Psychoanalysis and Hidden Narrative in Film: Reading the Symptom

There is no one school of psychoanalysis from which the author invokes authority. Rather, he compares and contrasts several schools and tries to find the common ground between them. Psychoanalysis and Hidden Narrative in Film begins the process of unifying competing schools into a single model of mind and offers clinical examples for many of the terms it seeks to operationalize. Central in this work are the horizontal axis of psychic bisexuality and the vertical axis of superego development and social ontology. The author outlines four phallic nuclear complexes: Oedipus, Electra, Antigone, and Bellerophon--each relating to different motivational structures that define individual psychology. These complexes, in turn, are anchored in different stages of superego development, which are read as indicative of a relation to authority in society (secondary narcissism) or authority that links to religion and the supernatural (primary narcissism). These axes, along with discrete phases found within the stages of development, allow for different forms of cognition, erotogenic zones, and symbols-- the enchanting promises of classical psychoanalysis-- to be plotted and explained. Lastly, the economics of libido is contrasted to the economics of moros.This comes at a time when theories of narrative and semiotics still seek to cover the entire world, and the experience of subjectivity within it, in the same thread-bare blanket. It has long been time to express how exactly the child still remains in the adult, and for both critics and analysts to go past identifications with single schools and to engage with examples and arguments alone. A book filled with many threads to pull, nuggets to digest and elaborate. A challenging amplification of Freudian concepts and their relevance for illuminating the work of the unconscious in film, literature, culture and clinic. Film is the principal focus but its tendrils lead in many directions. A rich compendium of suggestions to ponder and roads to explore.-Michael Eigen, Ph.D., author of The Sensitive Self, Flames From the Unconscious and Under the Totem: In Search of a Path "The most pressing challenge confronting the psychoanalytic approach to film is thinking through the relationship between the dream and the film. Though this relationship has been in the background of much psychoanalytic film theory, it has yet to genuinely come to the foreground. That changes with Trevor Pederson's remarkable new book Psychoanalysis and Hidden Narrative in Film. It provides an entirely original an idiosyncratic approach to film interpretation that manages to stay close to Freud while at the same time shedding new light on how psychoanalytic interpretation works. By paying attention to what doesn't fit in the film, Pederson shows, we can set out on the path of unraveling the mysteries contained in even the most commonplace films."-Todd McGowan, Department of English, University of Vermont, USA "The book's title will not convey to the prospective reader the richness and breadth contained within. With insight and scholarship, Trevor Pederson shows the centrality of the super ego, the ego ideal, and the double to psychoanalytic and human understanding. There are many clinical vignettes included that illustrate and greatly illuminate the theoretical concepts. He finds deep dimensions in film beyond what most viewers and critics have been able to perceive."-Ken Fuchsman, President, International Psychohistorical Association "Trevor Pederson provides the authoritative analysis of the trope of the double in film, and its history in literature and psychoanalysis; and offers us a new approach for extracting latent narratives in popular films and novels. His analysis of the 80s cult classic The Lost Boys, considered a minor film, illustrates a subversive approach to film criticism that

• | Author: Trevor C. Pederson
• | Publisher: Routledge
• | Publication Date: Oct 09, 2018
• | Number of Pages: 218 pages
• | Language: English
• | Binding: Hardcover
• | ISBN-10: 1138307092
• | ISBN-13: 9781138307094