The Shadow · S1 · E1 · The door
The king's enemy became the only man he ever mourned.
Epic of Gilgamesh, Standard Babylonian version, Tablets I–II
The story, as told
192 words. The narration, exactly as spoken.
The king's enemy became the only man he ever mourned.
In Uruk, the king was two-thirds god and nobody's equal. He built the walls, and then he had nothing left to push against. He wore the young men out, and took the brides before their husbands. The city prayed. The gods heard, and did not punish him. They made him a match.
A pinch of clay, thrown on the steppe. A man grew from it, hairy as an animal, who drank with the gazelles and freed them from the traps. A woman was sent to bring him in. She gave him bread, and he did not know what it was. When he heard about the brides, he walked into the city and stood in the doorway of the wedding house.
They fought until the walls shook. For the first time, Gilgamesh could not move a man. He bent his knee. He looked at the stranger, and saw himself with the crown taken off. They embraced, and the city was left in peace. Not by punishment. By company.
The enemy in your doorway may be the half of you that is missing.
The reading
the shadow (confrontation and integration); the four sights, first sight
The king with no limit
Gilgamesh is two-thirds god and one-third man, and the poem says he behaves like it. He has built the walls of Uruk, and with nothing left to push against he pushes against his own people: the young men in his games, the brides on their wedding nights. This is not villainy so much as inflation, Jung's word for an ego that has identified with the largest thing in it and lost all sense of proportion. The city cannot correct him. It can only go over his head.
What the gods do instead of punishing
The gods hear the complaint and do not punish. They make him a match: a man from a pinch of clay, "his stormy heart's equal", hairy, wild, raised with the herds. Jung's shadow is exactly this: everything a person has refused to be, which does not vanish but takes on a shape of its own and comes to meet him, usually wearing somebody else's face. Enkidu is the king's refused half made flesh. In the film his outline is already there, walking behind the king as a shadow on the wall, before he exists.
The bread
Enkidu cannot become a man on the steppe. Someone has to bring him to the edge of the city, and the poem gives that job to a woman, Shamhat, who feeds him bread he does not recognise. Jung would call her the anima, the part of the psyche that relates instead of fighting, and the film keeps her scene short and kind. The shadow cannot be met raw. It has to be made meetable.
The door
They fight in a doorway and neither can move the other. For the first time in his life the king meets a limit, and it has his own face. He kneels; he looks up; he sees himself "with the crown taken off". Jung called what happens next the transcendent function: two opposites held long enough that a third thing appears which is neither. Here the third thing is the friendship. The city is left in peace, and the poem is explicit that this was not achieved by punishment.
The enemy in your doorway may be the half of you that is missing.
How it was cut
15 shots, each a ten-second silhouette scene, cut to the sentence it carries.
- Shot 1 · hook
The king's enemy became the only man he ever mourned.
- Shot 15 · setup
In Uruk, the king was two-thirds god and nobody's equal. He built the walls, and then he had nothing left to push against.
- Shot 2 · setup
He wore the young men out,
- Shot 3 · setup
and took the brides before their husbands.
- Shot 13 · twist
The city prayed. The gods heard, and did not punish him.
- Shot 4 · twist
They made him a match.
- Shot 5 · push
A pinch of clay, thrown on the steppe. A man grew from it, hairy as an animal, who drank with the gazelles and freed them from the traps.
- Shot 6 · push
A woman was sent to bring him in.
- Shot 14 · push
She gave him bread, and he did not know what it was.
- Shot 7 · push
When he heard about the brides, he walked into the city and stood in the doorway of the wedding house.
- Shot 8 · spike
They fought until the walls shook.
- Shot 12 · spike
For the first time, Gilgamesh could not move a man.
- Shot 9 · spike
He bent his knee.
- Shot 10 · spike
He looked at the stranger, and saw himself with the crown taken off. They embraced, and the city was left in peace. Not by punishment. By company.
- Shot 11 · button
The enemy in your doorway may be the half of you that is missing.