Psychoanalytical Film Theory - Seminole Cinema: SEHS Film



IB Film: Year Two, W37.2Psychology and Film TheoryPsychoanalytical Film TheoryPreviously,?we talked a little bit about how we can use psychology as a lens through which to study films.Like other forms of ideological film theory, Gender theory for example, psychological insights can be applied to a film, not just to analyze its narrative, but also to create ideas about the motivations of filmmakers (the director is an obvious choice) and the relationship between the audience and the film.Psychoanalytical film theory developed during the 1970s and 1980s around the work of Jacques Lacan, a Freudian psychoanalyst.The theory looks at film from the point-of-view of psychoanalysis, and is very similar to Gender theory in that it is also preoccupied with the notion of a Gaze created by film narratives.Ultimately, it also questions with whom the audience identifies and what is the nature of that relationship.Psychoanalytical Film TheoryAlien & The HangoverCertain films, like the Alien series, seem to be intricately connected with Freudian ideas.For example, in all the Alien films, fear of birth and reproduction seems to be operating behind the scenes as part of the unspoken, visual narrative in the movie. Humans are captured by alien drones and taken to the Queen, who uses their bodies to lay her eggs and raise her offspring.The most shocking moment in the first film is a 'birthing' scene. Indeed, much of the production design in the film, from the ever-present alien eggs to the design of the creatures, seems to revolve around the fear of reproduction.While Freudian ideas might produce much to analyze in a series like Alien, it is hard to think Freudian ideas would produce as much ground for exploration when looking at a comedy like The Hangover.Like most film theories, Psychoanalytical film theory probably creates more interesting ideas with some films and genres than with others.Psycho or not?One of the films that makes the most sense to understand through a psychoanalytic framework, is of course, Hitchcock’s movie. As we have already discussed, Hitchcock based the film on a novel written by Robert Bloch, a Horror, Crime, and Fantasy novelist whose work was significant because he frequently identified clinical, psychological states to explain the reason for a character's behavior.And in both the original novel, and in Hitchcock's film, considerable time is explaining what a “Psycho” is and what “internal” reasons people have for doing the things they do.And here psychoanalysis is not just used to understand Norman Bates. In fact, we could go so far as to say that almost all of the characters in the film psychoanalyze each other to explain their behavior. And so we have Marion trying to figure out what her boss will say when he sees that she’s stolen the money, the Police Officer who finds Marion asleep on the side of the road trying to figure out if she’s guilty of something, the Used Car salesmen questioning Marion’s motives for accepting his deal so easily, Marion analyzing herself after her strange conversation with Norman in the Parlour, Norman analyzing his mother in that same scene, and of course Marion’s sister, boyfriend and Detective Arbogast all trying to figure out why Marion stole the money and what could have happened to her. And then, as if to make sure we get the point, the film ends with the criminal psychiatrist’s dramatic monologue - where he explains to the shocked room that Norman did - and did not - kill Marion and Arbogast - because he suffered from an Oedipus complex (a condition, of course, first identified by Freud ) and guilt over murdering his mother, stopping also to clear up the notion that Norman is a transvestite!Watch that scene again.Review -??Psycho - ending - The PsychiatristAlso, as we have said before, one of the areas that psychoanalytic film theory is most interested in is the Gaze, which many feel Hitchcock pioneered with his subjective point of view camera movements, so in a sense he can be seen as the father of the Psychological Thriller.Indeed, while perhaps not to the level of Psycho and Hitchcock’s 1948 film Spellbound ( in which he enlisted the services of surrealistic artist Salvador Dali to create the symbolism of Gregory Peck’s bizarre and troubling dreams), we see a tendency to focus on the abnormal mind in most of Hitchcock’s films starting, one might argue, with his 1920 film The Lodger. This is interesting for historical reasons as we could then argue that chronologically, much of Hitchcock’s canon seems to “mirror” the growing role that psychological analysis was to play in popular culture, beginning of course with Freud, Jung, and then Lacan. ?Hitchcock was certainly aware of Freudian symbolism and used it in his films, even as a joke at times.For example, In North by Northwest, Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint have survived their adventures and are safe at last. The penultimate shot is Grant pulling Saint up to his upper bunk on the train. Suddenly, the director cuts to a shot of a train going into a tunnel and whistling, a very pointed Freudian image.?So, Psychoanalytic film theory can provide insight into Psycho in a number of ways:First of all, Hitchcock is making this film with an awareness of Freudian theory, so that a psychoanalytical viewpoint is key in the narrative.Psychoanalytic film theory may illuminate some of Hitchcock’s own personal obsessions as well, such as his fear of authority and a controlling mother. While it is unclear whether Hitchcock’s story about his father asking the police to lock him for 5 minutes for misbehaving when he was a little boy or his mother forcing him to stand at the end of her bed every night to tell her about his day, is, in fact, true, what is true is that the artist's own psychological nature will find expression in the artwork they create.Finally, it forces us to see events and people from many viewpoints and to ask -What is the nature of our 'Gaze'?Who do we identify with, and what are we longing to see?What are the psychological effects this film has on its audience and why?For other ways that we can apply psychoanalytic film theory to understand Psycho, take a look at what film critic Slavoj ?i?ek has to say.Review -? HYPERLINK "" \t "_blank" Zizek - Id, ego and super-ego in cinemaPsychoanalytical Film TheoryYou have just seen how psychoanalytic theory can provide insight into Psycho. Now, choose a film from the list below (or pick your own) and list three ways psychoanalytic theory can help us to more deeply analyze and understand it.Here are some possibilities -Black Swan?(2010)The Dark Knight?(2008)Ed Wood?(1994)Todo Sobre Mi Madre (All About my Mother)?(1999)Donnie Darko?(2001) ................
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