Thursday, 11 October 2012

Lecture Notes 1 x Psychoanalysis

Presented by: Simon Jones
simon.jones@leeds-art.ac.uk


Human subject

What it is, what it's used for, two of the key people invovled in psychoanalysis

Sigmund Freud



  • development of the psyche from birth
  • the development and role of the unconscious in our everyday ives
  • the development of gender identity- psycho-sexual identity
  • Understanding the complexities of human subjectivity

theory of sexuality, sexual identity

first theoretical which established the psychological concept of 

human subjectivity

Not only a form of therapy "the taling cure" a theory of the mind "psyche" and a model-based theory that can be applied to other objects and processes


Our desires, what we are motivated by, etc.

Not just a form of therapy...
  • A way of categorising and understanding desire, motivation, dreams .

In it's history has been adopted by artists, designers, architects, public relations, psychotherapists


Establishes that we are not entirelly in control of what we do. Our unconscious plays a part in our day-to-day goings on.


Sigmund Freud




Conceived the idea in the late 1890s

Treated hysteria patients using psychoanalysis by guiding them to discover and accept repressed thoughts/events

Freud asked how can a mental/psychological issue translate into a physical symptom

Dreams: analysed his own and others dreams in terms of their hidden associations and wish-fulfillment


Also observed infants in their habits and associations with parental figures.

OEDIPUS COMPLEX

Oedipus is from Greek mythology. Seduced his mother and killed his father. Freud used this as an analogy/metaphor for something else.

Freud stablished the psychoanalytic theory that allowed or a dynamic unconscious of the mind



THE DYNAMIC UNCONSCIOUS

created through infancy to protect our conscious selves from events, ideas and thoughts that are not acceptable to consciousness

Continues to affect our conscious selves in SOME* ways

The unconscious is chaotic, without order and without language.

Makes itself present through ticks, slips and symptoms (e.g. Freudian slip)

Freuds hysteria patients developed debilitating symptoms as a result of experiences or feelings that had become repressed.


The Freudian slip is generally referred to as something sexual. Not just about that, it is when you accidentally say something. Accidentally slips out, not what you consciously/planned to say. Just sort of happened.



STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT


Our development into willful, conscious beings is full of confusing contradictory and misapprehended thoughts and ideas

An attempt to make sense of both our biological instinctual self and our logical thinking self

We create associations and assumptions through sense data...often incorrectly

The developing child goes through stages: oral, anal and phallic.

Also the child develops preconceptions that must be dealt with in order to develop succesfully - oedipus complex, castration complex, penis envy.





PSYCHO-SEXUAL IDENTITY

The identity we assume by our development in infancy and our body and other peoples bodies


- Oedipus comples - sexual/love feelings towards mother and resentment of father..through childhood dependence and self-centered world view

Oedipux complex - feelings of love, rivaly jealousy all mixed...confusing feelings 'to want' vs 'to be wanted'


Misunderstood.

Not necesarily sexual or incestual ideas of how we know them.

Development of both masculine and feminine identities are in relation to the penis/phallus.

When young infants experience other children, particularly opposite sex. The boy assumes when looking at a girl assumes she's been castrated. Castration complex

Castration complex - the boy fears castration while the girl accepts that she has already been castrated. The phallus as a symbol of power


Penis-envy - at the same time the girl realises she doesn't have a penis. Assumes she's already been castrated. A way to relate to the father-figure

Presence/absence - both create possible negative feelings: the boy fears his castration (powerlessness) while the girl feels that she is missing something.




The child must experience and overcome these issues and mixed feelings in order to become a happy and mentally healthy human subject. In order to gain a sexual identity and a speaking position within the order of language and society

Misconceived and contradictory ideas of gender, power and identity continue to work unconsciously through our lives.



THE UNCANNY

'unhomely'

Something that is simultaneously unnatural yet familiar.

Something that was supposed to remain hidden which has come to the open

Where the boundary between fantasy and the reality break down

Analogies between the unconscious (psychology) and the uncanny (aesthetics)

Some producers of horror films have used the idea of the uncanny. Creating something that has the essence of something familiar, at the same time completely foreign. Creates a sense of unease. Something that should be hidden but has in fact come alive.


The surrealists such as Dali used the uncanny quite a lot to create paintings quite a lot to create stuff kind of ordinary but subversive, surrealised.


Freudian models

Id, ego and superego.

Unconscious, preconscious and conscious.


Iceberg metaphor.



Id, ego an superego.




ID EGO AND SUPER-EGO

Social rules. Politness, customes and traditions

Bio-social-individual beings

Id (unconscious) - represents the biological/instinctual part of ourselves

Ego (conscious) - represents the individual/personality of ourselves




JACQUES LACAN


Frenchman. Comes from tradition of philosophy/

In the 60s and 70s Lacan presented his own brand of psychoanalysis claiming a 'return to Freud'

He reconceptualised Freud's findings through the theoretical model of structural linguistics. Singnification

Lacan posted that the development of the psyhce is entwined within the structures of language...language molds us as much as we mould it.

Subjectivity is paradox


Semiotics 




THE MIRROR STAGE

The stage at the point where the child recognise it's own reflection. The reflection of themselves in other peoples, outside himself. Parents etc

Rivalry. The child may recognise it's own image and it is still limited in movement and dexterity


Thus...resulting in the formation of ego which aids and continues to aid a reconciliation of body and image/subjects and other.

Captation. the process by which the child is at once absorbed and repelled by the image of itself (the specular image)

Creating an identity for ourselves. Our behaviour,morals, how we're gonna live. To fulfill this gap of alienation.


Sometimes you might look into the mirroe and think "who am I?" is this how I'm seen to other people?




LACANIAN UNCONSCIOUS

The unconscious is structured like a language

That's not to say that the unconscious has a language but its structure is LIKE a language. Freud said the unconscious is without language? Lacan, said it's LIKE a language.

Connection between unconscious detail and conscious detail. 

Highlighting the ways in which meaning in encoded within in linguistic signs - written or spoken words

Unconscious details are encoded in various ways as they slip into consciousness

The big Other and the little other




METAPHOR/METONYMY

Symptom:
  • the metaphor - a word is used to represent something else which possess similar characteristics
  • Symptoms are translated elemts of unconscious material adopting a metaphor-style coding
Desire:
  • Metonymy - a part of something used to represent the whole or the whole used to represent a small part. Meaning is displaced
Referring to your car as your 'wheels' is an example of metonymy


A chain of similar associations

The desire can never be fulfilled, the desire displaced for what cannot be attained...unconscious desire...



LACANIAN PHALLUS

Not the biological penis but a symbol or power/order.

Attained through it's associated LACK - the potential of lack (male) and the actual lack (female)


Masculinity/femininity are not biological definitions but symbolic positions


Our interactions/relations to the symbolic phallus provides a speaking position in culture/within the symbolic order
a: relating to the signifying nature of the phallus
b: our sexual identity informed through the phallus

Words only mean things in differentiation to other words. Presence, having, not having


The role of the symbolic phallus



The 'orders' of reality

The real:
- that which cannot be symbolised/signified
-where our most basic,animal selves exist

The imaginary:
- the order which exists before symbols and significations

Ego is born and develops
No discions between self and other/subject and object

The symbolic:
-'the order of the Other'
- exists outside ourselves - language exists before and outside of us
- the order that allows us to exist within a culture of others




Psychoanalysis and art criticism/theory

Human subjectivity - what it is to be human, motivation, desires the unconscious
- to help us understand why things are as they are

David Lynch constantly references psychoanalysis. The first 2/3's of the film are about hidden desire.



Model-based theory/paradigm - Models provide a tool for categorising or breaking down individuals and groups of art/design works




EDWARD BERNAYS

- The Godfather of PR. Freud's nephew

Applied knowledge of psychoanalysis, unconscious desire to advertising and PR campaigns


SELLING DESIRES, LIFESTYLES, NEEDS AND WANTS



Revolutionised advertising by applying manipulation techniques


Check out Edward Bernays

Sketchy characters, entire Freud family. Basically psychoanalysis was founded by people that didn't like people. Didnt think people could be happy, could be free-thinkers etc. Same with Freud and Bernays



Case Study - 'Torches of Freedom'


Embedding desire within products. Such as cigs ^^^


Max Ernst - Collages c1930

Surrealist. Allowed collage to manipulate the work. Allowed the objects the forms to inform the collage itself, therefore providing this automatic, unconscious element.


Victor Burgin - The Bridge - 1984




Hitchcock's Vertigo



Louise Bourgeois - Spiral Woman - 1952





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