Monday, March 22, 2010
Group Presentation on Equus
We each found our interest with Equus and applied the theory we best understood. I mainly focused on Formalism and Structuralism, but I was very much interested in researching the Greek mythology references in the play as well. I found articles discussing mythology in relation to Freud. We each came up with about 2 questions and put them into the grid to generate discussion in the class. Our group created our own blog to create constant dialogue throughout the weeks leading up to our presentation. I made copies of the grid for the class as well.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Charlie Chaplin's in Modern Times
When reading the Jungle by Upton Sinclair it reminded me of Charlie Chaplin in Modern Times, where the humans are working with machines, and so in order for the factory workers to keep up with the fast pace of the machines they begin to turn into machines. Chaplin’s character must constantly be in-sync with machines or else the system fails. He does tedious work, and the only way for him to take a break is if another person takes over for him. He must punch in and out for every break he takes. The most interesting part is when a company comes in to sell a product that will assure factory that they will get the most for their money. To make sure they beat the competition they have created a machine that will allow the worker to eat lunch while they work in order to guarantee time will not be lost.
Another funny clip that can be connected to the Jungle and child labor is from the movie Zoolander. Mugatu and the other fashion designers are promoting child labor in other third world countries. They do not want to have to pay much for their garment manufacturing and are planning on killing the Prime Minister of Malaysia, so he does not outlaw child labor.
Another funny clip that can be connected to the Jungle and child labor is from the movie Zoolander. Mugatu and the other fashion designers are promoting child labor in other third world countries. They do not want to have to pay much for their garment manufacturing and are planning on killing the Prime Minister of Malaysia, so he does not outlaw child labor.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Midterm Paper
Peter’s Oedipal Problem
Using Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory I wish to explore Peter Pan and his inability to return home and take his place in the world. Neverland in this case represents a child’s fantasy and imagination; a place where they can forget about growing up. I will show through Freud’s theory how it is the lack of love and parental presence that keeps Peter in his childlike state, never to return home. Through the analysis of Peter’s character, I will explore the harmful effects the fantasy can bring when the child returns to their home without the assurance of their mother’s love. Therefore, a mother’s love becomes the key ingredient to a successful and purposeful flight from childhood to adulthood.
In Jon C. Stott’s article, “Midsummer Night’s Dream: Fantasy and Self-Realization in Children’s Fiction”, he explains the two types of structural patterns of a journey that the child hero in literature experiences. Stott suggests that fantasy worlds are created not merely as an escape from real life, but a way to cope with real life issues. Although fantasy worlds stray away from reality they serve an important purpose of inner growth and supply a clearer understanding of life. Instead of escaping from the problems of the real world, it in fact forces the hero to undergo growth and find solutions to their problems. Stott states that without recognition and resolution of the hero’s struggles they will be confined to the fantasy world forever. The hero is put to the test mentally and emotionally and will not be able to return to the real world until they have won their inner battles. He claims that the hero must return home to the real world or else the fantasy world no longer is a place to grow, it then becomes a place of terror. A good example of this is J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan, in which Peter permanently remains in the fantasy world. He does not mature throughout the story and does not long to become an adult. Because he does not make the realization that every child will grow up eventually and have to find a career he remains in Neverland where he has no concept of time or death. He is offered a home by the Darlings and even though the Lost Boys leave Neverland to grow up with a family, Peter still turns down their offer and refuses to live in the real world.
In R.S. Peter’s article “Freud’s Theory” he identifies Freud’s primary process under the control of the pleasure principle as a place of “no consciousness of time, of contradiction, or relation to the real world” (Peters 5). In Peter Pan this place can be represented as Neverland. Peter cannot understand growth, because he has no concept of how much time has passed when he is in Neverland and the change that comes along with growing-up becomes extremely upsetting to Peter. In Neverland, Peter can repress his desires from wanting a mother that loves him. “Repression…prevents what has been repressed from being put to conscious use by the ego in motility” (Peters 7). Neverland can allow Peter to not have to deal with any of these emotions because it eliminates his desires and past anxieties by Peter staying in a place of permanence as opposed to constant growth. Neverland also can represent the part of Peter’s mind of isolation where “the ego defends itself by isolating an idea or hiving it off from its emotional significance” (Peters 7). Neverland is isolated from the outside world and there Peter can remove all emotional ties to his childhood. Also the mechanism of regression is present in Neverland for Peter. Reality is not comfortable to the child that has been rejected by it, and even replaced with another child. It seems as if Peter had the confidence that his mother would be waiting for his return, because he does attempt to go back but is shocked that the windows are “barred”. The word “barred” highlights Peter’s rejection of his mother and the real world. Therefore, Peter regresses “in dealing with frustration by returning to an earlier period of life when satisfaction was obtained” (Peters 8). Peter remains a permanent boy in Neverland where he no longer needs to feel rejected by the real world.
Unfortunately for Peter he is not welcome after he has been to Neverland for quite some time, and although the narrator questions whether it is true or not, Peter’s memory of his mother’s rejection stays with him and greatly affects the way he views adults, specifically mothers. “I thought like you that my mother would always keep the window open for me; so I stayed away for moons and moons and moons, and then flew back; but the window was barred, for mother had forgotten all about me, and there was another little boy sleeping in my bed” (Barrie 130). The love becomes vitally important. Without the love the fantasy world cannot function as a place of realization and a place to reenact certain repressed desires of imaginative adventures. Perhaps Peter did grow when he first left to Neverland and finally was ready to return home to reality and his mother, but since the love for his mother was not given to him he is forced to go back to Neverland. The love gives the child the safety of traveling between both worlds and Peter cannot travel back for more than a night because he no longer yearns for a mother’s love. Instead he chooses to isolate his emotions, repress his desires of love, and regress in a permanent state of childhood.
In Sarah Gilead’s article, “Magic Abjured: Closure in Children’s Fantasy Fiction”, she suggests that “a return-to-reality closure” often happens in children’s fantasy literature, “reestablishing the fictional reality of the opening” of the story (Gilead 277). Although all the Darling children and the Lost Boys are able to return to family and reality, Gilead states that, “the return does not bring stability but, rather, generates further losses and returns” (Gilead 287). The children must grow up and have their own careers, which means they will lose their childhood imagination and energy, people will pass away with age, and Peter will forever be trapped in Neverland. “Peter, forgetting the past, is entrapped in an eternal present without emotional or cognitive meaning” (Gilead 287). In this case Gilead is claiming the return becomes tragic to all the characters, not just Peter’s. Gilead states, “Forever young, (Peter) embodies the adult obsession with time and death. Peter is at once the idealized child and the regressive, impotent adult who is compelled to kidnap the very concept of childhood to alleviate the intolerable burden of adult existence” (Gilead 285). Even though the adult may want to escape their lives and be young forever that does not mean that the adult wishes for that desire to manifest into reality, even in the literature. Receiving a mother’s unconditional love at a young age allows the child like Wendy to grow up and move on from their imagination and fantasies. In Michael Payne’s article “What Difference has Theory Made? From Freud to Adam Phillips” Adam Phillip suggests that as children become adults they inevitably become antagonists of their own pleasures (Payne 8). Perhaps that is why Peter Pan remains in Neverland because he does not want to go against all his childhood pleasures.
Barrie is able to instill the fear of desiring eternal childhood with Peter’s inability to grow mentally or physically, and his inability to return to reality and even his own memory. “And then one night came the tragedy” (Barrie 202). Peter’s situation of permanence, to remain a child forever indicates suffering to the child when they are faced with the reality of growth and change. The return of the child is guaranteed through the love he receives from his mother. Without the love there can be no successful return or any assurance of self-growth during their journey into the fantastic. Applying this to Freud’s theory, the child will not be able to grow from their childhood imagination into adulthood without the love and care of their parents. In Freud’s phallic stage Peter is not able to repress his desires for his mother because he does not receive the love from her that he expects and therefore is not able to take his place in the world and identify with his father. Instead he can regress, isolate and repress his desired emotions and never take his place in the world.
David Morgan states in his article “The Father’s Shadow/Father’s Body” that a son must bond with his father’s body in order to develop his own creative life. If the son as a poor connection with his father than he tries to make a connection through his father’s shadow instead. This can result in a “state of passive creative frustration” (Morgan 219). In Peter’s case there is no mention of a father figure therefore it can be assumed that he did not bond with his father’s body before he left for Neverland. He goes on to say that no son can become an adult male unless they become more than their father’s son. If Peter was never able to bond with his father how can he break free from his father? Peter remaining forever in Neverland indicates a fear to move on and grow up to become whole. Morgan states that “all fathers have a shadow” and that this shadow is usually placed on others. These shadow characteristics are those a person detests to see in others, but “which are to be found lurking near the entrance to the dark cave of his own unconscious” (Morgan 223). The oedipal complex therefore is not resolved by either parent, because Peter cannot properly repress his desires from his mom and take his place in the world and identify with a father figure. In the beginning of Peter Pan, he is brought into the real world because he is looking for his shadow. Wendy finds it and is able to sew it back on for him. His shadow in Morgan’s case could be his unconscious luring him back to where he can grow and accept the world. His unconscious wants him to grow up and face his anxieties, but his conscious mind is able to hold back his inner emotions and continue his life in Neverland.
Michael Payne, in his article, explores the world of children through theory. He states, “To be a child is to learn how to make mistakes, how to become disillusioned. But being realistic, too, has its pleasures, including the satisfaction of having done the right thing” (Payne 7). In Peter’s case, he is not able to recognize what a mistake may be because he does not learn or grow from any experiences he has in Neverland. He almost does not fall under the category in Payne’s description of childhood through Freud and Phillips theories. Peters suggests that we must also assume that childhood greatly effects and influences a person’s life as they grow up, and that the mechanisms a child embrace’s to solve problems becomes impressionable to a person’s character. In Peter Pan’s situation unfortunately, he has chosen mechanisms such as repression, isolation, and regression in order to avoid feelings of pain and growth. Peter remains in Neverland never to remember any significance to life and his emotions.
Works Cited
Barrie, J.M. Peter Pan. New York: Penguin Group, 1967.
Gilead, Sarah. "Magic Abjured: Closure in Children’s Fantasy Fiction." PMLA 106.2
(1991): 277-93. JSTOR. Web. 9 March 2010..
Morgan, David. "The Father's Shadow/Father's Body." Journal of Religion and Health 34.3 (1995): 219-32. JSTOR. Web. 10 Mar. 2010..
Payne, Michael. "What Difference Has Theory Made? From Freud to Adam Phillips." College Literature 32.2 (2005): 1-15. JSTOR. Web. 9 Mar. 2010..
Peters, R.S. "Freud's Theory." British Journal for the Philosphy of Science 7.25 (1956): 4-12. JSTOR. Web. 10 Mar. 2010..
Stott, Jon C. "Midsummer Night’s Dream: Fantasy and Self-Realization in Children’s
Fiction." The Lion and the Unicorn 1.2 (1977): 25-39. Project Muse. Web. 4 March 2010..
Using Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory I wish to explore Peter Pan and his inability to return home and take his place in the world. Neverland in this case represents a child’s fantasy and imagination; a place where they can forget about growing up. I will show through Freud’s theory how it is the lack of love and parental presence that keeps Peter in his childlike state, never to return home. Through the analysis of Peter’s character, I will explore the harmful effects the fantasy can bring when the child returns to their home without the assurance of their mother’s love. Therefore, a mother’s love becomes the key ingredient to a successful and purposeful flight from childhood to adulthood.
In Jon C. Stott’s article, “Midsummer Night’s Dream: Fantasy and Self-Realization in Children’s Fiction”, he explains the two types of structural patterns of a journey that the child hero in literature experiences. Stott suggests that fantasy worlds are created not merely as an escape from real life, but a way to cope with real life issues. Although fantasy worlds stray away from reality they serve an important purpose of inner growth and supply a clearer understanding of life. Instead of escaping from the problems of the real world, it in fact forces the hero to undergo growth and find solutions to their problems. Stott states that without recognition and resolution of the hero’s struggles they will be confined to the fantasy world forever. The hero is put to the test mentally and emotionally and will not be able to return to the real world until they have won their inner battles. He claims that the hero must return home to the real world or else the fantasy world no longer is a place to grow, it then becomes a place of terror. A good example of this is J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan, in which Peter permanently remains in the fantasy world. He does not mature throughout the story and does not long to become an adult. Because he does not make the realization that every child will grow up eventually and have to find a career he remains in Neverland where he has no concept of time or death. He is offered a home by the Darlings and even though the Lost Boys leave Neverland to grow up with a family, Peter still turns down their offer and refuses to live in the real world.
In R.S. Peter’s article “Freud’s Theory” he identifies Freud’s primary process under the control of the pleasure principle as a place of “no consciousness of time, of contradiction, or relation to the real world” (Peters 5). In Peter Pan this place can be represented as Neverland. Peter cannot understand growth, because he has no concept of how much time has passed when he is in Neverland and the change that comes along with growing-up becomes extremely upsetting to Peter. In Neverland, Peter can repress his desires from wanting a mother that loves him. “Repression…prevents what has been repressed from being put to conscious use by the ego in motility” (Peters 7). Neverland can allow Peter to not have to deal with any of these emotions because it eliminates his desires and past anxieties by Peter staying in a place of permanence as opposed to constant growth. Neverland also can represent the part of Peter’s mind of isolation where “the ego defends itself by isolating an idea or hiving it off from its emotional significance” (Peters 7). Neverland is isolated from the outside world and there Peter can remove all emotional ties to his childhood. Also the mechanism of regression is present in Neverland for Peter. Reality is not comfortable to the child that has been rejected by it, and even replaced with another child. It seems as if Peter had the confidence that his mother would be waiting for his return, because he does attempt to go back but is shocked that the windows are “barred”. The word “barred” highlights Peter’s rejection of his mother and the real world. Therefore, Peter regresses “in dealing with frustration by returning to an earlier period of life when satisfaction was obtained” (Peters 8). Peter remains a permanent boy in Neverland where he no longer needs to feel rejected by the real world.
Unfortunately for Peter he is not welcome after he has been to Neverland for quite some time, and although the narrator questions whether it is true or not, Peter’s memory of his mother’s rejection stays with him and greatly affects the way he views adults, specifically mothers. “I thought like you that my mother would always keep the window open for me; so I stayed away for moons and moons and moons, and then flew back; but the window was barred, for mother had forgotten all about me, and there was another little boy sleeping in my bed” (Barrie 130). The love becomes vitally important. Without the love the fantasy world cannot function as a place of realization and a place to reenact certain repressed desires of imaginative adventures. Perhaps Peter did grow when he first left to Neverland and finally was ready to return home to reality and his mother, but since the love for his mother was not given to him he is forced to go back to Neverland. The love gives the child the safety of traveling between both worlds and Peter cannot travel back for more than a night because he no longer yearns for a mother’s love. Instead he chooses to isolate his emotions, repress his desires of love, and regress in a permanent state of childhood.
In Sarah Gilead’s article, “Magic Abjured: Closure in Children’s Fantasy Fiction”, she suggests that “a return-to-reality closure” often happens in children’s fantasy literature, “reestablishing the fictional reality of the opening” of the story (Gilead 277). Although all the Darling children and the Lost Boys are able to return to family and reality, Gilead states that, “the return does not bring stability but, rather, generates further losses and returns” (Gilead 287). The children must grow up and have their own careers, which means they will lose their childhood imagination and energy, people will pass away with age, and Peter will forever be trapped in Neverland. “Peter, forgetting the past, is entrapped in an eternal present without emotional or cognitive meaning” (Gilead 287). In this case Gilead is claiming the return becomes tragic to all the characters, not just Peter’s. Gilead states, “Forever young, (Peter) embodies the adult obsession with time and death. Peter is at once the idealized child and the regressive, impotent adult who is compelled to kidnap the very concept of childhood to alleviate the intolerable burden of adult existence” (Gilead 285). Even though the adult may want to escape their lives and be young forever that does not mean that the adult wishes for that desire to manifest into reality, even in the literature. Receiving a mother’s unconditional love at a young age allows the child like Wendy to grow up and move on from their imagination and fantasies. In Michael Payne’s article “What Difference has Theory Made? From Freud to Adam Phillips” Adam Phillip suggests that as children become adults they inevitably become antagonists of their own pleasures (Payne 8). Perhaps that is why Peter Pan remains in Neverland because he does not want to go against all his childhood pleasures.
Barrie is able to instill the fear of desiring eternal childhood with Peter’s inability to grow mentally or physically, and his inability to return to reality and even his own memory. “And then one night came the tragedy” (Barrie 202). Peter’s situation of permanence, to remain a child forever indicates suffering to the child when they are faced with the reality of growth and change. The return of the child is guaranteed through the love he receives from his mother. Without the love there can be no successful return or any assurance of self-growth during their journey into the fantastic. Applying this to Freud’s theory, the child will not be able to grow from their childhood imagination into adulthood without the love and care of their parents. In Freud’s phallic stage Peter is not able to repress his desires for his mother because he does not receive the love from her that he expects and therefore is not able to take his place in the world and identify with his father. Instead he can regress, isolate and repress his desired emotions and never take his place in the world.
David Morgan states in his article “The Father’s Shadow/Father’s Body” that a son must bond with his father’s body in order to develop his own creative life. If the son as a poor connection with his father than he tries to make a connection through his father’s shadow instead. This can result in a “state of passive creative frustration” (Morgan 219). In Peter’s case there is no mention of a father figure therefore it can be assumed that he did not bond with his father’s body before he left for Neverland. He goes on to say that no son can become an adult male unless they become more than their father’s son. If Peter was never able to bond with his father how can he break free from his father? Peter remaining forever in Neverland indicates a fear to move on and grow up to become whole. Morgan states that “all fathers have a shadow” and that this shadow is usually placed on others. These shadow characteristics are those a person detests to see in others, but “which are to be found lurking near the entrance to the dark cave of his own unconscious” (Morgan 223). The oedipal complex therefore is not resolved by either parent, because Peter cannot properly repress his desires from his mom and take his place in the world and identify with a father figure. In the beginning of Peter Pan, he is brought into the real world because he is looking for his shadow. Wendy finds it and is able to sew it back on for him. His shadow in Morgan’s case could be his unconscious luring him back to where he can grow and accept the world. His unconscious wants him to grow up and face his anxieties, but his conscious mind is able to hold back his inner emotions and continue his life in Neverland.
Michael Payne, in his article, explores the world of children through theory. He states, “To be a child is to learn how to make mistakes, how to become disillusioned. But being realistic, too, has its pleasures, including the satisfaction of having done the right thing” (Payne 7). In Peter’s case, he is not able to recognize what a mistake may be because he does not learn or grow from any experiences he has in Neverland. He almost does not fall under the category in Payne’s description of childhood through Freud and Phillips theories. Peters suggests that we must also assume that childhood greatly effects and influences a person’s life as they grow up, and that the mechanisms a child embrace’s to solve problems becomes impressionable to a person’s character. In Peter Pan’s situation unfortunately, he has chosen mechanisms such as repression, isolation, and regression in order to avoid feelings of pain and growth. Peter remains in Neverland never to remember any significance to life and his emotions.
Works Cited
Barrie, J.M. Peter Pan. New York: Penguin Group, 1967.
Gilead, Sarah. "Magic Abjured: Closure in Children’s Fantasy Fiction." PMLA 106.2
(1991): 277-93. JSTOR. Web. 9 March 2010.
Morgan, David. "The Father's Shadow/Father's Body." Journal of Religion and Health 34.3 (1995): 219-32. JSTOR. Web. 10 Mar. 2010.
Payne, Michael. "What Difference Has Theory Made? From Freud to Adam Phillips." College Literature 32.2 (2005): 1-15. JSTOR. Web. 9 Mar. 2010.
Peters, R.S. "Freud's Theory." British Journal for the Philosphy of Science 7.25 (1956): 4-12. JSTOR. Web. 10 Mar. 2010.
Stott, Jon C. "Midsummer Night’s Dream: Fantasy and Self-Realization in Children’s
Fiction." The Lion and the Unicorn 1.2 (1977): 25-39. Project Muse. Web. 4 March 2010.
Annotated Bibliography: Midterm Paper
Annotated Bibliography
Gilead, Sarah. "Magic Abjured: Closure in Children’s Fantasy Fiction." PMLA
106.2 (1991): 277-93. JSTOR. Web. 9 March 2010.. Gilead examines children’s literature from the adult reader’s perspective. She suggests that “a return-to-reality closure” often happens in children’s fantasy literature, “reestablishing the fictional reality of the opening” of the story (Gilead 277). She states that although this pattern seems to occur often in this type of literature there are three different types of mode and meaning with a return-to-reality ending. “The Return as Bildung”, in which the child undergoes either moral, psychological, and intellectual development during their journey through the fantasy, “The Return as Narrative Repression” that rejects the fantasy by failing to understand its meaning and ignoring its power of influence, and “The Return as Tragic Ambiguity” where the return becomes unclear and the child misses the closure between what is fantasy and reality (Gilead 285). This article is useful for those that wish to explore not only the different types of fantasy fictions, but the psychological process that the child hero undergoes through their influence of the fantasy realm.
Morgan, David. "The Father's Shadow/Father's Body." Journal of Religion and Health 34.3 (1995): 219-32. JSTOR. Web. 10 Mar. 2010.. Morgan stresses the importance of the father’s shadow for his son living a significant life. He first finds this essential meaning of the father’s shadow in the myth of Cronos and his son Zeus. This myth conveys how Cronos’ son is able to connect to his father’s body through his illusive shadow. The valuable meaning of the father’s shadow is based on research conducted by a developing men’s group. Morgan takes a phallus dream analyzed by C.G. Jung that highlights the importance of the father and son body connection in determining the success of the son’s imaginative growth. This article will be useful for those researching a son’s creative development and how it can be influenced by their relationship with their father.
Payne, Michael. "What Difference Has Theory Made? From Freud to Adam Phillips." College Literature 32.2 (2005): 1-15. JSTOR. Web. 9 Mar. 2010.. Payne recognizes that Adam Phillips has gained a reputation in understanding and explaining Freud’s psychoanalytic theory. Therefore through Adam Phillips work, we can better comprehend Freud’s theory and our understanding of children. He suggests that psychoanalytic theory has been useful in viewing the child’s perceptive of life, and how it is possible for a child to comprehend their own gender experience. He greatly affirms the idea that theory is how we view the world, how we see our mistakes and are able to learn from them. This article can be useful to those interested in understanding Freud’s psychoanalytic theory and its effect on understanding child development and our view of the world.
Peters, R.S. "Freud's Theory." British Journal for the Philosphy of Science 7.25 (1956): 4-12. JSTOR. Web. 10 Mar. 2010.. Peters takes Sigmund Freud’s theories and summarizes them in this article, so that it may be useful to compare his theories with others. He begins with the preservation of equilibrium where he discusses human instincts, and then discusses the mechanisms or “techniques of defence” on the ego. He then summarizes the development of sexual desires and its stages in the mind, and lastly the genetic expectations of childhood influences and how they become impressionable through development of character. Morgan’s effort is to compile as clearly as possible Freud’s main principles.
Stott, Jon C. "Midsummer Night’s Dream: Fantasy and Self-Realization in Children’s
Fiction." The Lion and the Unicorn 1.2 (1977): 25-39. Project Muse. Web. 4 March 2010.. Stott explains the two types of structural patterns of a journey that the child hero in literature experiences. The first one is the linear journey where the hero ventures from Point A to Point B. It is clear to the reader why the protagonist goes through the journey and how he or she reaches their final destination (Stott 25). However, Stott chooses to focus on the second type of journey, the circular journey, in which the hero returns to the same point he started from. Stott states that the hero in this type of journey desires to escape his “normal” world and thereby enters into a fantasy world where his experiences allow him to return home changed and matured. Although fantasy worlds stray away from reality they serve an important purpose of inner growth and supply a clearer understanding of life. This article is useful for those trying to understanding the usefulness of a child exploring their imagination and what they can learn from it.
Gilead, Sarah. "Magic Abjured: Closure in Children’s Fantasy Fiction." PMLA
106.2 (1991): 277-93. JSTOR. Web. 9 March 2010.
Morgan, David. "The Father's Shadow/Father's Body." Journal of Religion and Health 34.3 (1995): 219-32. JSTOR. Web. 10 Mar. 2010.
Payne, Michael. "What Difference Has Theory Made? From Freud to Adam Phillips." College Literature 32.2 (2005): 1-15. JSTOR. Web. 9 Mar. 2010.
Peters, R.S. "Freud's Theory." British Journal for the Philosphy of Science 7.25 (1956): 4-12. JSTOR. Web. 10 Mar. 2010.
Stott, Jon C. "Midsummer Night’s Dream: Fantasy and Self-Realization in Children’s
Fiction." The Lion and the Unicorn 1.2 (1977): 25-39. Project Muse. Web. 4 March 2010.
The Father's Shadow in Equus
After reading Equus I read another article for my midterm paper “The Father’s Shadow/Father’s Body” by David Morgan. In his introduction he states, “the need of a young boy to achieve a successful bond with the body of his father is a determining factor in whether the son is able to develop his own creative life, or must go through life in a state of passive creative frustration” (219). For my midterm paper I was interested in looking at Peter Pan and applying Freud’s theory to his condition. But I think this article really speaks to Alan and Frank in Equus. Alan is not able to have a close relationship with his father and therefore tries instead to bond with his father’s shadow. What I mean by that is Frank’s unconscious that he tries to repress. When Alan sees his father watching the same pornographic film as him Alan is able to connect to him, but on a level his father is not comfortable with. Just like Frank, Alan cannot perform sexually with a woman, he instead becomes embarrassed and feels as though he is being watched and judged. Morgan uses Freud’s Oedipus complex to explain why the son has a destructive perception of what it means to be a man. “The development of an inner creative life by a boy is blocked if he unconsciously bonds with his father’s shadow qualities. Such negative qualities include a distant father, or a father who violently abuses his son…As a result, he cannot accomplish anything truly creative of his own life—all he has is his father’s shadow” (Morgan 226). Alan seems to be struggling with his father’s shadow and cannot move on from there. He has the same urges and reactions as his father with sex. The stare in the play seems to be of guilt and embarrassment by both Frank and Alan. They both seem too worried about judgment brought out from their sexual urges and they both seem to be having a problem with performance. I think that Alan being able to tell Dysart what has happened to him becomes the point where he can separate himself from his father and be his own man. Frank is never able to come to terms with what he has done and what his son has seen, and so he cannot break from his own shadow.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Hiding behing the Mask of Punishment
When reading Michel Foucault’s Disciple and Punish this idea of always being watched as a form of punishment made me think of the film V for Vendetta when the whole city of London is constantly being monitored and given strict rules that they must follow. In this film ordinary life becomes a prison. They do not know when or if they are being watched at that very moment, but they fear being seen or noticed by officials the most. So instead of having a prison in this case they are already punished by being monitored by their every move. The authority figures are not officers in uniforms, so anyone you do not know could be part of the police. Therefore you never know who is watching you. There is surveillance all over the city as well, so if they want to find you they have the power to. The only way for V to hide is under a mask, so that even if he is seen no one will know who he is.
For me this film shows how restricting and cruel it can be just to know you are being watched. This form of punishment in prisons would probably prove to me very effective.
For me this film shows how restricting and cruel it can be just to know you are being watched. This form of punishment in prisons would probably prove to me very effective.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Postmodern piece Wicked
Just like we discussed in class a good example of how the postmodernists changed the metanarrative would be Milton’s Paradise Lost, I could not help to think about Wicked the novel by Gregory Maguire that is most famous for its Broadway musical. Even though it does not change history or religion, it takes a classical piece of children’s literature and focuses on the wicked witch of the west. Telling the story through her experience she no longer remains the villain but the victim or hero of the society she has been born into. She is no longer ugly, but still green. She has a kind heart, and it uses all the scenes specifically from MGM’s film, but simply changes the perspective where the audience can understand and sympathize for Elphaba’s (the wicked witch of the west) perspective. The good witch and the bad witch are friends, and it shows how the evil villains are perceived that way because they have been rejected or misunderstood by society.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Dexter: The Code of Harry and Freud on human repression
When reading Freud I could not help to think about Showtime’s Dexter. Eagleton discusses Freud’s analysis on human repression of the “pleasure principle” by the “reality principle”. Then he mentions how this repression could become a negative aspect of one’s life and make them sick. Too much repression cannot be a good thing, but humans can put up with some. “One way in which we cope with desires we cannot fulfil is by ‘sublimating’ them, by which Freud means directing them towards a more socially valued end.” In Dexter’s case, he lives by Harry’s code. Harry, his adopted father realizes that Dexter has tendencies and urges to kill, and creates a code where Dexter can still kill, but only killers. He does not harm the innocent, but instead protects them by eliminating other killers. By doing this Dexter is able to control a lot of his urges and pretend to live a normal life.
"Dexter: The Code of Harry"
"Dexter: The Code of Harry"
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