Blog Post #5

     Psychoanalytic criticism uses two parts of your inner-being: the conscious and the unconscious. By using Sigmund Freud’s iceberg theory, only 10% of the iceberg is shown above water, which represents your conscious. This is constantly running and we use these thoughts to go about our day to day tasks. Below the tip of the iceberg is the other 90%, which is your unconscious. These thoughts take some effort to access, and they are not as readily available as the conscious. To further understand the conscious and unconscious, they are further divided into three categories: the id, ego, and superego. The id is a part of the unconscious and it is the need to fulfill pleasure principles, whether in a rational manner or not. In the show Bojack Horseman, the main character, Bojack, is seen as representing the id. His parents paying little attention to him as a child is mostly likely the stem for his need to be liked by everyone. Next, the ego helps the id rationalize their behavior, and assists in helping show these pleasure principles in an acceptable way. The ego is represented as Bojack’s roommate, Todd. He aims to help guide Bojack fulfill his behavior in ways that are deemed more acceptable in society. Lastly, the superego focuses on suppressing irrational urges of the id and tries to make the ego understand the gravity of situations. Diane, a ghost writer for Bojack, is the superego. As she writes Bojack’s memoir, she has a strong influence in leading Bojack to doing things that are positive. She tries to help Bojack be seen in a positive light and it also affects Todd behavior around him. Whether it’s defined by a person’s past or by someone you meet, everybody is constantly growing. The use of the psychoanalytical theory can allow you to have a greater understanding of why people act the way they do in media. 

Blog Post 5: Psychoanalytic criticism

Psychoanalytic criticism builds on Freudian theories of psychology. Whenever it comes to Freud or Jung's often put me in something related to the mind or spirit and thereby become distracted theory. Between modern consciousness and mental, there is no difference. Or just a theory for a psychological philosophies. That is the question that has long assumed that natural symptoms, so from the outside world in all its influence individual circumstances, family and civil society presented to infiltrate and create different forms, these sentiments rooted in the brain different from the angle normal mode but really not normal. Or maybe this is a sign of life symbolizes living. In this way; personality that can skew perceptions about the thing itself, but the reasons can lead to a meaningful and fulfilling life. In the eyes of the psychological and physical condition for this is the need to have a treatment, which is basically like a final decision to search for the charisma that both Freud and Jung characteristics and problems so long see these symptoms as a specific determination, through the development and expansion of school find a capacity under which they find expression through different circumstances. Like other theories, psychoanalysis also has positive aspects, the limit needs to be corrected. However, the emergence of psychoanalysis also helps solve many problems of social life, including science literature. We can say the application of psychoanalysis to literary critics as the door opens new horizons for literary criticism, is an important contribution of Freudianism. The application of psychoanalysis to literary criticism has helped to explain the creative process of writers, but if you just look for sociological perspective rough, sometimes not decipher the creative process of the artist officers, especially in the personality artist and style. Moreover, the tendency to criticize psychoanalysis also opens the door for people to get an insight into the inner world of the writer so that capture the thoughts, the feelings of the writer most honestly.

Psychoanalytical Theory: Way Less Phallic Than You’d Think

Psychoanalytical theory is a way to describe and explain human motivation within the context of a literary or media analysis. Contrary to popular belief, it’s not a prominent theory in psychology, in fact, it never really was! Freud gained traction largely as a public speaker for the public masses, and even within his lifetime his works and findings went unaccepted by the scientific community. This isn’t to say Freud wasn’t popular, only that his theories were never particularly scientific in nature, which is probably good, because otherwise we’d all have to deal with a subconscious desire to sleep with our parents, and that’s pretty gross. Instead, psychoanalytical theory is one of philosophy, a mechanism to explain or describe behavior using some of Freud’s less…incest flavored devices of human consciousness.

Freud is primarily concerned with the layers of the human cognitive experience which, in the early 20^th century, were understandably shrouded in mystery. Anatomists had begun cataloging portions of the brain by this time, and guessing as to their function, but with no physical proof of a mechanism of human consciousness, the science became necessarily speculative. Scientists could find no “soul lobe” in the brain, despite Montaigne’s high hopes for the pineal gland, so things got kind of…weird. Thus, with no empirical explanation for consciousness, Freud sought to frame the experience of “being” as an incidental to internal mental functioning. His theories then fall more in the realm of philosophy than psychology, and in philosophy there is no such thing as a bad idea.

The meat of Freud’s theory of the unconscious mind is just that, that there exists, beyond the scope of waking thought, a sea of feelings, wants, and desires whose tides shift and change our conscious will. It was revolutionary at the time, as well as terrifying, the idea that our mental self-efficacy was not particularly efficacious at all. Instead we are all boats, adrift on the sea of the ID, the dark, hungry, primal parts of ourselves that seek only self-pleasure and instant gratification. Then there’s the wind, the super ego, the idealist capable of empathy and high moral standard, pushing the boat toward calmer water. And then there’s the ego, the rudder, the calm arbiter of the two powerful forces of nature, ultimately deciding just where this ship ought to go.

For a ridiculous media comparison, in the TV show SpongeBob Squarepants, the character of Patrick Star would be the ID. He’s not particularly bright, and when he isn’t too busy being hungry and eating, he’s making impulsive and selfish decisions. On the other hand there’s the super ego in Sandy Cheeks, she’s intelligent, compassionate, and thoughtful, always trying to help others and make moral choices. And then there’s SpongeBob, the ego, caught between the two, generally doing the right thing and helping Sandy, but also occasionally going along with Patrick’s terrible life choices.

In this way, as motivation, psychoanalytical theory is everywhere. It is one of many ways in which we try to explain what it means to be a thinking, feeling being.

Is it true? Who knows, really, but one thing is certain.

Freud had some real mommy issues.

Blog Post 5

When discussing the psychoanalytic criticism one is referring to the interaction between the conscious and the unconscious course and the human functioning. There are a few dimensions when it comes to psychoanalytical. First there is the Id, Ego, and Superego. The Id deals with the psychic illustration of a person's drives or motives. The ego are the purposes that are related to an individual’s relation to his or her environment. Lastly, the Superego is our moral views along with our ideal objectives. Then there are the defense mechanisms. There are a lot a brief description of each will be provided. To start off we have ambivalence which is a feeling of love and hate or attraction and repulsion between to people. Then there is Denial, or the refusal to accept the reality of a situation because it causes anxiety by blocking it from the conscious. Avoidance is the refusal to become involved with subjects because they are connected with the unconscious. Next is fixation, which is when one has an obsessive attachment to something. Identification is the desire to become like someone or something in some aspect. Projection is an attempt to deny negative feelings of oneself by crediting it to somebody else. Rationalization offers logical reasons or excuses for behavior generated by the unconscious. Reaction formation occurs when two opposing attitudes force problems. Regression deals with an individual’s return to an earlier stage in life development when he or she was confronted with a stressful situation. Repression is the excluding of consciousness instinctual wishes or memories. Finally there is suppression, which is the purposeful putting out of the mind and consciousness of something a person finds painful. I hope these descriptions help one’s understanding of some of psychoanalytical criticism. 

Psychoanalytical Analysis

A psychoanalytic critique of media is based primarily on Freud’s psychological theories dealing with the conscious and the unconscious mind. Many times the science is applied to people wanting to understand motives for an action, but for the sake of a media analysis can also be applied to places as well as people. The id, ego and super ego play a significant role in deciphering the idea of the conscious mind versus the unconscious. The id is part of the unconscious part of thinking, based on pleasure. In short the id is what drives an individual. It is impulsive and primitive. The ego is “that part of the id which has been modified by the direct influence of the external world” (Navaneedhan 1). If the id is the impulsive quality of a person, then the ego is the reasoning that stills some of those urges.  It is the job of the ego to point the id in the correct direction. Lastly we have the superego which the conscious part of the mind. Its job is to control both the id and the ego. Like the ego, the superego’s job is to steer the id away from its impulses, specifically those that seem particularly destructive. As for how the superego helps the ego, it guides the ego toward more moralizing goals as opposed to simply realistic and perfect outcomes.

While this seems complicated, in reality we do not realize our mind is constantly striving to better itself. Vampire movies or television shows are excellent places to see all three characters. Take Buffy for example. Toward the beginning of the series Spike is the id, always taking what he wants and never dealing with consequences.  Buffy would be the ego, striving to do what is right and trying to help Spike do the same. Giles is the superego, the consciousness of the group, pushing the id and the ego to be just and right, pushing them to do more for the right reasons.

However, Freud’s ideas of id, ego, and superego are only a small part of what psychoanalysis truly is these three ideas help us to better understand our minds and the thoughts of others.

                                                                                                                                       

Navaneedhan, Cittoor Girija. "Balance of Internal Drive, Ego and Super Ego through Self-Hypnosis." Journal of Behavioral and Brain Science JBBS 2 (2012): 221-24. Print.

Blog Post 2

Sherlock has become one of my all-time favorite shows. The very first scene involves john Watson, a soldier who appears to have serious PTSD. His therapist recommends that he begins to write a blog to help him transition into civilian lifestyle but Watson seems reluctant, he claims that “nothing ever happens to him”. Soon after we are introduced to the drama of the show, multiple deaths that appear to be suicides have become to appear. The police, including the character Lestrad, who has a connection to Sherlock Homes, so far has found no leads to the murders. Finally, we are introduced to Mr. Holmes himself. An eccentric man whose first introduction as a character is him beating up a corpse with a whip. While to most people Sherlock comes off as rude, he really means well he just happens to be a high functioning sociopath. Most trivial social formalities escape him due to his curiosity and high deducting skills. Sherlock’s methods are a lesson in semiotics, by findings signifiers in people’s behaviors, simple details as well as items that belong to that person help him deduce what kind of person they are. The problem with Sherlock is that he must find ways to occupy himself, otherwise he has the kind of personality to do drugs to occupy his mind. Watson, after being in the military has also developed an addictive personality. It turns out Watson does not have PTSD but instead likes to be in the action, just like Sherlock he has to find a way to occupy his bored mind. Their personality types complement each other in ways that help them be constructive members of society instead of being ostracized.     

Blog #3

Ever since I started taking this class, watching shows has become a lot more fun. Looking for the hidden details in a show is like a mystery. Findings the connections between characters and their motivations to do the things they do is what makes a show good. Ideas in a story become clearer to me the more times I watch an episode. The show Sherlock has become one of my favorite shows to analyze. Simple things like a comment a character makes or just a simple facial gesture can actually be a signifier to something deeper. The writing structure in each episode becomes more fluid and almost predictable. At times, knowing what kind of person each character is helped me to predict what they would do next. While sometimes I am wrong, there have been plenty of time where semiotics has proven to help me predict character development.

Besides helping me to better understand writing structure in shows, I’ve also learned to look at media through Marxist lenses. By doing so I feel as if it is easier to pick out which advertisements are meant for different social classes. A commercial for something like an apple watch, or a Ferrari is meant for the hierarchical elite. While a McDonalds commercial is meant for somebody in middle or lower class. What is interesting about these two commercials is that they are both run on the same channel. If you look at it from a Marxist perspective, you realize that this is a form of false consciousness. Commercials meant for two completely different types of people played on the same channel so that they appear to appeal to everyone instead of the intended audience.

Marxism

The Marxist lens of analysis is used to understand the dynamics of power in a media artifact. Marxism is a very interesting topic, it makes you question your reality and the society that you live in but in a good way. Marxism has three main concepts that make up the whole theory: ideology, hegemony and false consciousness. An ideology is simply the shared ideas and beliefs of a society. Hegemony is part ideology and also part culture, each culture has a different ideologies which lead to hegemony. The final concept, false consciousness is an idea that the higher elite brainwash the masses into believing whatever they want and convince them to be complacent of what they are given.  Just knowing about Marxism can help you analyze your society and find hidden meanings in media. Much like an episode of a TV show most people think has no intellectual value. From a Marxist point of view however, just one episode can teach you a lot about class conflict, and the downsides to working too much and how it can lead to things like alienation. An easy way to analyze a show is to start with finding the different hierarchical levels of each character. If you look at a show like how to get away with murder we can see s classic hierarchical structure with all the main characters. There is the elitist, professor Keating, who is in the highest standing amongst the main characters. From there, we have Bonnie and Frank, who work for Annalise, and have power over the students who work below them. Finally there are the students Wes, Michaela, Asher and Laurel who are at the lowest level and have to work the hardest to make the elite look good. As Marxism explains, the lowest class always works hard to make the higher up look good.              

Psychoanalytic Theory

To understand what psychoanalytic theory is, we must first introduce the man who came up with the theory. His name was Sigmund Freud, an Austrian neurologist who is known as the father of psychoanalysis. Freud theorized that behavior is the result of the interactions among three component parts of the mind. The three components are: the id, ego and superego. These three components of the mind work on a structural basis and are all working on a mostly unconscious level. According the theory, personality develops during childhood and is shaped through a series of psychosexual stages oral, anal, phallic, and genital. Each psychosexual stage conflicts with the id, which is a person’s biological urges and superego, which determine their social and moral conscious. A good example of this theory can come from the show Wilfred, a show about a very depressed man who has an imaginary friend that looks like a man in a dog costume. While everyone else in the show sees Wilfred as a regular dog, the main character, Ryan sees Wilfred as a man dressed up as a dog that tries to help him become a happier person. Wilfred is Ryan’s id, he does what he wants when he wants without thinking and hardly ever considers of the reproductions. Ryan represents both the ego and superego, he holds himself to a certain moral standard and usually argues with Wilfred on what they should be doing together. When Wilfred wants to do something dangerous like steal a marijuana plant from Ryan’s neighbor, Ryan stops to consider what could happen and tries to argue that stealing is wrong. In the end Ryan is the one that stole the plants. Since Wilfred is just a figment of his imagination, in reality Ryan is having an internal conflict between all three of his components that make him who he is. Just like psychoanalytic theory explains, these conflicts are what determine what kind of person you become.            

Blog Post 5

Known as the Father of Psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud created the theorythat focuses on the unconscious mind. Freud goes into detail about how the mind can be broken down into three parts such as Id, superego, and ego. Id is a part of the unconscious that is completely motivated by personal pleasure, or sexual desire.On the opposite side of the spectrum, superego is what many consider are conscious. It's the part of your mind that is based off morals and what we know is wrong or right.  In the middle, we have ego, which can be seen as the balance of the ego and id.  It attempts to complement both id and superego by giving both personal pleasures along with staying true to their morals and beliefs. When analyzing media, these three parts of the mind can be seen in character when watching any television show or movie. When analyzing the show How to Get Away With Murder, one of the lead characters Wes can be seen as a ego. He tries's to keep everyone happy, represented as a mediator on the show. On the other side, Conner is an id because everything he does is for personal motive or pleasure. 

When attempting to analyzing media using the psychoanalytical theory, focus on the characters motives and reoccurring symbols that help the reader understand the deeper meaning behind the media. Going back to the show How to Get Away With Murder, the teachers trophy symbolized two things. At first it was the prize for help the teacher win the murder court case but later turned into referencing the title as it is associated with the murder. Of course, the author does this to encourage the viewer  to continue watching to see how the trophy relates to the murder....

Blog Post #5

Psychoanalytical analysis is a form of analysis that focuses on the conscious and unconscious thoughts and actions that motivate people or characters. It puts a reason behind every motivation, even to explain why pieces of media, such as television and movies, were created in the first place. Motivations can be deep or easy to understand.

What lies within the consciousness of a person can be put into three categories- the conscious, the subconscious, and the unconscious. This is referred to as the “mental iceberg.” The conscious is the top, what is visible, and is everything one is aware of. The subconscious is where memories and knowledge is stored and can be accessed when desired. The unconscious is hidden, and is where all of the undesirable or unacceptable behaviors and wants are stored, such as fears, violent motives and sexual thoughts. There is also a category that puts a label behind these motives and what people do with them.

These three are the id, the ego, and the superego. The id is the part of the mind that only wants to fulfill pleasurable desires. This can be someone who only cares about themselves, and does what they please whenever they can. The opposite is the superego, which takes into account morals and sticks to those beliefs. The ego is a balance of both doing what is pleasurable but also what’s morally right.

By understanding these categories, it is possible to try to understand the reasoning behind character’s motivations and can be used to bring about a message. 

Psychoanalytical Theory Blog Post #5

Psychoanalytical theory is a form of applied psychoanalysis using the interaction between conscious and unconscious to identify a subject or media.  Personality traits and behaviors are analyzed in a particular person or media to understand the meaning behind actions or thought processes. Sigmund Frued developed the concept most thoroughly. One keystone in psychoanalytic theory is the concept of the unconscious, the part of our minds we are not in control of and for the most part unaware of.  This means we are not in complete control of ourselves all the time.  People are affected by events and circumstances in ways they cannot fathom.  They make decisions based on logic and intelligence but also are vulnerable to emotions and other non-rational or irrational appeals. There is an endless conflict going on in our minds. Frued explains three entities; the ID, Ego, and Superego as being extremely complicated.  The ID is the part that has sexual desires, passion, lust, and impulses. The Superego corresponds to the ID by wanting to conform to societies normal behaviors, rules, and principles.  In between these two is the Ego trying to mediate, operating always with the aim of self-preservation.  The ego stores up experience in its memory avoiding strong stimuli and brining about changes through activity.  

A television show that can be analyzed using the psychoanalytical theory is Star Trek.  Spoc is seen as the ego figure, Captain Kirk is the superego, and McCoy is an id figure.  Because Spoc is emotionless he represents pure rationality, aka the ego.  Kirk is the captain commander of the spaceship and determines what is to be done, so he represents the superego.  McCoy being very emotional operates on his feelings, representing the id. 

Blog #5: Psychoanalytical Criticism

Psychoanalytical criticism revolves around one’s mind. The roots of the criticism stem from psychologist Sigmund Freud, concentrating on the conscious and unconscious processes within a person. These processes can affect how one interacts with others, how they think, their attitude, moral judgement, and their behavior itself. According to Freud’s structural hypothesis about mental functioning, the mind can be broken down into three entities: id, ego, and superego. The id is really all about meeting one’s needs or wants instantly, commonly in reference to sexual desires. The ego deals more with reality and serves as the mediator between the superego and id. In other words, it tries to meet the desires of both the id and superego in a more realistic way, mainly aiming for self-preservation. It tries to find a balance between our desires and consequences of those desires. The superego on the other hand is based on the conscious which solely reflects on moral judgement: right or wrong.

Another major part of psychoanalytical criticism is defense mechanisms. These are techniques used by the ego to regulate one’s drives while discouraging worries. Among these defense mechanisms are: ambivalence, avoidance, denial, fixation, identification, projection, rationalization, reaction formation, regression, repression, and suppression. For the most part the word themselves describe what type of defense mechanism is at hand.

The psychoanalytical criticism is very complex because it has so much to it, but when applied to actual media you gain a better understanding of it. In closing, as the textbook says, “Psychoanalysis is, remember an interpretative art. It seeks to find meaning in the behavior of people and in the art they create.” 

Blog Post #4 Marxist Analysis and You

        The Marxist lens of analysis is used to understand the dynamics of power in a media artifact. It uses the same techniques of semiotic analysis only focusing them on the group structures and how rigid or fluid they are as well as the how the dominant group exerts control over or  alienate those who do not share the same Ideologies.  Rather than placing character into Propp's dramatis personae we instead figure out how their lifestyles and group boundaries are dived and the difficulty of crossing from one group to another using what is called Group-Grid Theory. Those who go against the dominant group face the most resistance, those who adhere to it maintain the status quo and some become distraught and alienate themselves entirely.  The dynamics of power groups can examined in all the ways that there is a dependency in power be it, sexual, economic, social or physical all of these conflicts can be examined through a Marxist thus create an understanding of how these groups interact with each other deepening the understanding of them. 

Blog Post 5

Psychoanalytical theory is based on the conscious and unconscious motivations of characters for acting in certain ways. You have to analyze the media by thinking of the deeper or root problem. The main developers of psychoanalytic theory were Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud. Freud developed the basic psychoanalytic theory of the iceberg, which suggests that we aren't always in control of ourselves. We do things for reasons even we don't understand or cannot admit to ourselves. The tip of the iceberg, what everyone sees, is the conscious. And then there is the unconscious which is hidden, such as sexual and aggressive impulses. We create a barrier between our unconscious and conscious. For example, a conscious reason for using a lighter would be to light a cigarette and the unconscious reason is a desire for mastery and power. There are three types of psychoanalytical categories that characters will usually fall into, including: id, ego and superego. Id is someone who follows their desires and the line between right and wrong is blurred for them. Ego is the middle ground that is the rational and logical waking part of the mind. It acts appropriately depending on the environment. Superego is the moral judgement that censors us and wants us to act according to ideal aspirations. Our psyche is in constant struggle between id and superego, with ego mediating between them. The aim of the ego is self-preservation. Freud suggests that civilization makes us feel too guilty for being id figures, there is too much pressure on us not to act on our desires. Heroes are superego figures, while villains are is figures. We mask our unconscious desires through symbolism, which allows us to escape guilt from the superego. We see characters in the media using defense mechanisms, which are techniques the ego uses to control instincts and ward off anxieties. Jung talked about archetypes such as heroes which are universal themes in dreams, myths, religions and art. Jung talked about the collective unconscious, which is the source of archetypes, as an inherited unconscious that we all have because of the generations before us. He did not believe that we all created our own individual unconscious when we were born, but rather it is instilled in us and passed down from one generation to the next. Lastly, Jung talked about the anima and animus. The anima are feminine traits found in men. The animus are masculine traits found in women.

Psychoanalytic criticism of the media involves examining the characters as well as the creators of whatever medium is involved in the analysis, for their motivations whether they are conscious or unconscious. The basic concepts of psychoanalysis which were written about by Freud and Jung such as Freud's structural hypothesis on mental functioning that explains how human thought processes and actions are controlled by three basic entities, the id, the ego and the superego, These all play a huge role in determining why certain characters behave the way that they do. Freud had theorized that the id is the basic drives with which people are born, while the ego is the the voice of reason; the superego on the other hand is the part of the unconscious that provide restraints on human  actions.
            According to Freud's theory on neurosis , the Oedipus Complex is the basis of many kinds of human behavior and is characterized by the individual's unconscious desire for the parent of the opposite sex at a certain point in their childhood. The Oedipus Complex is therefore another important element in analyzing characters , since someone's behavior as an adult will often stem from their childhood experiences that involved one or both parents.
             Human sexuality is another core concept of psychoanalysis that is significant in determining human behavior and Freud's theory often associates adult behavior with one of three stages in childhood .These include the oral stage, characterized by an "interest in the gratification of oral needs."(Berger) the sadistic-anal, the stage during which the child is becoming aware of his own physical needs, and the phallic stage, the point at which the child becomes aware of their sexual needs. By looking for the reasons behind a character's sexual behavior it is also possible to analyze what role they play in the overall structure of a show.
          In seeking to determine why a character behaves in a certain manner it is also important to look at defense mechanisms.These are described as the techniques that are used by the ego to "ward off anxieties."( Berger.") Defense mechanisms include ambivalence( simultaneous feelings of love and hatred);Avoidance (Avoiding something or someone that cause distress);Denial or Disavowal( refusing to accept something by blocking it from the unconscious)Fixation(Obsession with something)Identification(a desire to be someone else) Projection(Projecting feelings unto someone else)Rationalization(excuses for behavior)Reaction formation( suppressing one element by overemphasizing its opposite) Regression( Going back to an earlier stage in life) Repression( keeping unwelcome desires, wishes and thoughts from consciousness) Suppression( putting thoughts out of the mind intentionally)
      According to Freud's theory ,sexual desire and aggression are the desires that people mask through symbolization .Symbols usually represent something else and therefore can take on many forms, including thoughts , desires or wishes. By analyzing how symbols are used in media it is possible to find the hidden meaning that aren't immediately obvious.
         In the television show "How to get away with Murder" which was recently shown in class there are many instances where the characters interaction calls for psychoanalytical analysis since much of the show revolves around individuals whose personalities determine the direction that the show will take. The main character , Annalise seem to represent both the id and the superego, since she is depicted as being involved in an affair, showing her need for personal gratification, while at the same time she is the law professor who is leading not only her class of students, but also a team of defense lawyers. Sexual desire is also at work in this particular show, since Annalise has to seem in control but her sexual desires come in conflict with her role as a highly regarded defense attorney and Professor. The other characters, who are her students, Wes, Laurel,Asher, Michaela and Connor all seem to represent the three entities that control mental function. Wes, who seems level headed and the voice of reason is an ego while Laurel who seems to be always thinking about the group is the superego.While Asher and Michaela also seem like egos Connor seems like the individualist who is always seeking self gratification.
          The show revolves around their position as the top group of law students chosen by the professor to help her with her cases and  how their roles change when they become involved not only in solving cases but also attempting to cover up what appears to be a crime. There are flash forwards that suggest that everything is not as it appears , since they are seen carrying a carpet with a body wrapped inside. In the flash backs the audience gets to find out how they have gotten to this point, but the relationship between Annalise and Wes is seen as complicated since he now knows about her affair and yet does not reveal anything about it.
     The method that each student uses to gather information for the cases is sometimes questionable and in using psychoanalytic analysis to determine individual motivation, it can be seen that Connor's is purely selfish, since he wants to satisfy his sexual desires as well as earn top awards for helping to solve the case. The other students all have their own reasons for wanting to be the best , but it is the reaction of Annalise, their mentor that helps to define the show ,since she seems to want to win at any cost and this leads us to question her motivation.The defense mechanism that she exhibits is ambivalenc , which is seen in her interaction with her husband, whom she seems to love but also not totally trust. In the  flash forward his body is revealed to be the one rolled up in the carpet the students carried out of her house to be burned, and it is at this point that there seem to be many  more questions than answers about the direction that the show is going to take. Was this a crime that was motivated by sexual desire or was there some other underlying reason why the students were motivated to help to cover up a crime?
       

Blog Post #5: psychoanalytic criticism

Psychoanalysis is the study of how the conscious and the unconscious mind interact, influencing a person’s personality, behavior, and attitudes. The psychoanalytical method of media analysis revolves around characterization but focuses even deeper than representations and symbols. The psychic mind of any given character of a story is divided into three realms: the id, which encompass all the instinctual passions, wishes, and desires, the superego, which dictates by morality, and the ego, which attends to self-preservation. As defined by Sigmund Freud, and other researchers since his time, the id and the superego are opposing forces in the psychic mind. The ego is the conscious mind, the superego is preconscious, and the id is unconscious. The three entities together make up what Freud refers to as a structural hypothesis of mental functioning.

Another important aspect of psychoanalysis is the idea that we use defense mechanisms, sometimes unconsciously, when reacting to anxiety inducing or distressing subjects or events. There are eleven defense mechanisms that correspond to specific descriptive behaviors that come from our unconscious: ambivalence, avoidance, denial, fixation, identification, projection, rationalization, reaction formation, regression, repression, and suppression.

The final significant aspect of psychoanalytical criticism is the concept of archetypes as characterization in media content. As defined by Carl Jung, archetypes are a universal theme found in dreams, myths, religions, and works of art. Archetypes exist independent of the personal unconscious of an individual. These are important because they contribute to the plot development.

Along with semiotics and marxism, building up analysis methods when consuming media content will result in better comprehension and deeper understanding of the role it plays in society.

Blog Post 5

After attending class during a lecture covering over psychoanalytic criticism, which is rooted in the studies of Sigmund Freud, the supposed father of psychoanalytic thinking, I have learned that it involves taking the various aspects of an individual's relationship between the conscious and unconscious mind into consideration, primarily focusing on the three entities known as the id, ego, and superego. The id usually serves as the source of an individual's desires, needs, wants, and impulses, particularly those influenced by sexual and aggressive drives. The superego serves as the opposite of the id while functioning as a standard for what is moral and socially acceptable as well as the source of ideal aspirations. The ego exists as the line of mediation between the other two entities, balancing the two extremes within the psyche of the individual. Each entity, being extremely complicated, can lead a person to subconsciously act out while he/she is unaware of the actions in which he/she puts in effect. They are both used as part of Freud's structural hypothesis about mental functioning, which can be used as a means of understanding texts, especially by categorizing a character as an id, ego, or superego figure. The famous Carl Jung, the most important psychoanalytic theorist after Freud, elaborated a number of concepts that have led to numerous ways of aiding people as well as ways of analyzing texts. According to Jung, for example, the concept of the archetype is a universal theme that can be found within dreams, myths, religions, and works of art, independent of the personal unconsciousness of individuals. Another concept built by Jung concerns with the duality formed between the anima, the female element found in all males, and the animus, the male element found in all females, that is symbolized in hermaphrodites, witches, priestesses, medicine men, and shamans. Jungian thinkers state that while the anima's most frequent manifestation is in the crude, primitive form of erotic fantasy, it does have a positive side that enables men to do such things as find the right marriage partner and explore their inner values, leading them to more profound insights into their own psyches. Functioning in the same way for women, the animus is formed by the father of each woman that can lead to coldness, obstinacy, and hypercritical behavior. Conversely, however, it can also help a woman to develop inner strength, to take an enterprising approach to life, and to relate to men in positive ways.

Straigh to the Point of Psychoanalysis

From just this past week, I learned a handful of new information of psychoanalysis. For starters, psychoanalysis does not figuring out a psychotic person, but rather it is the synergy the conscious and uncosnious processes that go on within one's self. With psychonalaysis, we can configure what we are doing and why we are doing it one step at time.

With psychoanalysis, one must look at the pyramid, or iceberg, of the different levels of consciousness. The first level starts off with your conscious level, which is where your thoughts and perceptions are store. Then you down to the precociousness level, where you will find your memories and stored knowledge. Last, you will go to your unconscious level where there are many subjects stores, such as your fears, irrational wishes, immoral urges and unacceptable sexual desires lay. Within these layers, we have Sigmund Freud's, idea of the ID, Ego, and Superego. Fruedis often referred to as the father of psychanalayisi. With the ID, you will only want to fulfill the urges of your pleasure principal, which is everything in your unconscious. The Ego is where your rationality and logic remains, which would be found somewhere by the precocious. Lastly, we have the superego, which is where we make our moral judgements, even in light of social pressures. The superego stands alone. Below, I have provided an image to make it a bit easier to visualize.

From this knowledge of looking through the ice ball of self, we can now go on to sexuality. All this ego and unconsciousness can all lead to how one copes in society in a sexual manner. Take for instance, when they say that a child had a deprivation from breastfeeding. Breastfeeding is an oral activity and because of the child's lack of feeding oraly when they were younger can lead to them getting into more oral activities, such as smoking. A more common example is when people see a girl crying out for attention with men through their body language, they can most likely infer that they have daddy issues of some sort. When we go through this and figure out someone's sexuality, we have to look into their preconscious and find out what happened to them. Then we look to see what category of either, id, ego, or super ego that they go into. The image below would be a perfect example of how all this comes together.

Blog Post#5

Blog Post #5-Yuyun Liu

Psychoanalytic criticism is a form of applied psychoanalysis, a science concerned with the interaction between conscious and unconscious process and the with laws of mental functioning. This means we not in complete control of ourselves all the time, we are affected by events and circumstances in ways we cannot fathom, and we do things for reasons we do not understand or will not admit to ourselves.

like our daily routine, we drive home everyday in the same round, then we will automatically remember the round and become unconscious behavior.

Freud's structural hypothesis about the mental functioning of personality divided into three parts: ID, ego, and superego.The ID is the basic need of personality and wants instant gratification for our wants and needs. if the needs or wants not met, a person become tense or anxious. The ego is opposite of ID, it is more focus on mortality and justice. like Bikini (ID) and Scientist's white coat (ego). The ego deal with reality, trying to meet the desires of the id in a way that is socially acceptable in the world.The superego comprises the moral precepts of our minds as well as our idea aspirations and  based on morals and judgments about the right and wrong.

Psychoanalytical Theory

Psychoanalytical theory has to do with the laws of metal functioning. It is the science behind the interaction between conscious and unconscious processes. So much of this theory counts on the unconscious mind. The unconscious mind, in the text, is compared to the bottom part of an iceberg. The top, visible part, would be the conscious mind. This suggests that that unconscious mind is much larger than the conscious mind. There are memories, beliefs and experiences that we file in our unconscious mind. Childhood experiences and these unconscious desires are what mold our personalities. The media taps into our unconscious desires and use them to sell us on their idea or product. For example, Hilary Clinton, a well-known political figure, appeared on SNL and did a great job. She was funny, she wasn’t uptight and super duper professional like she usually has to be in front of a camera, and she genuinely seemed like she was having fun. When you watch her in other scenarios, the Democratic Debate for example, she comes across as a very strategic professional political icon and seasoned speaker that you might even vote for to be president of the United States. These are two very different scenes but she was on SNL and acted the way she did to help us connect to her as a human being. Hilary is persuading us to vote for her and also trying to restore credibility to her name. So by seeing her in a different light then we can see that maybe she’s more than her scandal. On an unconscious level, we, the American public, like to see ways that we can relate to celebrities and political figures. It simply makes us like them more. And perhaps we’ll cast our vote for them because we feel that connection with them and we don’t look at them like they are a robot.

Marxism Blog Post #4

The idea of Marxism is a complex subject, but it is not necessary to know the complete historical and societal context to use Marxist theory to analyze media. The main idea that Marxist analysis looks at is power structures, how a "ruling class" controls or influences a lower class and the rest of society. An analyst looks at what rules does a society or group follow, how those rules influence the way that they interact with each other. The rules of a society that limits it's members movements is called the "hegemony". One can think of hegemony is the "sameness" that is imposed upon a group of people. For instance, our society currently has a heteronormative hegemony, meaning that it is considered deviant to be in a non-heterosexual relationship. Marxism asks us to question the rules of society and notice the unspoken rules that are controlling our daily lives. What forces are influences? Money, expectations, and gender roles, are all things an analyst can look for to interpret a characters actions and desires.  In media artifacts, one is usually not looking at an entire society, rather they look at the group of characters in the story. This could be a group of friends, or a family, or rivals. Some questions to ask: Who has the most power in the group? What desires are displayed, and how are they related to the expectations placed on the characters?

Psychoanalytical Theory - Blog Post #5

            Psychoanalytical theory is a method of analyzing a subject or media artifact using personality threats and behaviors. It is mainly based on Freud’s theory which argues that each person have an Id, Ego, and Superego. The Id represents the secret desires and impulses that everyone has. These are the instinctual urges and primitive thinking to maximize pleasure and minimize pain in life. The Ego is the rational system that uses principles to make decisions. It is heavy reality-oriented and it balances the demands of the Id and Superego. The Superego is all the ideas and values that are passed to us from the society or parents. It works as a conscious to block the unacceptable id impulses or urges.

            Analyzing a popular character will make this theory easier to understand. Let’s analyze Batman. Batman is an orphan who loses his parents in the hands of crime of Gotham city.  This is what drives him later to fight crime. The events of his childhood change his personality behavior and future actions as an adult. Batman Id represent his urges to fight and become Gotham’s vigilante. He have this urge, this unexpected desire, of fighting the evil that in the past kill his parents, and now is consuming the city. This gives him pleasure, and at the same time reduces the pain of the memory of his dead parents. The Superego of Batman is Bruce Wayne. He is the values and principles that his parents and the society passed to him. Bruce Wayne manage the company and act as a public figure for Gotham city. He is the façade that the normal people see and hides his true personality, Batman. The Ego is what brings Batman and Bruce Wayne together. Is the balance between each personality and role Wayne plays. It is portray by both Batman and Bruce Wayne. It is what makes Batman rationalize and don’t kill people (Id urges) and also undermine the values and ideals he have to fight crime outside the law (Superego traits). 

Blog Post #5- psychoanalytic theory

Psychoanalytic theory is a method of investigating features of a specific human’s nature focusing mostly on the vulnerabilities to emotion and unconscious or irrational behavior. Freud, the most vital thinker behind the development of psychoanalytic concepts, presents us with the main bases of study when forming a psychoanalysis. Sexuality, or libido, is shown through 4 distinct stages in development and explains an individuals mental obstacles getting to, and after reaching, maturity in sexual instincts. Freud also focuses a great deal on the Oedipus and Heracles complexes, terms he coined, in describing a vital stage in development when a child desires (Oedipus) a parent of the opposite sex or when a child develops hatred toward their father (Heracles); maturity is the stage in which these complexes are met with confident resistance and restraint. These complexes occur on an unconscious level and are a reason most children love fairytales; fairytales, like television shows, books, movies, etc… aid children in handling psychological difficulties or confirm that they are resolved. Freud breaks down human personality into three parts: the id (the instinctive or inherited components of personality), the ego (unrealistic part of the id that changes due to the external world), and the superego (incorporates learned values and beliefs in controlling the id and ego away from impulsive or immoral behavior/thought). These aspects of development and unconscious behavior are symbolized in all forms of story-telling we have today. Our worlds story-telling portals (books, film, videos, pictures, etc…) uses stereotypes to quickly show a character’s or event’s general behavior or motivation, regardless of the negative connotations surrounding most well-known stereotypes. Jungian psychoanalytic theory, in contrast to Freud’s version, breaks down the ways to analyze a text more generally than Freud. He emphasizes the vitality of the theme, hero, shadow (dark side of people), and the feminine side of men or masculine side of women and what those aspects symbolize in his psychoanalytic theory. 

These are some relatable examples that I think best portray the 3 vital aspects of personality in psychoanalytic theories:

Topic	Id	Ego	Superego
Friends (the tv show)	Joey	Ross	Chandler
Women’s shoes	tennis shoes	loafers/flats	pointed-toed high heel pump
High School Stereotypes	popular kids	valedictorian/salutatorian/smart kids	elitest: star athletes, good grades, attractive
Sex and the City	Carrie	Miranda	Samantha

To elaborate on one of these examples, women’s shoes, I show the symbols for Freud’s 3 parts of personality. The tennis shoe is the id because most women wear tennis shoes as children due to its versatility and sturdiness; women instinctively, before they gain knowledge through experience about the statements each style of shoe portrays, choose to wear what they “know”. The ego is symbolized by the loafers or flats because, after experience in uncomfortable or unpresentable footwear, women (still desiring comfort to some degree) choose to wear a shoe that is more dressed up or presentable with clothing that is not active wear. The superego is symbolized by the pointed-toed high heel pump because, although they are usually not comfortable or sturdy for an average woman’s full day of work/activities, they complete a fashionable facade of the professionalism and balance of seemingly put-together individual. As young girls move through developmental stages to adulthood, they gain new information on top of the inherited/common knowledge to choose to present themselves (with their shoe choice) in ways that are appropriate for their environment and individuality.