Film Notes - Sigmund Freud

 Sigmund Freud - Personality Theory:

The personality theory created by Sigmund Freud un 1923, is the structure of someones personalty that can be separated into three different parts. These being the Id, ego and supergo, which are said to develop at different parts of our lives. Although each part is unique from the others, they interact well together, as a whole. Each parts having equal contribution towards an individuals behaviour.

According to Freud's theory, some parts of our personality are more primal and might pressure you to act upon your most basic urges, however other parts work to counteract these urges and strive to make you conform to the demands of reality.

The Id:

The Id is the horse of the whole operation. It has responsibilities for the urges and desires we
try to repress. The most impulsive out of all three parts and is developed around the age of babies and young children, this is because the Id is usually driven by pleasure and instant gratification. The Id is not affected by reality or logic, as it operates within the unconscious part of the mind. The Id is driven by pleasure principle. This personality is very important for a child to develop because it ensures that their needs are met, such as food, water, and discomfort, if these needs are not met it results in crying, until these needs are then met.

Eventually people are able to learn to control this Id, when the other two parts are developed, this acts in a way thats more realistic and socially acceptable.

The Ego:

The ego is like the man in the middle, sitting on the fence trying to make a compromise in the middle. The ego understands that actions have effects, whether positive or negative and tries to balance out thinking before carrying out an action or decision.

It works according to the reality principle, often compromising or postponing the satisfaction which the Id desires. The ego decides how to behave based on social realities, norms and rules.

However if the ego fails at using reality principles, anxiety can be experienced and unconscious defence mechanisms are employed to help get rid of this unpleasant feeling, or try to make things feel better.

The ego goes through reality testing and this enables the person to control their desires and use self control.

The Superego:

The superego is developed around the age of 3-5 and it incorporates the values and morals of society learned from their parents and other people they are around. They are responsible for criticism and moralising. They act to be perfect and civilise the others behaviours as they are highly concerned about what other will think. 

The superego is made up of two systems:

• The conscience - punishes the ego through the feeling of guilt.
• The ideal self - the picture of how you are, how you treat others.

However the superego also rewards up when we behave 'properly' by making us feel achieved and proud of ourselves.

Movies that show how trauma can have effects on children:

• It
• The Goonies
• Where the wild things are
• Hereditary

Freudian Analysis Theory in Black Swan:

The horror and thriller movie black swan is based on the Freudian Psychoanalytic Theory and throughout the movie it presents different variations of the ID, ego and superego. All three of these are shown to go again the main character Nina. From my understanding of the film i believe that her ballet teacher is the ID. Her mother is the Superego and the new friend introduced Lily is the ego in the movie.

Nina's ballet teacher is the ID because Nina is trying to get the role of the black swan which is the complete opposite of her actual personality which is innocent, pure, fragile so she represents the white swan perfectly, this is mainly because she is overprotected by her mother. Being the teacher, he is constantly wanting her to let go of being perfect and letting go, so she can fit the role of the black swan more, and he does this by helping her express her sexually which is very unknown for her. This leaves her to be more resentful towards her mother from restricting her from living her life more freely later on.

Her mother is very controlling throughout the movie and her life, she's obsessed with making her daughter the perfect ballet dancer, constantly pushing her past her limits and restricts her from living her own life independently. Basically still controlling and treating her as if she was a child. Which effects her mentally and physically. So i believe she represents the superego in the film.

The ballet friend, lily is exactly who Nina strives to be, because she is seen as the perfect black swan because she's confident and loves herself. Later on when Nina begins to hallucinate because she's so obsessed with being perfect and just like lily, she imagines herself killing lily, we later find out that she actually stabbed herself but it shows the lengths that Nina would go because of the influence around her and her own unstable mental health.

Overall, it is very clear throughout the movie that Nina was very heavily influenced by everyone around her because she was so sheltered for such a long time. Nina wants to be able to the black swan in every way possible, even at the cost of killing someone to be perfect.

This is another example scene of how the Id, ego and super ego work and how they're included in films every now and again.
The Id and Super ego appear as the egos's devil and angel on each side of his shoulders, but it's actually the conflicted battle he is having in his mind with cons and pros from both of them. With one of the personalities telling him to do one thing, and the other telling him to do the opposite. In the end, it shows that the ego listens to both of them however makes his own decision that outweighs the cons.

References:

• Movie - Black Swan (2010) Directed by Darren Aronofsky
• Other Movie Clip - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gc2BzH8yHoY