jacques lacan

Jacques Lacan was a french psychoanalyst. he gained an international reputation as an original interpreter of Freud's work. Lacan believed that ordinary consciousness can legitimately be aware only of its own incapacity. Lacan's desire refers always to unconscious desire because it is unconscious desire that forms the central concern of psychoanalysis. 

the mirror stage is a concept in the psychoanalytic theory of Jacques Lacan. this was his first contribution to psychoanalysis which he described as "psychoanalytic experience". by the early 1950s, he came to regard the mirror stage as more than a moment in the life of the infant; instead, it formed part of the permanent structure of subjectivity. it refers to childhood, a toddler looking in the mirror helps them to shape their identity. 

Lacan's theory of Lack poses that people who are missing something in their lives become increasingly more obsessed with it until it becomes the only thing they value. the lack has a different effect on the mind, given that there are three different lacks; imaginary phallus/symbolic castration, the real breast/imaginary frustration, symbolic phallus/real privation.

the three orders is a concept by Lacan: 

- the imaginary: is created in the ego during the mirror stage. when an infant passes through a stage in which the external body is shown, this image produces a psychic response that leads to a mental representation of the infant.

- the symbolic: this is where the "father figure" comes in. the child is faced with the reality of the lack because it realises that it will never be the ideal desire of the mother. the idea of the 'lack' is essential to the symbolic order.

- the real: at the limit of symbolic order, the real is the unknown. for instance, if an accident occurs, we create an explanation of that accident, but that explanation itself is not the real anymore. the real can not be explained through language. 

Grizzly Man (2005) is a documentary film put together from Timothy Treadwell's own video footage where he he lives among a tribe of grizzly bears on an Alaskan reserve. Timothy Treadwell endeavours to become a bear expert, conducting field 'research' and also seeks to escape his prior social positioning by an attempt to journey into the 'secret world of bears.' he believed that having 'the heart of a wild animal' could compensate for his lack of education and training. the film is seen as more of a character study on Timothy Treadwell rather than a nature documentary that is first expected. his childlike and dangerous passion for the bears borders on insanity and the director Werner Herzog focuses on that aspect. he seems to carefully construct the film so that we see the authenticity of of Treadwell's passion and we see as he moves further and further away from sanity. Herzog uses the story of Treadwell and creates a story that points away from the idea of harmony in nature, towards the chaos of the universe. In one particular scene, Herzog narrates  over Treadwell and disagrees with his belief that nature is harminous and says "I believe the common character of the universe is not harmony, but chaos, hostility and murder." The Lacan theory of Lack fits well into this film as it is clear that Treadwell was looking for something more in his life. at one point in the film he says "Thank you animals for giving me a life, I had no life, now I have a life." before he began his journey living among grizzly bears, he felt like he lacked a purpose in life. the bears helped he gain a purpose which ultimately was to protect them.         

sigmund freud

Sigmund Freud was the founding father psychoanalysis, a method for treating mental illness and also a theory which explains human behaviour. he believed that events that happen in our childhood help to shape personalities and influence adult life. 

freud developed a topographical model of the mind in (1900), whereby he described the features of the mind's structure and function:

- the conscious: the small amount of mental activity we know about

- the subconscious: things we could be aware of if we wanted or tried

- the unconscious: things we are unaware of and can not become aware of

later (1923), freud developed a more structural model of the mind with id, ego and superego which have been most commonly conceptualised as three essential parts of the human personality.

the id is the unorganised part of the personality structure that contains a humans basic, instinctual drives. it is the only component of personality that is present from birth. it is the source of our bodily needs, wants, desires and impulses, particularly our sex and aggression drives. 

the ego is the component of personality that is responsible for dealing with the reality. just as the id is the unconscious part of the human personality, the ego is the conscious and logical part. the ego functions in both the conscious, preconscious and unconscious mind. it operates on the reality principle, which strives to satisfy the id's desires in realistic, logically and in socially appropriate ways.

the superego is the component of personality that provides guidelines for making judgements. it represents the norms and qualities of the individual, his family and the society and is an ethical constraint on the behaviour. the superego operates on the moral principles and is able to differentiate between good and bad, what is right and wrong. 

the id, ego and superego are inter-related. in order to create a normal personality, there must be a proper balance in the relationship among these three forces. 

Black Swan (2010) is a movie that treats freud's theory in an artistic way. it shows a lot of elegance and sexuality. it represents the freudian theory of human personality in distinctive ways by using different kinds of relationships and by looking from different perspectives. around the end of the movie, it is shown that all the psychological conflicts and fights with the other characters was Nina's fight with 'her selfs' and her passion to perform the role of the black swan perfectly which requires to be her rebellious and seductive self represents the id. her dance teacher in the movie thinks she is beautiful, fragile and fearful as the white swan should be, but the black swan is the evil sister who seduces the love of the white swan, she has to be passionate, seductive and impressive. 

contextual study essay

contextual study essay

new wave film

evaluation:

for my new wave film, i decided to create a montage documenting a journey. i wanted to show how quiet and empty the world felt due to Covid-19. whilst walking around coventry city centre, there were only a small amount of people around me, most of which were wearing masks. 

i think some of my shots worked well with the music in the final outcome, however, i definitely could improve it by getting a more of a variety of different types of shots and experimenting more with camera techniques. the editing could also be improved, maybe with some different transitions as well as editing my clips so that they are in time with the music