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.

https://www.simplypsychology.org/psyche.html

https://personality-fall2011.wikispaces.com/Alex+Delarge

http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199791286/obo-9780199791286-0052.xml

https://prezi.com/ufa312stwjcv/a-clockwork-orange-psychoanalysis-of-alex-delarge-by-anthon/

Freud, S. (1920). Beyond the pleasure principle. SE, 18: 1-64.

Freud, S. (1923). The ego and the id. SE, 19: 1-66.

the male gaze

the male gaze was written by larura mulvey in the essay 'visual pleasure and narrative cinema' and can be represented as the audience being put into place as a heterosexual man, it shows how an audience can be presented, such as: how men look at women, how women see themselves, and how women view other women. This theory shows that women are being objectified and losing their identity to be used only for their physical appearance. this is shown is still being done in everyday life, for example, in advertising when the female body is used to sell a product even though they have nothing to do with each other.

Lacan

the theory of lack by lacan revolves around the lack of satisfaction in our lives and no matter what we achieve in life we always want more and is never enough to fill this void we are born with. this is similar to freud's theory of the self which is shown through different parts of the theories that relate to each other; freud's theory of the id and how it acts upon primitive impulses is shown in lacans theory of lack as we are driven by desire. this shows the influence between the two as the id in freuds theory is the lack of lacans theory of achieving what is wanted, since we are never truly complete and always desire more the id is always present and causing conscious and unconscious decisions regarding want.
Lacans mirror stage discusses how we have this lack from the moment we re born when we first see our reflection, the reflection represents the perfect version of ourselves and we try our whole lives to become this ideal representation of ourselves. the reason we all suffer from lack is because we can never achieve the perfection we saw in the mirror as infants no matter how hard we strive.

Freud's Theory of 'The Self'

Freud’s theory of the self is a psychoanalytic theory which separates the mind into 3 different parts that we are controlled by: the id, the ego and the superego. The id is the part of the brain that acts upon primitive instincts and impulses like anger, hunger, thirst, pleasure, pain, and will do anything to get instant gratification without thinking about consequences and moral aspects. The id unconsciously serves to relieve pain and act on instincts such as sex and aggression. The id is what causes impulses to be acted out so satisfaction is immediately achieved, regardless of any consequences or how unreasonable/chaotic the demands are. It is not affected by logic or reality and is can be selfish/irrational if that means instant relief. When demands are met it causes pleasure whereas if demands are not met it can cause tension. 

The superego represents the moral part of us that is consciously responsible for making the right decisions and values the morals of society that are taught to them by their parents and others present while being raised. The superego’s function is to control the impulses caused by the id, especially when the impulses involve acts such as sex and aggression that go against society’s rules. It can even persuade the ego to postpone satisfaction and turn to the morally good goals instead of realistic ones as the superego strives for perfection to become the best possible version of the self. This ideal self is the image of how you think you should be and can represent aspirations, and how you think you should treat others and act in society. A high standard for your ideal self can cause feelings of failure, the ideal self is determined at a young age depending on how you were brought up and based on parental values. The superego causes feelings of guilt when not please and feelings of pride when morally right decisions are made.

 The ego makes us think rationally and balances between the unrealistic needs of the id and the superego’s need for morally right decisions and tries to satisfy them both, instead of being based on impulses or conscience it instead relies on reality principle. It is part of the secondary process part of the brain and which is used for problem solving and decision making. It works by using reasonable ways of pleasing the id by using realistic strategies to avoid pain and seek pleasure. To avoid consequence of society, the ego may postpone some desired satisfaction as it’s purpose is to achieve desires while also considering social realities. The ego has no morals of its own as its only responsible for pleasing both the id and the superego.