Sigmund Freuds Theories On Psychoanalysis In Cinema - Essay Example

Sigmund Freud’s Theories On Psychoanalysis In Cinema Sigmund Freud, the father of psychotherapy, taught many theories which are evident in the film, “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” The film is filled with psychological references that allude to Freud’s teachings. The problem is whether or not these teachings are valid in determining mental illness. Many of Freud’s psychoanalytical theories have been questioned throughout the years and this film does so by drawing attention to the misconceptions of the time. Freud’s teachings on the Id, Ego and Super Ego are evident throughout the film. His belief that sexual desires control man’s behavior is shown repeatedly through the sexual undertones of the film. The conflict is that the film portrays these Freudian theories, but many of these theories have since been rebuked. The film becomes a satire by showing Freud’s teachings, but subtly disputing and showing their errors. With Freud’s belief that one’s actions are mostly motivated by sexual urges and that these urges are based on the development of psychosexual stages, he limits an institution’s ability to correctly diagnose and cure a mental patient. So in the film, although the patients represent various stages of Freud’s theory, e.g., anal (Nurse Ratchet), oral (McMurphy), and so on, their treatment is limited by these basic categorizations. If the doctors and Nurse Ratchet did more than treat their basic symptoms they could have focused on true healing and tried to get to the root of the problem. Instead, patients were controlled through medication and lobotomies. Three main theories show up repeatedly throughout the film: the Oedipus complex, penis envy, and Freud’s theories on the id, ego and super ego. Oedipus Complex Freud’s Oedipus complex theory, that every man is in love with his mother and hates his father is illustrated in the film. The female in control of the hospital, Nurse Ratched, represents the mother figure. She controls the brood of patients. Based on Freud’s theory, each of the men would love her, as the mother figure. “In Freudian theory, the desire and conflict of the four year-old male child who wants to possess his mother sexually and to eliminate the father rival. The threat of punishment from the father makes the boy repress these id impulses.”1 The conflict occurs because of Nurse Ratched’s abuse of such power. This causes confusion and a love/hate relationship with the men. They feel the urgings to love her as a mother, but are confused by her rejection and abuse. In this example it would appear to be a reverse Oedipus complex in that the relationship goes the extreme opposite with the patients hating her. Still, the need to please exhibited by some of the patients still exhibits an Oedipus complex. The female figure, or mother image is represented in a negative light throughout the film. Vera Harding, Candy, Nurse Ratchet all exert and abuse the power they have over men. Each of the men reacts in his own way: McMurphy resents her power; Chief shuts down emotionally; Billy Bibbitt craves the love his mother withholds. Chief, in particular, is a strong example of the Oedipus complex. Waxler believes Chief’s mixed heritage is the cause of his conflict. His heritage would cause him to believe his identity would be based on a male image. Instead, “The chief is a son attempting to achieve manhood in a world dominated by women in general. Throughout the novel, the chief legitimately believes that it is not the name of the father, but Big Nurse, the name of the mother, that defines and represents the ruling symbolic order.”2 McMurphy also reacts strongly to this confusing pull of opposites: wanting her sexually, but also wanting her dead. “From the beginning, McMurphy and she tangle, and it soon becomes a contest fraught with a kind of Freudian significance. She becomes the hated female over whom he must triumph if he is to keep his cunning masculine mastery.”3 This causes confusion throughout the film. The male figures see Nurse Ratchet as the mother, and thus the romantic figure, but also the one who must be killed. Ego, Id, Super Ego According to Freud, the Id, Ego and Super Ego are the three core components of the psyche: the Id, our basic needs or primitive drives; superego, our sense of society; and the ego, our conscious reality. Throughout this film, these core representations of the personality are distorted. The distinction between mental illness and normality is threatened. The question in the film is whether the patients were mentally ill or simply there as a means of convenience. Billy, Chief and McMurphy are all arguably “insane” according to Freudian theories, yet all were merely “unacceptable.” Rubicon states, “One of the messages may be that insanity is only called insanity because it is ‘unacceptable’ to the establishment, and that society suppresses these so-called psychopathic people because they challenge ‘the establishment.’”4 Issues of transference were apparent in the film as well. Billy transferred his feelings for his mother, based on his upbringing, onto Nurse Ratchet. She helped to reinforce this transference. According to Stein, Freud’s observation concerning transference meant, “The old context of childhood is transferred into the new context of the doctor-patient relationship. Until one realizes how milieus are different, one perseveres in old habitual behaviors, responding to the new milieu as though it were the old familiar one.”5 This was the case with Billy. His old, habitual responses transferred from his old mother, to the new mother, Nurse Ratchet. Penis Envy With Freud’s theory of penis envy, every girl comes to the realization that she does not have a penis. This reaction to the realization of the difference, and the supposed power which comes from having a penis, causes envy. Freud’s belief that women exhibit penis envy was clear in the representation of Nurse Ratchet. Her intense displeasure, hate and competition with men exhibited a case of Freudian penis envy. She used her power to crush the patients’ individuality. When she orders a lobotomy for McMurphy, she is, in a sense, having him castrated. By doing so, Nurse Ratchet is able to take away McMurphy’s individualism. “He is, in effect, being castrated by a neurotic, sex-starved spinster in an acute fit of penis envy.”6 Catering to Freud’s belief that sexual conflict is the source of mental illness, the film is rife with sexual innuendos. “Freud was particularly intent on demonstrating that sexual conflict lay at the base of all neurotic and psychotic illnesses.”7 So, the suggestion throughout the film is that these patients are mentally ill based on latent or repressed sexual desires. The question becomes whether Freud’s justification is correct. If not, the patients are not ill, but rather, misdiagnosed. Throughout the film, the characters, each representing Freud’s theories, were taken to the extreme. Rather than treating the patients, however, they were subjected to continual medication and lobotomy. Using these methods to maintain or control versus cure the patients kept them as prisoners. Freud’s theories were illustrated in the extreme, but the film still showed how his theories are limited and that the whole individual is not treated. By using Freud’s theories, the “treatments” were used abusively to keep the patients immobilized and to take away their individualism. Many of the theories presented in the film are accurate to Freud’s interpretations. The problem is that his theories, rebuked by some, are also dated. The methods used for treatment as well as the psychological explanations of the disease were based on theories of that time. Since then, many have refuted Freud’s theories. As many of Freud’s theories have been rebuked, the film becomes a parody by showing Freud’s teachings and the errors of taking his teachings to the extreme. References Read More