Psychological Criticism

1
Psychological Criticism

• An Introduction

2
Quiz What do you know?

• Provide the appropriate answer below.
• I know who Sigmund Freud is.
• a. Yes b. Kind of c. Not at All
• I am familiar with his theories of how the
  unconscious motivates our daily actions.
• a. Yes b. Kind of c. Not At All
• I know who Carl Jung is.
• a. Yes b. Kind of c. Not at All
• 4. I am familiar with his theory of archetypes.
• a. Yes b. Kind of c. Not At All

3
Beginnings

• Sigmund Freud
• 1856-1939
• Why did you do that?
• Looked to literature for answers and examples
• Conscious actions driven by unconscious desires
  and fears (often in response to personal trauma)
• Unconscious expresses itself in form of dreams,
  creative acts, slips of the tongue, jokes, etc.

4
Key Concepts

• Internal conflict is caused by a struggle to fit
  into society because of hidden unacceptable
  desires or fears, often caused by personal trauma.

5
Discussion

• If one did not deal with his or her internal
  conflict, what might be the psychological and
  emotional results?

6
Key Concepts

• This internal conflict expresses itself in a
  variety of ways depression, mental illness,
  emotional disturbance, abnormal sexual
  activity, drug and alcohol abuse, obsessions,
  violence, etc.

7
Key Concepts

• One can deal with traumatic events and
  uncomfortable emotions in a variety of unhealthy
  ways
• Repression hiding ones desires and fears in the
  unconscious
• Isolation disconnecting ones emotions from a
  traumatic event
• Denial refusing to accept ones unacceptable
  desires or fears or a traumatic event
• Sublimation redirecting an unacceptable desire
  into a creative act

8
Memento (2000)
9
Key Concepts

• Displacement replacing an unacceptable object of
  ones emotion with a safe one
• Projection placing ones unacceptable or
  unworthy desires or fears onto another
• Intellectualization avoiding ones desires and
  fears by analyzing them and rationalizing them
  instead of feeling them
• Reaction Formation believing the opposite is
  true to avoid facing the truth about a traumatic
  event

10
Felicias Journey (1999)
11
Carl Jung

• 1875-1961
• Looked to fairytales and myths for answers to
  human motivation/actions
• Conscious vs. collective unconscious that
  contained images and themes common across time
  and culture (archetypes)
• Archetypes present in dreams, myths, fairytales

12
Archetypes

• Images and patterns experienced in the
  unconscious by all humans, regardless of culture
  or place.
• Images and patterns that symbolize or guide ones
  psychological journey toward identity.
• Archetypes help psyche develop by representing
  common experiences and shared knowledge of lifes
  journey.
• Common Archetypes Animus/Anima Mother/Father
  Sage (Wise one) Orphan Destroyer Warrior
  Caregiver Fool the Double etc.

13
Psychology and Film

• Films activate unconscious desires and fears.
• Film is a form of voyeurism (scopic drive)
• Fetishizing the body Body becomes a visual
  fetish for viewer.
• Taboo Images Images and experiences forbidden
  society such as sex and violence give
  voyeuristic pleasure in film

14
Yet More

• Films offer viewers a clue into the unconscious
  motivations, desires, and fears of directors and
  actors.
• Similar patterns of images, plots, and topics
  occur of the course of a career that reveal
  something about the director or actors
  unconscious mind.

15
Alfred Hitchcock
16
Marnie
17
How to . . .

• Ask why the director created such a film,
  particularly focusing on what may have been
  unconscious motivations
• Ask why the character acted a certain way in a
  film, again particularly focusing on unconscious
  motivations
• Ask how the viewers unconscious motivated a
  particular reaction to a film.

18
How to . . .

• Look for instances of repression, isolation,
  sublimation, displacement, denial, projection,
  intellectualization, and/or reaction Formation in
  the actions of characters.
• Identify internal conflicts present in characters
  that cause them difficulty fitting into society
  or being happy.
• Note expressions of the unconscious in characters
  dreams, voices, creative acts (or any actions),
  slips of the tongue, jokes, etc.
• Note descriptions of the unconscious in a film.
• Note archetypal images or patterns in a film.
• Note how a characters identity is developed in a
  film.
• Analyze viewers response to the film, especially
  in terms of scopic drive.
• Analyze a set of films by a director or actor for
  patterns of images, plots, topics, etc. that give
  clues to his or her unconscious motivations,
  fears, and desires.

19
Resources

• Lynn, Steven. Texts and Contexts.
• New York HaperCollins, 1994.
• Giannetti, Louis. Understanding the Movies. 11th
  ed. New Jersey Pearson Prentice Hall, 2008.
• Pearson, Carol S. Awakening the Hero Within.
  HarperCollins, 1991.
• Prince, Stephen. Movies and Meaning. 2nd ed.
  Boston Allyn and Bacon, 2001.