Steven Watts-Shamanism

After watching The Jacket in class and speaking about Shamanism, I wanted to take the chance to look a little more into what it really is. After reading a couple of articles, there was one line that really resonated that came from the Catholic Encyclopedia. The line just says, "The main principle of Shamanism is the attempt to control physical nature." In the film The Jacket, doctor uses his form of drug induced hypnosis to attempt to control the mental activity of the patients. "Hence the term embraces the various methods by which the spirits can be brought near or driven away." The movie displays them trying to draw reality into the lives of people who have experienced things in their lives that have caused them to lose sight of reality around them. i thought the idea of putting yourself into your own sort of sleep induced state to alter your reality coincided very clearly with the fil we saw in class. I would have never realized that the movie was connected to many characteristics of Shamanism.