Ideology, Psychoanalysis, Reception Theory - Essay Example

?Reading Assignments: Ideology, Psychoanalysis, Reception Theory Ideology http www.filmreference.com/encyclopedia/Criticism-Ideology/Ideology.html 10 questions Who instituted the concept of ideology and why? Fredrich Engels and Karl Marx because ideology is a reflection of society, and they believed that if a person or ruling class understood that correlation it could be used for manipulation. What is ideology? A concept in Marxist examination of governing ideas that endorses interests of the dominant class i.e. the bourgeois. Positive emotions can suppress oppression and other forms of negativity. How did Marx and Engels initiate their critique? The very facets that are used to rule society are a reflection of that dominant society’s social views and behaviors. What are ruling ideas and how do they coincide with ideology? Ruling ideas like individualism, honor, competitiveness, and duality mirror the idealized perceptions of the current dominant class in any given time period. This is important because it reveals the power that that class holds over society, thus enabling a governing body to manipulate them. Marx’s definition of ideology is the idea that can be used to manipulate society. Why does Marx and Engel focus on the bourgeois class? The bourgeois class holds power, which is a subsidiary of wealth, education and exposure to a variety of elements in the real world. Their ideas are key over the lower class because they are the ones who directly or indirectly shape society the most. What is “Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses”? An essay written by Louis Althusser that depicts ideology as a fortifying notion that encourages people to succumb to a state of oppression through their invented identify of themselves vs. who they are in reality based on “experience, consciousness, and subjectivity” (2). How do Antonio Gramsci’s and Marx’s definitions of ideology differentiate? Gramsci believes that ideology is the ”social cement unifying and holding together the established social order” (Marxist 2) rather than being an element of manipulation. Gramsci’s reasoning is that civil society- civilized by a unifying event like a war- act both in the interests of their private lives and the public state. What is the “Frankfurt School”? A school established in Frankfurt, Germany in 1923 whose theorists construed that cultural artifacts maintained the connection between mass culture and its realistic view on life in an industrial society. How does Walter Benjamin’s believes differ from Marx and Althusser? How has film supported his viewpoint? Benjamin says that mass culture has the ability to judge itself and they will if given the proper tools. Film creates flash images, or a rush of pictures that equate to self-analysis like reflections in sports by fans (Frankfurt 4). More members of society have access to film over high art and film makes it easier to analyze societal behavior. How is ideology applied to films like Rambo? Labels and stereotypes that ideology envelops in specific cultures can be mimicked or imitated in films. For example, Rambo (although fictional) portrays society’s real issues of sexism, racism and militarism. It acts like a mirror, like a checklist. The film represents the listed problems of society by portraying women as whores and a black man as “evil” because he combats Rambo (Reading 2-3). This is what ideology is, a reflection of the mass culture in reality. Psychoanalysis http://www.filmreference.com/encyclopedia/Independent-Film-Road- Movies/Psychoanalysis.html 10 Questions What is psychoanalysis and who founded it? Psychoanalysis is a term coined by Sigmund Freud and Josef Breuer that refers to the study of the unconscious part of the human mind. If the unconscious exists then that correlates with the fact that humans are restricted in their self-awareness. People are not in complete control of their thoughts and emotions. Dreaming is a product of the unconscious mind, but how does it relate to psychoanalysis? In what text did it first appear? Freud explains in the Interpretation of Dreams that the dreaming sequence is the result of our unconscious mind working out the thoughts that we are unable to sort through during the conscious day because there are so many. “The dream-work alters thoughts existing in the mind by condensing multiple thoughts into one and displacing traumatic thoughts onto related nontraumatic ones” (Psychoanalysis 2). Dreams are a progression of psychoanalysis. According to Freud, what is distortion? Distortion is a product of the unconscious process that people encounter through strange dreams or even when they are awake like forgetfulness. How are psychoanalysis and the cinema related? Every time a character on screen acts out a dream they are letting the audience see into the unconscious thoughts of that character, thus creating a link to psychoanalysis. Can cinema take psychoanalysis too far? If so, why does it effect film production even in a capitalist economy? If the paying audiences in society witness a traumatic dream sequence, or trauma relating to the unconscious mind through cinema, it can desolate film production. People will not want to repeat the experience, which may ultimately result in the failure of movies even in a capitalist economy. The filmmakers must recognize the fine line between truth, ultimate truth and falsehood. How does commercial film conquer the impending threat of failure by overwhelming their audience with unconscious trauma? The key is mastering trauma by coping with psychoanalysis through distinct levels of content (Cinema 1) and avoiding merging it into one’s self. Otherwise psychoanalysis dominates a person and produces negativity. David Lynch has worked hard to develop an artistic illustration of the unconscious, or dream-work in his films. Why does this make him standout as a director over all the others? Why is this significant in psychoanalysis? Unlike fellow directors, Lynch incorporates a narrative in the dream instead of portraying the dream as a part of the traditional script. If there is a scene where a character starts to unconsciously imagine standing on a blue floor then that blue floor transforms into water, yet he or she can still breathe, what logic does that follow? It follows the dream logic, not the conventional plot. This action is a form of psychoanalysis, but on a deeper level by attempting to assemble a realism of the unconscious. Who is Jacques Lacan? What did he attribute to film theory? Jacques Lacan is a French psychoanalyst who developed an idea in film theory called the mirror stage (Mirror 2). What that entails is the misrecognition of an infant’s self in a mirror because what it sees is a perfect whole rather than an incomplete form, thus fabricating an ego. Lacan suggests there is a link between the film audience and the infant. However, Lacan misses the strong indication that because what the infant sees is imaginary, the ego created from it is a part of psychoanalysis. What occurs between the spectator and a film screen? Christian Metz and Jean-Louis Baudry believe the screen is a mirror. Spectators associate ego, i.e. themselves, with the actions, characters and depictions of events on film. The camera encourages the art of illusion by associating the feeling of all-knowing and limitless knowledge to a sense of being all-powerful. Who revolutionized psychoanalytic film theory and how has she altered the relationship between film and psychoanalysis? Joan Copjec transforms the idea that the camera acts like a connection to a mirror to the idea that the camera is an objective gaze that motivates the spectators’ desires (Rediscovering 1). Her work states that it is more than just identification as seen with other theorists. The audience is there as an absence and only become aware of it if the film forces them to recognize their involvement. Otherwise, they mate with the film’s production. The cinema and psychoanalysis “represent attempts to embrace the trauma that constitutes us as subjects” (Rediscovering 4) and it has inadvertently discovered enjoyment in the trauma. Film directors can now focus on what spectators desire by use of the gaze. Reception Theory ? http://www.filmreference.com/encyclopedia/Independent-Film-Road- Movies/Reception-Theory.html 10 Questions What is Reception Theory in regards to media and film? Meaning arises through the interaction between the audience and the media, not by television or cinema itself. Without the spectator, the meaning is nonexistent because it needs to be processed. Which elements make the interaction between spectators and cinema meaningful? The spectator carries key traits that digest the meaning in television or film like identity, preconceived notions and situational circumstance. These are labeled as contextual factors (Reception 1). It is impossible to observe the spectators’ reactions (Methodology 1). How do reception theorists attain the information? Instead of focusing on the individual identity, theorists must have a clear understanding of social behaviors and desires. “How the spectator defines herself or himself as a person and as a member of a larger society affects how she or he will view a film” (Methodology 2). They cannot interview everyone at the time of the film’s release, especially older films so they must rely on is media accounts. What are subject identities? Religious beliefs, class, ethnicity, gender, nationality, age, sexual orientation, and race are defined consciously as well as unconsciously in all people (Methodology 2). The varying degrees of differences are what affect one viewer’s reaction to a film over another. What is another significant factor that affects an audiences’ experience in cinema and why? Besides the environment itself, i.e. darkness and seating placement, a spectator enters the experience with a predetermined idea of the film. It is important for theorists to understand this because those circumstances can affect a viewer’s experience. Even seeing a movie while on a date vs. with a friend affects the experience. How does the media help reception theorists obtain spectators’ reactions to the cinema? Media professionals provide reviews that represent the audience as a whole. Film critics, too, along with blogs, gossip columns and magazine articles enable reception theorists to gain the feedback they require. Are the elements in a film’s reception limitless? Why or why not? No, because of the existence of potential meanings that can arise in a film. Factors have restrictions on how they are interpreted in film based on the fact that viewers are shaped by their environments. How does reception theory differ from other theories? It is based on history rather than philosophy. The other theories depend on the spectator being affected by the film in the same way the other spectators are affected. The audience is not a bland whole without differences but been molded individually by their environment and social factors according to reception theory. What has the role assumption played in understanding the relationship between film and spectators? Classical theories assumed that the viewers are influenced by the text and meaning in the film. Essentially, the film is what “determines the viewer’s response” (Reception Studies 3) and little else. Assumption has crippled theorists’ ability to understand the true relationship between the audience and text. How are reception theory and audience analysis different in terms of film? Audience research is obtained by the data studies through demographic means and it helped filmmakers market and censor the text. Reception theory, on the other hand, argues that contextual factors like gender, race, etc., affect the viewers’ consumption of the text, not the textual aspects. In short, reception theory makes it difficult to assess films for censorship. The Impact of Auteurism on the Development of Film Studies I. Definition of Auteurism A. One of the most well-known critical approaches used to determine authorship in film B. Sheds light on a director’s work 1. Biography 2. Intertext 3. Institutional context 4. Historical moment II. Radical changes in film studies A. Auteurism’s persistence to pay attention to the specifics of what went on in the film B. Auteurism provided refinement and persuasion to the discipline of film studies 1. “Robin Wood’s monographs on Hitchcock and Hawks” (Impact 2) III. Film genres A. Lessened reliance of the auteurs in film studies IV. Greater claim to authorship A. Directors may have less claim to authorship B. Studios place restrictions and limits on a director’s abilities to produce a film C. Other vital professionals directly or indirectly affect a film’s outcome V. “Genius of the system” (Impact 6) A. The auteur has the capability of formulating new rules on shooting and editing but film conventions have been implemented in history already; invention is false Works Cited "Cinema and the Mirror." Film Reference. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2011. . "Cinema and the Unconscious." Film Reference. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2011. . "The Frankfurt School." Film Reference. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2011. . "Ideology." Film Reference. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2011. . "The Impact of Auteurism on the Development of Film Studies." Film Reference. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2011. . "Marxist Approaches to Culture and Ideology." Film Reference. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2011. . "Methodology." Film Reference. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2011. . "Post-Structuralism and the Politics of Representation." Film Reference. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2011. . "Psychoanalysis." Film Reference. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2011. . "Reading Rambo Ideologically." Film Reference. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2011. . "Reception Studies and Classical Film Theory." Film Reference. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2011. . "Rediscovering the Gaze." Film Reference. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2011. . "Reception Theory." Film Reference. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2011. . Read More