Freud's "Dream Interpretations" and Felini's "8 1/2"

Federico Felini’s “ 8 ½ “ evolves around Guido, a famous movie director, who is having a writer’s block as a result of a loss of interest in artistic activity. He is extremely tired as a result of trying to establish a balance between his guilt and his sexual appetite. Exhausted of these efforts he seeks comfort quite often in his deceased mother.

Reality and the world of dreams are entwined throughout the movie, making the viewer’s experience of the film quite surreal. It is rich in symbols, some of which draw from philosophical to psychological theories.

A great problem Guido has is his guilt which has its roots in religious morality. He is strongly attracted to a number of female figures and equally immersed in a sense of guilt about this attraction. The presence of a religious figure recurs quite often in his dream fragments. The image of the pope, the setting of the dream, the dialogue constitute a condensed symbolism which when interpreted enlightens the reader about Guido’s subconscious. There is a Freudian parallel throughout the movie, however it especially strengthens in the dream scenes.

In one particular scene, Guido is at a spa and about to meet the cardinal who is waiting for him. When Guido is called, he is asked to tell the Cardinal everything. The man guiding Guido to where the cardinal should be, also tells him that the Cardinal can fix everything. He is also advises Guido to express his remorse to the Cardinal thus gaining everything he needs in life through his confession. Guido changes his spa cloth to a black suit while we see the Cardinal change from his official attire into the spa towel. They are always surrounded by dense steam and as Guido approaches the Cardinal, the latter says: “There is no salvation outside the church”.

This dream sequence, very brief in its content results from a very deep and long dream-thought process. The interpretation of its symbolic density sheds light into Guido’s subconscious. The Cardinal is obviously a representation of Guido’s instilled religious morality since he was a child. The shadow of the guilt about his sexuality torments him even in his dream and it is so deep and heavy that it’s represented not by a religious object or a lower rank religious official but by a Cardinal. The dream also contains what Freud called the coexistence of the contraries, their unification: a cardinal in a spa – such an informal place for such a formal figure as well as encounter with such a figure. At first sight, the various elements which make up the scene seem meaningless and make the viewing of it quite absurd, however, once the digging in the deeper layers of these symbolic elements begins, we see clearly in Guido’s subconscious, his fear of religious morality. It is because of this guilt triggered by this type of morality that Guido often seeks shelter in the figure of his deceased mother.

Narrative

I remember painting my childhood in dreamlike colors under moonlit skies. I remember chasing the laughter in my friend’s eyes and counting my heartbeat in a million words of love….I remember the soothing voice in my mother’s lullabies , my grandfather’s ancient storylines… closing my eyes and falling in waterfalls of starry nights … I remember how in a minute , an hour or a day the shelter of my dreams crumbled to the ground under a horrifying deadly sound… I remember my dreams running to hide under ruins, behind the smoke in fear of being erased forever …
I remember my mother’s eyes holding my reflection for the last time before death washed it in a tear… my grandfather’s torn jacket weighing its broken love on my shoulders… I remember searching for a friend, a voice or the slightest soothing sound .. I remember finding loneliness in corner … and then I remember no more…

Analysis
The majority of the people would agree on the catastrophic nature of war. Regardless of this understanding, people fail to learn from the past and fall into the habit of plunging into the same pattern of mistakes. War has unfortunately become part of this pattern to the point where we have become desensitized to its effect on people. An artistic creation is able to evoke feelings of compassion and raise the awareness of human beings unlike any other form of information intended for this purpose. Art works allow us to see everything from a renewed perspective. The ability to create a new perspective comes as a result of presenting an object with which we are familiar in a completely new way. Our habitualized, automaton perception of objects is renewed as a result of new ways of presenting it through art. The creation of a refreshed perspective and thus of an awareness of objects is, according to formalistic views, the very purpose of art.
Concerns about war are expressed in various non-artistic ways, however nothing sends a better message and nothing can create the unique feelings about its devastating effects as this painting does. When looking at this little boy, lost and lonely, in the middle of destruction one can not help but raise the level of compassion, love and thought about the devastating effects of war.

matrix-the pill

Matrix/Allegory of the Cave

Etleva (Ernesta) Hasa

Professor Steve Wexler

English 436

15 July 2010

A parallel between the “Matrix” and Allegory of the Cave

From “Alice in Wonderland” to Christianity, to Plato’s Allegory of the Cave the “Matrix” takes the viewer through an intricate ride condensed with literary, religious, and philosophical symbolism. Its allusive wealth allows for the engagement of a wide range of viewers as well as for a gamut of interpretations. This variety of allusions and symbols are explicitly and subtly embedded in the movie’s plot and there is room for interpretations done from various theoretical perspectives. Viewed from this lens, one could see how the movie substantially draws on Plato's Allegory of the Cave.

Movie’s major character experiences a drastic change in his perception of reality as perceived by him and as it really is. Likewise, Plato's famous cave prisoner is able to comprehend the reality of the cave (where he has been living up to the pivotal walk which leads him out of it) and the real one outside of the cave.

T. Anderson lives in world which is controlled by the matrix agents just like Plato's prisoner lives in a world (cave) controlled by the form holders. They both manage to escape from the world as they know it and come to know the world as it really is: Anderson, with some help from Morpheus, comes to realize that the life he as been leading so far is nothing but the life of a slave, shaped under the control of the Matrix, protected by the agents. Plato's prisoner comes to realize first that the shadows he is looking at are not the truth, they are just shadows cast on the wall by the formholders. He sees the fire and as he follows the path which leads outside of the cave, he sees the sun and everything else illuminated by it. The respective characters, simultaneously experience shock and then a feeling of awe when they first perceive what is real. Neo (the name he assumes after the experience) is able to see how humans are "grown", hooked on wires, an element which symbolizes control just like the chains which tie the prisoners in Plato's cave.

Unlike Plato’s prisoner, who manages to find his way out of the cave without any help from others, Neo is helped (on his way “out”) by Morpheus. This video excerpt shows the moment when Neo is faced with a moment of choice: would he take the blue pill and stay in the world of the matrix (the world of the senses) or take the red pill and start his “tumbling down the rabbit hole” (Matrix, 1999) and come to know reality as it objectively exists. He chooses the red pill (who would resist such a temptation!) thus giving himself the opportunity to experience the world of the mind, the real world and finds it as mind-blowing as Plato’s prisoner finds the illuminated world outside of the cave.

There is no turning back after both experience what is real. However, there is the troublesome need for both characters (Neo and Prisoner) to share the truth with the others. This is another similar point of the “Matrix” and Plato’s
Allegory of the Cave whose major character’s face a conflict as a result of the decision to share the truth. For Plato, the sharing of the truth on behalf of the prisoner ends with his death (the masses usually assume these violent ways when manifesting the discomfort after being asked to get out of their comfort zone of ignorance). There is, however, some hope in the Matrix regarding Neo but the interpretation of that hope (Neo’s survival) might require another theoretical lens.

Works Cited

Plato. Republic. Trans. C.D.C. Reeve. Dickinson Press, Inc. 2004. Print.

Matrix. Dir. Watchowski, Andy and Watchowski, Lana. Warner Bros. Pictures, 1999. Film.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFhn_GUAhGU