Psychoanalysis was created by Sigmund Freud in the late 19th century, it was a clinical practice which he called ‘the talking cure’. He allowed the patient to talk freely to allow their unconscious to take over their conscious thoughts. The method was used to treat personality disorders such as depression and anxiety through psychotherapy. He believed unconscious thoughts often tried to escape repression and called dreams the “the royal road to the unconscious”, Mcleod (2007: pg.11). He believed the conscious mind could no longer repress and sensor our real thoughts when asleep.
Freud believed our child hood was the foundation for our understanding of the world. He had a number of theories such as the ‘Oedipus complex’, he believed a male child has a desire for his mother and begins to resent the father due to jealousy. However he then believed the child identifies with his father due to his mother not having a penis, she begins to be seen as a threat of ‘castration’. This leads on to the son desiring to be like his father and following ‘The law of the father’ and therefore conforming to a patriarchal society.
John Berger explored this view and called it ‘Ways of Seeing’, he believed “men act and women appear. Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at.” Berger (1972: pg.20). He believed women in paintings and on screen were always viewed in the same way – passive, naked and were created for a male audience.
Laura Mulvey published the article “Visual Pleasure and Narrative theory” in 1975, she explored Freud’s theories and related them to cinema. She believed Freud’s idea of the unconscious, referred to patriarchal society, “The unconscious of patriarchal society has structured film form” Mulvey (pg. 6). She believed Freud’s idea of the child identifying with his father and resenting the mother , created the benchmark for all women. She found within films women were seen as a threat and were only explored through a sexual nature. Women were used as a strong visual impact to draw in the male spectator. The films were created with a patriarchal language which belongs to men, therefore women within films were only seen through the eyes of a male ‘The Male Gaze’.
Mulvey also presented the idea of ‘The pleasure of looking’ , She believed an audience were ‘scopophilic’, which she described as “pleasure in using another person as an object of sexual stimulation through sight” (pg 11). In simpler terms this meant objectifying the character and gaining sexual pleasure from her. She described another way of viewing as “narcissism and the constitution of the ego, comes from identification with the image seen” (pg 11). She believed an audience were able to identify with a character and be able to relate to their experiences.
The ‘Carry on’ franchise of films can be explored in terms of psychoanalysis. Barbra Windsor is a key female character in a majority of the films, she always plays sexy, dipsy and flirty character. She is seen as ‘the perfect image’, in comparison to Sid James aggressive, bitter and unattractive wife. Every time Barbara is on screen there is a huge focus on her petite perfect figure and she often has clothing popping off, her most well known scene would be ‘Carry on Camping’ when her bra popped off. Mulvey would argue Barbra Windsor is seen through the ‘Male Gaze’, the audience are placed behind the eyes of the heterosexual male and objectify her.
However many argue Freud’s psychoanalytic approach completely rejects the idea of a female child’s process, he only focuses on male progression. Mulvey also fails to address the idea of the ‘female gaze’, as many films also objectify men and are created through the eyes of a female.
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References:
- Berger, J., 1972. Ways of seeing: Based on the BBC television series with John S Berger. London: British Broadcasting Corporation and Penguin Books.
- Mcleod, 2007, Psychoanalysis, [online], [accessed on 17th October 2016] –www.simplypsychology.org/psychoanalysis.html
- Mulvey, L. (1975) ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema.’ Screen, 16(3) pp. 6-18
Bibliography:
- Freud, S. (1961) ‘Fetishism.’ In Strachey, J. (ed.) The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud. Vol. 21., London: Hogarth Press, pp. 152-159
Filmography:
Carry on Camping, (1969). [film] British : Gerald Thomas.
Film and Media Studies Theory 