Psychoanalysis And Film

The films are almost bred, born and developed in the same historical period as psychoanalysis. Both of them are regarded as the great contributions made by the 20th century. As the films became the major (also the most popular) and the new art in the 20th century, they reflect, and even dominate people' s thoughts "through the familiar photography and narration" . In "An Introduction to Psychoanalysis" , Freud considered the films as cultural forms corresponding to psychoanalysis. If we consider psychoanalysis as the "inner mirror" of ourselves, then the films are the "reflectors" which have broadened people' s vision about the outer world, thus enable them to know themselves and their society more macroscopically.As early as in 1961, Blair Peterson and Iric Roger, the famous film-viewers of an important English film-magazine "Picture and Sound" , had believed that in order to understand the meaning of the "new films" and clarify the "reality boundary" reflected in them, people must resort to psychoanalysis. They thought that psychoanalysis was especially helpful to "realize how lonely human beings are in a loose world where the traditional comfort is no longer useful" .Of late years in particular, the films relating to psychoanalysis have become a hot current in the international film industry, attracting large numbers of investors and audiences. These films continuously break the box-office record, earn reputation and prizes, hence become the focus of various media and criticism. This situation requires the academe to dig deeply into the idealistic connotation in the films. As Edward Sayerd has pointed out, "It is the critics' responsibility to speak out to some degree thesesounds dominated, transferred or suppressed by words......to discover and revealwhat are probably hidden beneath devoutness, negligence or convention. "However, compared to the variety of films, the interpretation of films by psychoanalysis is very limited. In our country, the casual analysis of a certain film from a psychoanalytic perspective as well as the introduction and study about the theories of film psychoanalysis are confined to some professional books. But the importance of this study is indisputable, for"......the film psychoanalysis has played a vital role in the foundation offilm study subject. The film study usually absorbs theories from other humanistic subjects and makes them its own academic background. The legality of film study is due to its supporting theories, rather than the assertion of the internal value of films. However, the fundamental premise of some "Great Theories", which try to explain films as a total phenomenon, is meeting with more and more suspicion. In the history of film criticism, many later and recent theories believe that compared to other film theories, the film psychoanalysis will probably prove itself the most influential at last. We can say that psychoanalysis and the films are inseparable almost from the very beginning. Now we can find the trace of psychoanalytic influence in any kind of the films.On the surface, the penetration of psychoanalysis to film art is promoted by the market economy as well as the box-office value. In fact, we cannot deny the dynamic mechanism of film art in this aspect. But it would be shortsighted only to see this. So, howdoes psychoanalysis affect the trend of films?Why has the film theory chosen psychoanalysis to accomplish the transform from the first semasiology to the second semasiology? From the viewpoint of film art, how to reveal the deeper reasons of some social problems by the embodiment of psychoanalysis? Many question still need our serious discussion, such as how to use film art to explore a new dimension of humanity.Psychoanalysis and the films are open and penetrating to each other, so as to reach mutual query, explanation and theorization. The significance of psychoanalysis to the film study is beyond any doubt. In the post-modern context, it plays (and will go on playing) a critical part in the film study. Psychoanalysis allows the film theories to keep a debatable and theoretic feature, and continues to be linked with the development of film study. Meanwhile, the post-modern film theories have more or less objection and break-through to certain defects of psychoanalytic film theories. In a word, we should see psychoanalytic film theories in a dialectic way, rather than to follow them blindly.We should say that, no matter what aspect you are working for the film art—creation, comment, appreciation or theoretical study, the study of psychoanalysis and the films should always be highlighted, for it has determined the development of film enterprise and the growth of film art. Nick Brown, a film professor in California University, U. S. A., once said that "the decoding of films obviously has some direct relation with all kinds of psychoanalysis" Films and psychoanalysis are very intimate. As to the study of contemporary western film theories, the psychoanalytic study of films is an important part, or a subject, which is of great importance. However, that we are analyzing and studying psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic theories does not mean that we agree with all their opinions, especially the wrong opinions. Since nearly all the major points in the psychoanalytic theories—Freud's theories in particular, have arousen heated arguments, it is still too early to make a proper comment on his whole theoretical system, for it takes time to comprehend and digest it.