Project 18 develops some of the ideas, especially the dissolution of the oedipal complex, explored in Project 17. Lacan reinterpreted Freud in the light of linguistic and semiotics from, what seems a, structuralist perspective. The Mirror-Phase as Formative of the Function of the I (Lacan, 1949) was the required reading for this project.
While Freud focused on how a child develops through repressing desires to become a social being, Lacan looks at how the illusion of the self comes into being. In 1936 he introduced the concept of the ‘mirror phase’ in an attempt to understand how the child comes to master their relationship with their body.
While Freud focused on how a child develops through repressing desires to become a social being, Lacan looks at how the illusion of the self comes into being. In 1936 he introduced the concept of the ‘mirror phase’ in an attempt to understand how the child comes to master their relationship with their body.
The ‘mirror phase’ suggests an early stage in development when a child sees itself in a reflection and recognises and idealisation of itself this is subsequently affirmed by the parent. When Lacan refers to the “Body as Gestalt” (1949), he is referring to that we are presented with an image that we identify with but are unsure which is the figure and which is the ground.
Confusion begins when child assumes the place of the reflected image and looks back at its corporeal – their actual self – the baby contrasts what is sees with its idealised self.
This further suggests that the actual self is less than perfect and even accentuates the difference which produces or confirms the alienation caused and the desire to become the unattainable ideal. The tension between the need for perfection of the individual and a connected whole is a representation of the tension between identity and non-identity (Lacan, 1949).
Confusion begins when child assumes the place of the reflected image and looks back at its corporeal – their actual self – the baby contrasts what is sees with its idealised self.
This further suggests that the actual self is less than perfect and even accentuates the difference which produces or confirms the alienation caused and the desire to become the unattainable ideal. The tension between the need for perfection of the individual and a connected whole is a representation of the tension between identity and non-identity (Lacan, 1949).
Task One: The Mirror Phase and Surrealism
I read and dutifully took notes from Lacan’s The Mirror-Phase as Formative of the Function of the I (1949). It was then asked to find two examples of Surrealist works that might display echoes of the mirror phase. I happened to choose two artworks by René Magritte.
I read and dutifully took notes from Lacan’s The Mirror-Phase as Formative of the Function of the I (1949). It was then asked to find two examples of Surrealist works that might display echoes of the mirror phase. I happened to choose two artworks by René Magritte.
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Magritte, R. (1933) The Human Condition. [Oil on canvas] Washington DC: National Gallery of Art. |
I chose Magritte’s The Human Condition. This displays echoes of the mirror phase. It could be commented that the painting represents the ego as an illusion of the unconscious. And if the unconscious is structured like language, without an ego the signifiers within the signifying chain are constantly shifting as they lack an anchor to provide stable and definite meanings. The process of becoming an ‘I’, or self, would create the stability that would make meaning possible.
The picture furthers highlights the misrecognition of the ego; like the self, and the artificial landscape in The Human Condition it is only a fantasy. As the parents are absent, within or external to the painting, there is little internally to affirm the identification of the image with what it represents. This ultimately debunks within the image a semblance of unity, or in the case of the human condition, the unified self.
The picture furthers highlights the misrecognition of the ego; like the self, and the artificial landscape in The Human Condition it is only a fantasy. As the parents are absent, within or external to the painting, there is little internally to affirm the identification of the image with what it represents. This ultimately debunks within the image a semblance of unity, or in the case of the human condition, the unified self.
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| Magritte, R. (1928) The Lovers. [Oil on canvas] New York: Museum of Modern Art |
The second image, The Lovers, could also comment on the idea of the unified self. The lovers’ faces are covered. They are denied the device – their eyes – to be able to misidentify with their external image. Without an external image to identify with questions the fiction of a stable, unified, whole self which compensates for having lost the original oneness with the mothers body. They are egoless. The lovers have not identified with their mirror image, thus entering symbolic order, which destabilises any meaning within a signifying chain.
As they have no vision, could their sense of identity still be entangled with that of the mother?
Could their sense of the ‘other’ be radically different of one who becomes aware of that loss via the ‘mirror phase’?
It could be argued that for a child to recognise its mirror image it would already have some idea of itself. As this would mean that the development of the self precedes the mirror stage rather than resulting from it, would make this interpretation redundant.
Task Two: Contemporary Media and the Mirror Phase
The second of this projects tasks was to find examples of the way in which contemporary media uses Lacan’s ideas, particularly the mirror phase.
The second of this projects tasks was to find examples of the way in which contemporary media uses Lacan’s ideas, particularly the mirror phase.
I initially thought of advertising. The way this medium uses the Lacanian idea of images is evident when we are invited to project ourselves within a picture. I then of something completely different but requires a level of projection. A medium in which we are encouraged to identify with that false sense of self needed to develop the ego. Are misidentification with the mirror image is further commented on by us affirming it by displaying photographs of ourselves. Yes, it is that form of social networking itself:
Reference List
Further Reading
Lacan, J. The mirror stage as formative of the function of the I as revealed in psychoanalytic experience. In: Translated from French by A. Sheridan. Ecrits: A Selection. (1997) London: Tavistock, pp. 1-7.
Lacan, J. The mirror stage as formative of the function of the I as revealed in psychoanalytic experience. In: Translated from French by A. Sheridan. Ecrits: A Selection. (1997) London: Tavistock, pp. 1-7.
McGowan, T. Looking for the Gaze: Lacanian Film Theory and its Vicissitudes. In: Cinema Journal, 42.3, 2003, pp. 27-47
Further Screening
Blue Velvet (David Lynch, De Laurentiis Entertainment Group, USA, 1986)
Blue Velvet (David Lynch, De Laurentiis Entertainment Group, USA, 1986)
Bibliography
Andrew, D. (1984) Concepts in film theory. New York: Oxford University Press.
Andrew, D. (1984) Concepts in film theory. New York: Oxford University Press.
Barry, P. (2009) Beginning theory: an introduction to literary and cultural theory. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Creed, B. (1998) Film and Psychoanalysis. In: J. Hill & P. Church Gibson eds. Oxford guide to film studies. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Creed, B. (1998) Film and Psychoanalysis. In: J. Hill & P. Church Gibson eds. Oxford guide to film studies. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Burgoyne, R., Flitterman-Lewis, S. & Stam, R. (1992) New vocabularies in film semiotics. London: Routledge.
D’Alleva, A. (2005) Methods & theories of art history. London: Laurence King Publishing.
Hayward, S. (1996) Cinema studies: the key concepts. Abingdon: Routledge.
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