and then you shrivel on the inside. That’s your shadow.

• It’s also the part of you that wishes bad things on other people—even if it’s only for a split second. That person who cut you off in traffic—you suddenly wish they’d get in an accident and learn their lesson. Again say hi to your shadow.

Enjoy Bill Burr’s take on it:

Now—back to Eminem.

Some of his music is truly bonkers. Some is profound. Some is hateful. Some is heartfelt. All of it is truth without being fact (welcome to the world of duality!).

His alter ego Slim Shady was created specifically to express his deepest, darkest thoughts (his shadow) without actually acting them out. This great video by Inside The Rhyme talks about how Slim Shady gave Marshall permission to rap about things he’d normally never talk about.

Notice in many of his interviews (even his early ones) the man Marshall is often rather soft-spoken. It seems a far cry from the outrageous, shocking lyrics of Slim Shady.

In MTV’s The Making of ‘The Real Slim Shady’, Marshall shares what’s going on behind the scenes of hit record (0:13):

“There’s this Slim Shady that exists in all of us. Everyone’s got their nice side, their mean side, their calm side, their wild side… What the song is talking about is ‘will the real Slim Shady please stand up’—and everybody in the video is gonna stand up because everybody is Slim Shady.”

Sounds an awful lot like Jung right?

Jung was a strong proponent of acknowledging the shadow in order to become whole. In 1951 he wrote:

To become conscious of [your shadow] it involves recognising the dark aspects of the personality as present and real. This act is the essential condition for any kind of self-knowledge, and it therefore, as a rule, meets with considerable resistance.⁴

My interpretation:

We all have a part of ourselves we’d rather ignore or feel ashamed of. And while it’s not always easy to recognise them—it’s imperative for our wholeness that we see the dark parts of ourselves and give them love.

Jung continues:

Closer examination of the dark characteristics… reveals that they have an emotional nature… On this lower level with its uncontrolled or scarcely controlled emotions one behaves more or less like a simpleton, who is not only the passive victim of his [emotions] affects but also singularly incapable of moral judgement.⁵

The way I see it—if you do not understand your own propensity for evil or ‘bad deeds’, you will unwittingly inflict it upon others. You cannot change what you are blind to.

And this is EXACTLY what Eminem does too.

Marshall looked deep inside himself and found the parts of him that were angry, rageful, and hurt. Then he found a way to funnel these deep emotions into his music.

Because the reality is:

Marshall was deeply touched by traumas throughout his early years as well as later on in life (listen to Cleaning Out My Closet, When I’m Gone, or Mockingbird).

He also felt profoundly about injustices of the world (go listen to Darkness, Square Dance, We As Americans, or Mosh).

Similarly—you may have also been affected by trauma. Which usually occurs when things that shouldn’t have happened (e.g. neglect, abuse, etc.), happened. Or when things that should have happened (e.g. love, affection, etc.), didn’t happen.

And when a traumatic experience hits, you need to (like Eminem) figure out what to do about it.

Eminem chose to tell his stories, traumas, and triumphs one rhyme at a time.

But what about you?

How do you express your shadow?

We can see the expression of the shadow everywhere in entertainment world.

Even if you don’t like Eminem, chances are—you might indulge your shadow in a number of other ways. For example:

• New research shows true crime podcasts now account for almost a full quarter (24%) of the top-ranked podcasts in the US⁶. And around 44% of those listeners are female! True crime. Great way to indulge the shadow right?

• The global anime market size was estimated at USD 28.61 billion in 2022 and is expected to keep growing until at least 2030.⁷ And if you haven’t noticed… A lot of anime can be rather violent (but also super satisfying!). Maybe it’s our shadow again.

• A 2015 study found thriller, mystery, and crime novels combined were the most popular book genres in the US.⁸ And most of the readership (47%) was over 55 years old! So this isn’t just something that ‘mellows out’ with age. The shadow exists your whole life.

Maybe humans will always find ways to express and entertain our shadow. Whether it’s through music, books, art, film, video games, or something else.⁹ No matter what—these dark instincts live inside us and we need to figure out what to do about it.

Best to find healthy ways to express and entertain these parts of ourselves. The alternative is to squash and deny them which is exactly how we end up committing all kinds of human atrocities.

Just as Jung suggested 70+ years ago.

As for me…

I'll continue my sonic rendezvous with Eminem.

I’ll indulge the shadow's darker cravings without guilt through the music. Because I now realise this is my safeguard. A buffer between the allure of the dark side and the protection of those I hold dear.

It’s how I’ll maintain a harmonious balance—venturing into the depths yet remaining tethered to the light.

---

Your turn

• Have you found healthy ways to be around or express your shadow?

• What do you think of Eminem and his music?

• And if not Eminem—has any other artist or art form helped you get in touch with the darker parts of yourself?

This image was drawn by Jung in The Red Book. A deeply personal account of his private explorations into the unconscious. It was only published long in 2009, more than 40 years after Jung’s death. Click the image for your own copy.

1. Jung, C. G. (1953). Collected works. Vol. 12. Psychology and alchemy. Pantheon Books. p. 6.

2. Jung, C. G. (1953). Collected works. Vol. 12. Psychology and alchemy. Pantheon Books. p. 20.

3. Jung, C., G. (1976). The Portable Jung. New York, Penguin Books. p. 145

4. Jung, C., G. (1976). The Portable Jung. New York, Penguin Books. p. 145

5. Jung, C., G. (1976). The Portable Jung. New York, Penguin Books. p. 145

6. Naseer, S., & St. Aubin, C. (2023, June 20). True crime podcasts are popular in the U.S., particularly among women and those with less formal education. Retrieved from URL: https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/06/20/true-crime-podcasts-are-popular-in-the-us-particularly-among-women-and-those-with-less-formal-education

7. Grand View Research. (2023). Anime Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Type (T.V., Movie, Video, Internet Distribution, Merchandising, Music), By Genre (Action & Adventure, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Romance & Drama, Sports), By Region, And Segment Forecasts, 2023 - 2030. (Report No. GVR-3-68038-841-1). Retrieved from URL: https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/anime-market

8. Talbot, D. (2021, November 14). Thriller and Mystery Book Sales Statistics. Retrieved from URL: https://wordsrated.com/thriller-book-sales-stats/

9. P.s. If you choose to grab a copy of any of the books in this article, I’ll get a small commission. Thanks in advance!