ABSTRACT
The theory of a cultural complex in Jung-based psychology, as distinct from the idea of a collective shadow dominating a social group or nation state, is controversial and not uniformly supported by scholars in the area. The lost child motif predominately guides both the fictional narratives and reportage of our television, 115-year-old film industry, media, art and literature. Emotions related to the lost child, can therefore also be aroused independently of its direct representation. Simon Stone’s The Daughter, inspired by Hendrik Ibsen’s play The Wild Duck, also reworks the original to more fully incorporate a sense that the central characters are driven by an internal lost child complex. Stone originally directed and adapted the play for the Belvoir St Theatre in Sydney before revising the text further for film.
