[UA] The Outsider: miscellaneous observations

[rowan at media.mit.edu]

This analysis has probably been done thoroughly by a dozen Jungian scholars. But 
I was stuck thinking about it all day, so I decided to write down my ideas.

----

Some aspects of the Outsider, by source:

Folklore (fantastic): Vampire (also Dark Stalker), werewolf/lunatic,
faerie/goblin (also Trickster), the Pied Piper (also Merchant, 
Trickster)

Cultural: Jew, Black, Slave, Untouchable, Gypsie, Circus-Carnie, 
Beggar, Plague-bearer, Whore, Drug Dealer, Shaman, Witch (also Flying 
Woman), Pervert, Bastard, Obscene Artist (also Fool, Messenger, 
Trickster)

Mythology: Cain, the Cyclops, Loki (also Trickster, Two-Faced Man), 
Tiresias (also Mystic Hermaphrodite, Messenger), Oedipus (also True 
King, Martyr)

----

The Outsider is somehow valuable to his host community (and it is 
ironically only _inside_ this community that he is an _outsider_), but 
he is hated/feared/shunned by that community. In Europe and the US (to 
which I will restrict this discussion), Cain came to be a symbol of 
both the Jew (necessary for money-lending in medieval Christian 
communities) and the Black/Slave (necessary for labor). Cain is also 
associated with the Wandering Jew (note the association of both 
archetypes with the Comte). 

One function of the Outsider is to frighten children (or 
sometimes their parents): we are told that Jews eat Christian babies, 
Gypsies enslave naughty children, Faeries and Goblins steal pretty 
children away, Carnies recruit children into their travelling shows, 
Drug Dealers seduce children into addiction, Whores corrupt virtuous 
boys, "Perverts" (e.g. homosexuals) prey on young flesh, Obscene 
Artists lead impressionable youth to sex and violence with their 
video-games and jazz music.

The Vampire -- another Cain aspect -- emphasizes the 
frightening/seductive power of the Outsider, the infectiousness of his 
condition, and his invulnerability. The Whore plays the same sexual 
role.

AIDS victims, the postmodern lepers and plague-bearers, are often 
criticized and feared but also pitied and supported by a society that 
fetishizes victimhood. The same goes for the homeless, beggars, and 
lunatics. In this aspect, the archetype infringes on the Martyr.

Also related to the Martyr -- and to the Confessor (in its "Sin-Eater" 
aspect) -- is the Scapegoat, another Outsider aspect. The Outsider is 
often implicated as the reason for some misfortune: Cain, the Jew and 
Oedipus are maybe the best examples, but any outsider who gets blamed 
for mysterious calamity is represented here, e.g., "witches" (i.e. 
spinsters), "perverts", gypsies, faeries, obscene artists. Recently, 
the emergence of Aliens as a modern counterpart of faeries has 
associated the Extraterrestrial with this aspect of the Outsider. 
Abductions, mysterious pregnancies, cattle mutilations, and 
dimly-remembered assaults that were blamed in previous centuries on the 
faeries are now attributed to UFO aliens. For violent crime (rape, 
assault), Blacks are the favorite American scapegoat, while Arab 
Terrorists are used as scapegoats for bombings (e.g. Oklahoma City).

The Witch (Flying Woman) and the Shaman are Hermits who are feared and 
demonized, but also direly needed, by their communities. The Hacker 
made some progress in its Wizard aspect toward association with the 
Outsider in the 80's, but computer programmers have since gained enough 
credibility and acceptance as human beings to diminish their social 
Outsider role somewhat. Still, some hardcore geeks have managed to make 
themselves invaluable to large companies while maintaining social 
habits that alienate their co-workers well enough that they have 
channelled the Outsider quite successfully.

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