ROZARIO, Ma. Kristina P.

4CA1

November 6, 2015
Film Theory

Film Critique Insiang and Walang Himala

Psychoanalyst Andrea Sabbadini says that cinema and psychoanalysis "share a
similar language". It was due to cinema and psychoanalysis being born almost at the
same time. Freud described the cinema as uncanny: the images on screen were both
familiar and somehow strange, alive and yet lifeless, real but illusory hence all adding
up to the psychoanalytic theory. Bernardo Bertolucci, once told that 'I found that I had in
my camera an additional lens,' he said, 'which was not Kodak, not Zeiss, but Freud.'
These are all but introductions to psychoanalysis and cinema and its connection to one
another.
Psychoanalysis was frowned upon before the Second World War but there was a
shift after that. This shift is best represented in Hitchcock's Spellbound, made in 1945,
with famous dream sequences designed by Salvador Dal. The film opens with some
prefatory remarks: 'Our story deals with psychoanalysis,' the solemn titles read, 'the
method by which modern science treats the emotional problems of the sane. The
analyst seeks only to induce the patient to talk about his hidden problems, to open the
locked doors of his mind. Once the complexes that have been disturbing the patient are
uncovered and interpreted, the illness and confusion disappear... and the devils of
unreason are driven from the human soul.'
Andrea Sabbadini states that seeing a film is comparable to what happens in
psychoanalysis because for a momentary period, we are taken outside of our world,
outside of real time, to a place where entire lives can pass by in a matter of minutes. But
then of course, we have to emerge from it. A session always ends just like a good film
does, so we have to materialize from it.
To start off, there have been many phases in the Psychoanalytic theory
throughout the years. There are two broad kinds of applied psychoanalysis according to
which aspect of the cinema is being illuminated. The first kind focuses upon the visual
properties of cinema, the second upon the qualities of cinema fiction. Jean Goudal
(1926) once said that the experience of cinema was lodged at the boundary of the
conscious and the unconscious. The cinema, he writes, constitutes a conscious
hallucination (Hammond 1978: 51). The camera is not simply a scientific instrument but
by replacing/displacing the body as the locus of perception, the camera seems to
challenge the division between inner and outer, between mind and world, hence the
coordinates of rational understanding itself, transmuting perception into trance or
dream. Some emphasize the analogy between film and dream and use psychoanalytic
theory to explain how film works upon the mind of the spectator as an image that is akin
to the screen upon which we may imagine our dreams are projected (Eberwein 1984).
I feel like Whiplash perfectly embodies everything there is to the Psychoanalytic
Film theory because it tackles almost everything. First of all, the editing was superb.
Due to further research I found out that it won an Oscar for Best Film Editing. Powerful
editing can control how audiences engage with the content emotionally, which is an

incredibly vital tool and plays an important role in this theory. We can relate this to the
earlier stages of the psychoanalytic theory wherein first of all the focus was upon the
visual properties of cinema. All throughout the movie, the focus was on Andrew Neiman.
Its as if we are inside his mind because the editing was designed to be that way so we
can have a better perspective of him. Every shot focuses on him, on his emotions, his
struggles and so much more.
Morever, we can further analyze the movie through a deeper function of the
psychoanalytic theory which is far beyond material property or scientific instrument
which is the camera. We go into a more profound perspective of psychoanalysis which
tackles human development, attitudes, mannerisms, etc. We shall discuss further in the
light of Freuds theory of psychoanalysis. As viewers of the movie, we are somehow into
the unconscious, in the state of dream. So Freud is always talking about the
unconscious, which is active in our dreams, slips of the tongue, etc. Now regarding a
film's unconscious, being as films deals with fantasies, they could be considered
analogous to dreams and qualify as manifestations of the unconscious. We can say that
it is the extension of the fantasy of man.
Sigmund Freud also argues that human behavior is the result of the interactions
among three component parts of the mind: the id, ego and superego. A self-identity has
to be created and more or less continually reordered against the backdrop of shifting
experiences of day-to-day life and the fragmenting tendencies of modern institutions
(Giddens, 1991, p. 198). We're going to focus now on Andrew Neiman's self-identity and
hiss human behavior and its development in light of Freud's psychoanalytic theory of
personalityThis theory places great importance on how conflicts among the parts of the
mind shape behavior and personality. These conflicts are mostly unconscious.
Throughout the movie, various conflicts were presented for Andrew Neiman and through
progression we saw how it affected his behavior and personality up until the movie was
finished. In here is a classic case wherein the superego was taken over by the Id.
Andrews basic drives were simply just to be great with the talent that was given to him
that was his id, his pleasure principle. Unconsciously, throughout the movie, he let that
basic drive take over his life. He lost all balance when he didnt take into consideration
his super ego which strives to act in a socially appropriate manner. We can see at some
point of the movie that he wasnt acting in a socially appropriate manner. For instance,
when Andrew broke up with his girlfriend and seems devoid of human feelings. In that
moment, he was just satisfying his Id, for his instant self-gratification. The eagerness to
be great and be a legend like his idols (Buddy Rich or even the famed conductor
Terence Fletcher) took over his life and mind until he lost control of his sense of right
and wrong and guilt. The ego separates what is real. It seeks to please the id's drive in
realistic ways which became unrealistic for Andrew because there was no balance
between his primitive drives and reality (defense mechanisms). Andrew Neiman and his
loss of finding balance in the three structures of Freud's human mind resulted somehow
in an unfortunate manner that he lost all focus on what was really important in his life.
The endeavors that Andrew Neiman went through basically distorted his context of
reality. So even his ego wasn't able to balance the demands of his id and his superego.
He lost the sense of compromise. He couldve balanced all of the things he wanted and
decided not to, but just to focus on solely being great.

In another light, Whiplash is one out of numerous examples of a psychological

phenomenon which makes it so interesting to critique. In particular it tackles
psychological control. Psychological manipulation is a type of social influence that aims
to change the perception and behavior of others through underhanded, deceptive or
abusive tactics. We can deeply associate this with psychoanalysis. As Freud mentioned,
conflicts between the conscious and the unconscious, or with repressed material can
materialize in the form of mental or emotional disturbances, for example: neurosis,
neurotic traits, anxiety, depression etc. Through Fletchers psychological manipulation
throughout the whole movie, we can see more and more how anxious Andrew gets. In a
way, he became more violent due to the conflicts between his conscious and
unconscious. It materialized more in mental disturbances for him.
What is more is that Freuds singular emphasis on the structure of the human
mind left no room to pay attention to the impact of the environment, sociology, or culture
which makes Whiplash the impeccable choice to analyze in terms of the psychoanalytic
theory. All throughout the movie, we are led to believe that we are connecting with
Andrew Neiman and that we are inside his mind the carefully constructed shots and
editing and even the script all intertwines greatly to achieve the effect of connecting with
the main character. In conclusion, I was overwhelmingly sutured into the movie
Whiplash (with its script, editing, etc.) seeing as how it formally addressed and
connected the nature of cinema in relation to the subjective nature of the human mind.

References/ Sources

Toby Miller, et al, 1999. A Companion to Film Theory. Oxford: Blackwell

Publishing Ltd
Metz, Christian, 2000. The Imaginary Signifier in Film and Theory: An
Anthology, ed. by Robert Stam and Toby Miller. Oxford: Blackwell.
Lebeau, Vicky. 1995. Lost Angels: Psychoanalysis and Cinema. London:
Routledge.
1996. Cracks in the Acoustic Mirror. In Theorizing the Moving Image. New
York: Cambridge University Press.
1997b. Psychoanalysis after Wittgenstein. Psychoanalysis and Contemporary
Thought 20, 3: 299-322.

Boundless. Freudian Psychoanalytic Theory of Personality. Boundless

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textbook/personality-16/psychodynamic-perspectives-on-personality-77/freudianpsychoanalytic-theory-of-personality-304-12839/