Psychoanalytic Criticism of the Seventh Seal by Ingmar Bergman

Psychoanalytic Criticism: Seventh Seal by Ingmar Bergman

            This critique will look at a screen director’s use of his film to project his contempt for religion, the religious and women.  He goes to great lengths to explain a tumultuous, tortured view of the part religion plays in the lives of its adherents.  The dialogue in the film is very captivating and poetic.  It is laden with jarring scenes imitating the directors’ belief in the human torment that can be inflicted by blind religious fervor.

            The film maker allows his id to run amuck in his version of women.  The image of women is paradoxical in this work.  The Virgin Mary and Jesus permeate the visions of the characters.  Women are cast as devoted mothers and caretakers, or as untrustworthy seductresses that summon death to befall their community due to having carnal knowledge of the devil.  Misogyny is palpable in the scenes where woman are being tortured and burned at the stake, and where they are pitting men against each other.

            The cinematographer’s ego is in conflict about the reality of God and the relevance of faith.  The character relationship between a knight and death portraits this conflict.  A knight and his knave have recently returned to their homeland from fighting in the Crusades.  The specter of death appears to claim the knight.  The knight challenges death to a game of chess in exchange for his life.  In a very profound scene, the knight bares his soul regarding his conflicted beliefs about God.  The knight reveals:  His indifference to mankind and his inability to be around others.  He speaks of living in a world of phantoms and of being a prisoner of his dreams.  He wants to die.  He believes God’s promises are half-spoken.  He wants to believe in God, but he can’t.  He believes God is a mocking reality that he cannot shake.  He wants to know God, but God is silent and doesn’t answer him.  Without this knowledge of God he is unable to face death due to life being meaningless and lived in vain.  He needs God in order to find meaning in life.

            Initially the knight believes that he can beat death at chess, however, as he journey’s through the film and resolves his conflicts with God and life, he is beaten in the end by death.  This answers the director’s ego and reconciles his conflicted views about God, life and death.

            This is a thought provoking movie by Swedish director Ingmar Bergman that really speaks to man’s eternal search for the meaning of life.

Published: 
http://senuxjohnson.hubpages.com/hub/-Psychoanalytic-Criticism-Seventh-Seal-by-Ingmar-Bergman

Marxist Criticism of Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis

Marxist Criticism of the Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka

           There is a very oppressive, top down theme present in this writing.  The feeling of fear and hopelessness is very evident.  As I am preparing this writing, I too am feeling the residual effects of working class terror - fear, guilt, shame and anxiety for not adhering to a predetermined schedule. 

            There is a tug-of-war incident between the harsh and dismissive perspective of the “boss” and “the insurance doctor” in that they believe “everyone is completely healthy but really lazy about work”; versus the general perspective of “the worker” who is trying to  resolve his right to survive, which is entangled with dehumanizing, miserable work conditions.  The “boss” and “insurance doctor” gang-up and crush the worker with their policies.

            Throughout the composition, there is an absence of the names of the characters.  There are only functions: the boss, the errand boy, the insurance doctor and traveling salesman, erasing the need to be concerned with the individual, only with their utility. 

            The “worker” does not have control of his own life.  His life is run by machines - clocks, watches and trains.  His life is excruciatingly regimented.  He has never missed a day of work in (5) years.  He must get up at 4.  He can’t be late.  He must get up early.  He has an ever looming fear of losing his livelihood.

            The image that comes to my mind when I read the description of Gregor’s boss is of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.  A fat, loud, domineering, red-faced, cigar chewing, type A personality.  The boss is placed physically above “the workers”, talking down to them, forcing them to look up at him in an uncomfortable, awkward way; amplifying their insignificance and his dominance.  Gregor’s boss is apparently “the boss” everywhere.  He is able to enter into the personal home and family life of “the worker” and can usurp the family hierarchy.  The “boss” knows Gregor’s parents.  The “boss” is able to disrespect and criticize the parent’s child rearing skills.  There is an indentured servant relationship between “the boss”, Gregor’s family and Gregor.  The parents are indebted to the boss, and have handed over their son to work off their debt.

            Our protagonist is so dehumanized that he is in the form of an insect.  He finds himself on his back, wriggling and writhing, unable to stand, turnover or control his legs.  His underbelly is exposed, which is the Achilles heel of an insect.  An insect is something that you step on.  It is miniscule.  It is unwanted.  It is something that disgusts others.  It embodies how the worker feels, and how he is viewed by “the boss” and society.

            Gregor is isolated and has no one to talk to about his feelings.  His family serves as reinforcement of servile working class values.  Everyone in the house comes to the door to encourage him to go to work.  He is unable to share with them that he has serious “physical problems”. 

Gregor wants to break free from his servile life.   He states: “If I were to try that with my boss, I’d be thrown out on the spot.  Still, who knows whether that mightn’t be really good for me.” And further when the insurance doctor makes his poorly thought out statements about everyone being healthy but lazy, Gregor adds “And besides, would the doctor in this case be totally wrong?”

This excerpt from Franz Kafka is a wonderfully creative and thought provoking way of presenting working class struggles, worker vexation and iron-handed capitalism.

Published:  http://www.cafedelapensee.com/node/1222

The Twilight Zone: The Hitchhiker

The Twilight Zone: The Hitchhiker

 

            In this episode of the Twilight Zone, a woman is being followed by a strange man everywhere she goes, foreshadowing her death.  The writers of this scene were expert in casting a woman as the protagonist.  The use of a woman heightens the thrill of the story, and serves to further perpetuate stereotypes of women.

            A young, attractive, 27 year-old woman, seeming to take charge of her life is driving alone on a difficult journey from New York to California.  The casting of this feature shows gender bias.  The only other characters in the episode are men.  This delivers a message that it is a man’s world and women are incidental in it.  The men facilitate her journey.  Whenever she runs into trouble, a man comes to her rescue.  They change her car tire.  They escort her on her trip and provide her with advice, fortifying the convention that women need men to solve their problems.  The scene where the woman begs the sailor to stay with her is an excellent illustration of this point.

            Throughout the story, there is a frightening acceptance of the objectification of a woman.  The character of death is an unassuming older man that leers, stalks and targets the woman, disturbing her peace of mind, violating her right to privacy and ignoring all of her wishes to be left alone.

            The woman is shown as a poor decision maker.  She decides to make an ill-fated, poorly planned trip.  She is careless.  She abandons her car in the night and walks alone looking for gas.  She takes no safety precautions.  She foolishly stops on the rail road tracks and narrowly escapes her demise.

            The woman is also represented as emotionally frail and irresponsible.  She cracks under pressure.  She has no coping skills and is unable to resolve her own problems.  She falls apart emotionally when the character of death talks to her.  When she runs into trouble, she calls her mother to hear a familiar reassuring voice.  She asks the sailor, whom she doesn’t know, to accompany her on her journey, again carelessly putting herself in a potentially dangerous situation.

            This feature leaves the viewer, particularly the female viewer with a considerable message that it is perilous for women to venture out alone.

The War Prayer

The War Prayer

by Mark Twain

            “One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter”.  This is the quote that came to mind after reading “The War Prayer” by Mark Twain.  It is a very short perusal.  Mark Twain’s profundity and beliefs are very evident in this composition.  It is very simply written and easy to read.

            There are two sides of life.  This writing is divided into (2) parts.  I had no idea what this writing was about, however as I read the first part of the piece, I thought about the thin veneer of life; the appearance of things.  The way things seem to be on the surface.  The way things are presented.  The efforts made to hide the truth, and the often inaccessibility of reality.

            The community of people in this work is at war.  They are sending their sons and fathers off to war.  There is a lot of patriotic zeal and, oddly enough, a lot of praying to God for divine protection and victory in fighting this war.  The protagonist of this work enters at the height of the community’s zealousness.  He proclaims to be a messenger of God, who will deliver and explain God’s answer to their prayers.  The messenger explains that their prayers for protection, guidance and victory are simultaneously prayers for destruction, violence and persecution against the people they are fighting.  There can only be one conqueror in a fight.  One alleged victor.  If you are praying to win, you are also praying to annihilate your opponent.  Another creation of the God you serve.

            The simplicity of this piece speaks to its timelessness.  The absence of geographic descriptions, dates, names, the name of the war, allows it to be transposed over any time period or place.  I naturally compared it to the current wars that America is engaged in with Afghanistan and Syria, and the previous wars with Iraq and Libya, and the call to defend America during the 9/11 incident.

            This discourse, with its practical and subtle ending, reinforces the profound blindness of “patriotism”.  Like most of those who deliver calls to reason in a community drunk on patriotism, the messenger was branded a lunatic by a community puzzled by his message.

Published: 
 http://opencaravan.com/2013/07/25/throwback-thursday-recommended-reading-the-war-prayer/