Smoking is the most common oral fixation seen in films.
Oral types are often depicted in film as avaricious characters who are constantly seeking immediate gratification.
Oral sadism is the perverse desire to dominate and inflict pain on others.
Movie characters must often overcome oral obstacles such as addiction to drugs or alcohol in order to develop.
The anal stage of psychosexual development is related to the way in which people deal with the psychological pressure of neurotic conflict.
The anal retentive type deals with neurotic conflict by repressing and controlling his drives, typically to the point of frustration.
The anal expulsive type deals with neurotic conflict by releasing and indulging his drives, often times inappropriately.
The quintessential comical dyad is a pairing of an anal retentive type with an anal expulsive type.
Heroes often struggle with an internal conflict between the desire to release a primal drive and an equally powerful need to control or repress this drive.
The most common internal conflicts related to the anal stage are destructiveness versus non-violence, passion versus abstinence and rebellion versus obedience.
The phallic stage of psychosexual development is related to the resolution of the Oedipal complex.
When Oedipal desires are successfully repressed by the superego, sexual and aggressive urges are expressed through the use of phallic symbols— weapons of destruction, such as guns and knives, that embody both violent and phallic qualities.
The hero’s weapon is a phallic symbol that can be extremely significant and relevant to his sense of identity.
Penis envy in females is typically interpreted as a woman’s desire for equality, independence, and empowerment in a male-dominated society.
Girl power movies typically address the issue of penis envy as a central theme.
The genital stage of psycho sexual development is related to the integration of mature (non-Oedipal) romantic relationships.
The teen temptress figure in movies is a sexy adolescent female who is dangerous and illicit, because she has not yet resolved her Electra complex.
The virgin hero figure in teen sex movies is a character who resolves his genital stage of development by losing his virginity and forming a mature romantic relationship.
CHAPTER THREE EXERCISES
1. Come up with two or three “oral” behaviors that haven’t been used before.
2. Oral obstacles in heroes are personal flaws that are related to physical, psychological, or emotional neediness. Create an oral obstacle that your hero must overcome, but stay away from hackneyed or overused obstacles, such as alcoholism or drug use.
3. The comically mismatched pair of characters is a basic formula for comedy. Do you have a comic dyad in your script? Whether the twosome are lead characters (i.e., Nick and Nora in The Thin Man movies), or comic relief (i.e., Jay and Silent Bob in Clerks and Mallrats), how can you use the opposing forces of retention and expulsion (restraint and release), to build humorous conflict within your dyad?
4. If you have only one comic character, consider the effect of giving him a partner or foil. What could this element add to your script?
5. The hero’s weapon is typically a phallic symbol, a psychological representation of the hero’s identity and power. How can you structure your hero’s weapon so that it pertains to or reveals your hero’s identity?
6. Brainstorm all the different kinds of weapons or material aids that characters have used in your favorite movies.
7. Now imagine how your hero might use some of these weapons in your script.
8. Come up with five different weapons or forms of material aid that have never been used before.
ADDRESSING THE PSYCHOSEXUAL STAGES IN YOUR SCRIPT
1. Internal conflict can be depicted visually through an oral fixation. Think of how your character can portray internal conflict by smoking, drinking, eating, or other “oral” behaviors.
2. The opposing psychosexual forces also are an excellent source of internal conflict. Heroes often deal with the conflicting drives of destructiveness and non-violence, passion and abstinence, or rebellion and obedience. How can you infuse your hero with an internal conflict related to retention and release?
3. The “weapon” is any material aid that assists the hero on his or her quest. Does your hero have a “weapon?”
4. In its broadest interpretation, “penis envy” represents any fear of dominating power or authority, as well as issues of disenfranchisement and empowerment. Female heroes in films typically deal with these issues. How can your heroine resolve the issue of penis envy in a way that embodies her own weaknesses and strengths?
5. Issues of intimacy, love, and sex are ubiquitous in movies. You may be finding it difficult to address these issues without resorting to cliches and overused devices. Try analyzing the romantic relationship in your script in terms of the Oedipal themes of possessiveness, rivalry, and forbidden love. This might help you find new insights into the relationship that will lead to original conflicts and story lines in your script.
THE PSYCHOSEXUAL STAGES AT A GLANCE
STAGES
CHARACTERISTICS
CHARACTER TYPES
EXAMPLES
Oral
Stage
Emotional Neediness
Selfishness
Greed
Cruelty
Smokers & Drinkers
Overeaters
Stealers & Cheaters
Sadists
Film Noir & Westerns
Goodfellas
Casino
Silence of the Lambs
Anal
Stage
Obsessive Control
No Self Control
Internal Conflict
Comic Dyads
Inner Demons
Conflicted Characters
Abbott & Costello
Werewolves
Straw Dogs
Phallic
Stage
Obsession with Phallic
Symbols
Penis Envy
Destructive Characters
Violent Heroes & Villains
Empowered Women
Westerns & War Movies
Action Movies
“Girl Power” Movies
Genital
Stage
Forbidden Love
First Love
Teen Temptresses
Virgin Heroes
Poison Ivy
American Pie
Chapter Four
THE EGO DEFENSE MECHANISMS
Like your computer’s hard drive, the unconscious is an incredibly complex storehouse of knowledge and functions of which you, the user, are blissfully unaware. The split between unconscious and conscious processing of information is absolutely necessary, because it would be impossible for us to lead productive lives if we didn’t focus on very specific issues, one at a time. Similarly, working on a computer would not be very productive if, rather than focusing on the single page on the screen, you were forced to pay attention to the millions of pieces of data and ongoing functions going on just behind your computer screen. And, just as the threat of viruses is a constant issue in your computer, neurotic conflict is a constant issue in the unconscious. Like virus detection software in your hard drive, the ego defense mechanisms are the silent protectors of the psyche, perpetually vigilant in their search for neurotic conflict. If unresolved unconscious issues were to break through the barrier of ego defense mechanisms and emerge into consciousness, the problem would dominate and overwhelm all of the individual’s attention, in the same way that a rogue virus would overwhelm the normal functioning of your computer.
The defense mechanisms “defend” the ego by relieving it of the pressure of libido energy and neurotic conflict in a variety of ingenious ways. When the libido energy is relieved or otherwise controlled, guilt decreases and the anxiety caused by neurotic confl
ict is temporarily assuaged. The key word in this concept is temporarily. The defense mechanisms do not eliminate or resolve the neurotic conflict, they merely put a bandage on the problem. The only way to truly resolve a neurotic conflict is to analyze it, understand it consciously, and tear it out by the root. Unlike analysis, the ego defenses keep the troublesome issues completely unconscious, so that the individual is entirely unaware of them.
THE DEFENSIVE HERO
Adding defense mechanisms to your hero’s personality will add psychological depth to his character. When your hero says things he does not mean, does things he does not want to do, and acts in ways that are counterintuitive to his situation, he automatically becomes more complex. The audience wonders: “Why is he acting that way?” and “Why did he do that?” The audience intuitively senses that these characters are dealing with internal conflicts, and they are drawn into their dilemmas in the same way that readers are drawn into a mystery story. Audiences have learned from many years of film viewing to be incredibly perceptive. They scan the larger-than-life faces of the characters on screen for any trace of innuendo, and they are constantly analyzing their heroes – trying to find the hidden root to their motivations and the psychological conflicts that they know lie just beneath the surface of their cloaked demeanor.
THE OBLIVIOUS HERO
The key to writing a defense mechanism is that the characters themselves are completely unaware that they are exhibiting defensive behaviors. The unconscious element of defensiveness raises tension and suspense, as the other characters in the film and the viewers in the audience watch the heroes and become frustrated with their obliviousness to their own glaring problems. The defense mechanism typically becomes a goal for heroes, a weakness that they must overcome. Since defense mechanisms are universal traits, audiences immediately identify with the defensive hero.
In a way, movie watching itself is a defense. Audiences escape their own problems and conflicts by shutting themselves off from their personal lives and becoming emotionally involved with the characters on screen. Like a defense mechanism, watching a good movie provides temporary relief from personal conflict and strife. And, like a defense mechanism, the psychological power of a movie is felt primarily on an unconscious level.
REPRESSION
Repression is at once the most simple and the most sophisticated of the defense mechanisms. Neurotic conflict arises when libido energy is blocked by guilt. Repression works by apprehending the initial desire and stowing it away deep down in the unconscious. By hiding the initial urge, repression ebbs the flow of libido energy and blankets the root of the conflict. In Remains of the Day (1993), a stodgy British butler, Stevens (Anthony Hopkins), represses his lust for Miss Kenton (Emma Thompson), hiding his desire so effectively that, although the viewer can sense his true feelings, we are unsure if Stevens himself is aware of his desire for Miss Kenton. However, repression, like all the defenses, is only a stopgap solution. Every time the object of desire is seen, libido energy arises once more and it must be repressed all over again. Even though Stevens is a veritable master of repression, his lust for Miss Kenton never truly dies. At the end of the film, he and Miss Kenton reunite after decades of separation. His love for Miss Kenton is still there, yet he is still unable to release his repressed feelings and express his love to her.
Repression can be an extremely powerful emotional force. In certain scenes in Remains of the Day, the tension between Stevens and Miss Kenton is so great that the audience wants to scream out at the screen, “Kiss her, you fool!” Anthony Hopkins’ performance is so resonant because his character is a tragic figure, a victim of his own repression. But when feelings are repressed for a long time and then finally released, the experience of catharsis – the psychological purging of intense emotions – can be equally as powerful. In romance movies such as It Happened One Night (1934), the release felt when the two characters finally give in to their mutual lust and experience a moment of passion is no less than orgasmic.
Director Robert Altman displayed the profound power of repression in Gosford Park (2001), a film set in an environment much like the one in Remains of the Day. The guests and servants in this traditional English manor are all appropriately repressed, especially in their sense of class distinctions and propriety. Servants are expected to appear and disappear without being noticed by their lordly masters. The audience is completely immersed in this sense of social repression for the first hour of the film. When a lowly maid (Emily Watson) speaks out to her masters in the 2nd act, the audience’s reaction to her breach of propriety is as extreme as if she blew someone’s head off. The incredible resonance of this scene arises from the fact that an extreme reaction of shock was elicited, merely by the shot of a maid speaking a few revealing words out of turn. The drama of her impropriety overshadows the more subtle fact that her motivation for speaking was her secret affair with the lord of the manor.
When writing repressed characters in your script, remember that intense reactions and high drama can be elicited without extreme violence or melodramatic situations. By creating an extremely high level of repression in your characters, you create tension and suspense in your plot. When this tension is finally released, even a few words, a touch of the hand, or a simple kiss can be incredibly cathartic and dramatic.
DENIAL
The epitome of the oblivious hero is seen in the character suffering from denial. Denial of a troublesome desire or an anxiety-provoking event is occasionally used as an element of character strength. In The Little Princess (1939), Sara (Shirley Temple) is confronted with the news that her beloved father died at war. Sara’s reaction to this unthinkable fact is complete denial. She refuses to believe that her father is dead. Sara clings resolutely to her denial throughout the film, until she is miraculously rewarded for her constancy in the end and reunited with her father, who, as it turns out, was only injured and shell-shocked, rather than killed. Typically, denial is an element of character weakness. In Jaws (1975) the close-minded mayor of Amity Island (Murray Hamilton) refuses to believe that there is a man-eating shark stalking the shores of his town. His foolish denial raises tension and suspense in the plot, as the wary sheriff (Roy Scheider) becomes more and more frustrated with the mayor’s negation of Jaws’ existence.
Denial is often used as an obstacle for the hero, represented by a denying authority figure who frustrates and hinders the hero by denying the existence of danger. The real-estate developer in Poltergeist (1982) and the parents in A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) all represent obstacles of denial that the hero must overcome. In the ‘50s, movies such as Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) and The Blob (1958) symbolized the paranoia of the McCarthy era, by placing heroes in situations in which everyone around them is in complete denial of the insidious danger invading their communities. Denial as an obstacle can also be represented as an internal weakness within the hero that he or she must overcome. Rosemary (Mia Farrow) in Rosemary’s Baby must overcome her denial that her beloved husband (John Cassavetes) and benign neighbors are evil conspirators, before she can take action to defend herself and her unborn baby.
When writing denial in your script, be clear about the role you want this device to play. A character who denies the existence of danger in order to hinder the hero, but who actually knows that the danger exists, is not in denial. This character is simply lying. The distinction between denial and deceit is subtle but extremely important. The liar is purposefully deceiving the hero in order to benefit himself, making this character a bad guy or villain. The character in true denial is not purposefully deceiving anyone, this character actually believes in what he is saying. The character in denial is oblivious to the world and to himself. Though he is frustrating and troubling, this character is ultimately a tragic and pitiable figure. Overcoming the denial figure is merely a prelude or afterthought to the hero’s primary goal of defeating the actual danger or villain.
When a character is struggling to overcome his own flaw, it is more dramati
c to cue his realization of inner denial by inciting it through a tragic loss. In Jaws, the mayor only realizes his folly when more people are killed because of his obliviousness. In Rosemary’s Baby, Rosemary only begins to suspect her husband when her beloved friend, Hutch (Maurice Evans), mysteriously dies. The device of epiphany through tragic loss pays respect to the powerful forces of the unconscious, admitting that only a dramatic jolt to the system can lift the veil of denial. It also adds drama to the plot.
IDENTIFICATION
The resolution of the Oedipal complex is achieved through identification with the same-sex parent, making identification a capstone experience in ego development. By identifying with others and imitating their goals and behaviors, the ego relieves itself of the anxiety provoking feelings of self-doubt that arise when we act on our own initiative. How could our behaviors be wrong, if we are simply doing what Father, Mother, Brother, Sister, Teacher, Preacher, or others around us are doing? The danger of identification arises from the loss of individuality that occurs when we accept the comfort and safety of conforming to the crowd.
Identification is a double-edged sword, representing either a goal or an obstacle to the hero. In High Noon (1952), everybody in town wants Marshal Kane (Gary Cooper) to run away from the murderous outlaws who are coming to town to kill him. Even the town judge (Otto Kruger) runs away, telling Kane that he should flee, as well. Kane’s challenge in High Noon is to resist identification with this cowardly mentor figure, and to stay true to his own code of honor. The opposite formula is played out in Sergeant York (1941). In this film, Gary Cooper plays a roguish character who lives according to his own rules. His challenge in the 1st act is to identify with the town preacher (Walter Brennan), and become a humble and meek member of the town congregation.
Psychology for Screenwriters Page 7