HNC Creative Media: Freud psychoanalysis in a film

Freud’s psychoanalytic theory has inspired many film directors as his work has been shown in films through the use of characters, visual signification and technicalities. A film that has been quite clearly inspired by is Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange, this film demonstrates how the id, ego and superego work in the brain and what happens when the ego cannot be balanced between id and superego. The narrative revolves around the character Alex DeLarge; a teenage boy who is completely controlled by his id which causes him to fail to control his impulses. He cannot conform to society’s rules and doesn’t care for moral aspects in what he is doing because he sees nothing wrong with it, he sees no wrong in acting out his desires which shows he has no superego to help guide him to making morally good decisions. He commits acts of violence, robbery, rape, and is completely controlled by his pleasure principle. He follows through with these crimes as the weakness of his superego leaves him with no concern for morals of these actions that are unacceptable to society.

Alex was born and raised by his parents which could be the reason for his dysfunctional development of his personality, his parents seem submissive and show no emotion towards Alex. They are naïve and fail to acknowledge their son’s behaviour, this could have caused a lack of development during another concept of Freud’s psychoanalytic theory: the Oedipus complex. According to Freud, this was a very important stage in psychosexual development, and skipping any stage can cause long term negative effects later in life. this could have caused is incapability to love and has no sympathy for his rape victims which is shown through his behaviour with women. he rapes for instant sexual gratification as his id controls him to act upon primitive instincts. His parents give him no discipline therefore his brain does not discipline bad behaviour with feelings of guilt, instead he is left with feelings of satisfaction. Alex had never experienced the right amount of love from his parents which caused him to act violent to substitute the comfort he had never been provided with from his parents. The weak personality of the parents causes a lack of fear of consequences, overall causing him to have a dominant id over his ego/superego.

During the first part of the film, it is made clear that Alex is completely controlled by his id, this is shown through his impulsive violent acts without any signs of guilty feelings or regrets. He is the leader of a gang that commit crimes such as beating a homeless man, raping, breaking into people’s homes, robbery, and other extreme acts of violence. This shows that Alex is controlled by his id because he will do anything for instant satisfaction whenever he wants and acts upon instinct without any regrets. When he commits violent acts, he hears music playing in his head which fuels his violence.

After Alex is betrayed by his friends and ends up in prison, he goes through a treatment intended to 'treat' him for his bad behaviour, this was referred to as the ludovico treatment. The treatment consisted of videos of extreme violence combined with music, Alex ve forced to watch them after being injected with chemicals that made him feel sick. After going through this 'treatment' he can no longer give into his id's needs for acts of violence as this has caused him to feel sick whenever he has violent or sexual thoughts and tries to fulfil them. This shows that he is now completely controlled by his superego that has been forced upon him, he is stripped of all individuality and free will to do things he desires which even includes listening to music. From this point, he is taken advantage of people once released from prison and is abandoned by his parents who replaced him while he was going through treatment, he is also taken advantage by his old gang who beat him and leave him to die, his superego doesn't let him defend himself as he knows if he acts out is id he will feel sick. He then seeks help from one of his previous victims, who then tortures him to suicide through forcing him to listen to music which he loves, this triggers the pleasure principle in his brain which then triggers the sick feeling causing him to jump out a window to end the pain. Once he awakens in hospital, his parents apologise to him following those responsible for his 'treatment'. It seems that after his suicide attempt, he now has control over his id and superego meaning he has developed a middle ground. His last words of the film "I was cured, alright" suggests that he now has an ego and has control over doing what is desired but with a morally right outcome.