The Jacket and Shamanistic Ritual

Shamanistic ritual often involves pain and bloodshed in an effort to reach an altered state of enlightenment or consciousness. The drawer deprives Jack Starks of his physical mobility yet he is able to travel through time both forward and backwards in able to alter his timeline for the better. He uses his powers to help others in spite of the knowledge of his own impending death on the horizon. In a way, Jack knowing of his own death is a healing experience. In the life where he’s stuffed in the drawer he’s a lab rat for Becker but Becker has gifted Jack with the ability to escape and develop his own enlightenment by improving the lives of others around him. Throughout the film symbols representing improvement spring up when Jack is following the right path. One symbol in particular helps indicate what reality Jack is in. The dreamcatcher in Jackie’s car represents the two worlds. In the reality where Jackie’s mother is dead the dreamcatcher is torn and faded, representing the grim reality of the world around it. Opposing this is the dreamcatcher at the end of the movie. It’s bright, vibrant and fully intact, representing how everything is right in the world. One takeaway from shamanism is how deprivation can lead to enlightenment.

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