Sunday, July 12, 2015

Freud Critique (I mean Film...I meant Film)

Let us speak about film...
No, not films, but film critique.
Now, I know everything has its place and time and merit.

So, I am not lambasting all film critique.
But this film critique.
And others like it.

I am so tired of the pseudo-Freudian approach to acting/directing.
You know what I mean.
The phrases:
The bra represents the repression of Scottie's sexual drive (his id impulses)
his basic ''id'' impulses (Oedipal complex, necrophilia, dressing her up, his voyeurism, etc.)
If you think necrophilia is a basic impulse, we are having a different discussion.

Now, are they wrong?
No.
All of these things are there if you are looking for them.
No, they did not invent this out of whole cloth.

However, story is created by an audience.
Literally.
Show an audience images in series and they will find ways to connect them.

Any good story discovers ambiguity enough for many interpretations.
That is why people can get so fired up about the ends of 2001: A Space Odyssey  and Inception 
For those who didn't figure it out there are spoilers involved in those links.

A lot of vitriol follows and everyone is convinced they are 'right'.
That there is an 'objective' truth to the story.
And they are.
All of them.
What you perceive, what you get out of a story is real.
That interpretation may change, but your interpretation is valid (and sometimes more fun).

Now, what does this all mean?
I dislike the film critique that treats their view as objective to the point of dogma.

We fight for an objective truth in every day life, why shouldn't we in film/theatre?
Fair.
Dogma, I believe is too constricting a vessel for story and therefore wrong for it.
Any sort of belief structure like Freud must be annihilated.
Any dogma relating to the interpretations of what [insert favorite auteur] intended is simply silly.
We can never know what another intended with a work, no more than what Shakespeare or Sophocles "intended."

So go forth.
Critique film all you like.
Find critics whom you admire and enjoy them.
Personally I think this is the best film critique:
It even comes with funny voices!

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