Film Studies: Essay, Evaluation and Bibliography

Film Studies

A Psychoanalysis of Yorgos Lanthimos’ film Dogtooth (2009)

Dogtooth (2009) is a film that continues to gain an intense reaction from its audience. Some may find it an uncomfortable watch and difficult to follow while others declare it an ode to arthouse cinema. Whatever the reaction, it is difficult to deny that Dogtooth engages our visual pleasure (Mulvey) as spectators for we are able to fulfil our ‘curious gaze’ through our observations of the family participating in a number of bizarre behaviours. One way that this can be observed is in how the parents discipline their near adult children when they are seen to be acting out of line or in any way that doesn’t conform to the strict ideology that they have forcefully implemented. The film takes place in the desolate countryside of Greece and follows the interactions of the family and the threat that the outside world has on the patriarchal familial structure. Sigmund Freud, Jacques Lacan and Laura Mulvey are three highly influential psychologists who had great impact on the formation of Psychoanalysis. Although, they all have differing views on how Psychoanalysis they also share some common ideas that can be discussed when applying Psychoanalysis to film. This essay will discuss how the theories of Freud, Lacan and Mulvey can be used to decipher a film’s meaning through analysis. 

The film begins with a close up of a tape recorder which plays a recording of a female’s voice who presents new words and their meanings. What is unusual here is that the words and their meanings do not match up with the audience’s understanding. The voice defines the word sea as being a ‘leather chair with wooden armrests’ and highway as a ‘very strong wind’, both of which are significantly different to their correct definition. This is a strong statement to be made at the beginning of the film and establishes a sense of confusion and disorientation as the audience struggles to identify anything that can inform meaning in the mise-en-scene such as clothing, technology and location. Therefore, the film appears as though it takes place in a timeline of its own and perhaps also in a fictional location. Jacques Lacan’s philosophy of language discusses how individuals create an understanding of language in conforming to the patriarchal familial figure (father). An individual who is unable to build an understanding of language is ultimately viewed as suffering from psychosis or another form of mental disorder. This is interesting because if we apply this theory to the tape recording played at the beginning of the film, we could argue that the children are in fact able to develop language accordingly because they are submissive to the commands of the father and ’to learn a language is to learn a set of rules for the use and combination of words’ which again refers back to how the words on the tape are listed almost like a set of rules to be abided by. 

Lacan’s also discusses the unconscious and its role in developing language by controlling the ‘bodily manifestations and identifications with others and “external” objects that insist beyond his/her conscious control.’ This can be used to support the argument that the language that the children are taught by their parents is not entirely responsible for their understanding of the world around them and it is actually factors such as their repressed unconscious desires that rule how they identify and interact with others. Therefore, the subject of whether or not the children being brainwashed by the parents has a great impact on their development seems insignificant in comparison to the role of the unconscious because these desires are more powerful than anything that can be taught. 

Within the same beginning scene, we are introduced to the three children, all of which are in the bathroom listening to the tape recording. The three mid shots (each lasting around thirty seconds to a minute) introduce each sibling separately so that the viewer is able to take in each character as an individual before seeing them as more or less versions of the same person as the extreme rules set by the parents leave little room for individuality. The mid shot of the eldest sibling is particularly significant because she is sitting facing away from the mirror which is directly behind her. This could be representative of the fact that she has yet to make the connection between her ‘inner self’ and ‘outer self’ as Lacan notes in a stage of development known as the mirror stage. Lacan estimated that the mirror stage takes place between the ages 6 - 18 months in infancy therefore this insinuates that the eldest sibling has skipped this stage of development as she is more like the age of an adult than a child. This could however explain the reasoning behind her childlike innocence and behaviour in the film as the children are often seen playing games and competing against each other to win prizes such as choice of the evenings activities, a choice which as an adolescent/adult you should be able to make for yourself which again reinforces the dominance of the patriarchal power structure. 

Throughout the narrative, both the mother and father go to extremes to maintain the oppression of their children through lies and manipulation. They are indoctrinated with false stories of man eating cats and a brother that lives beyond the walls as another means of reinforcing the danger that lies in the outside world. The tale of the ‘dogtooth’ is perhaps the most symbolic as it signifies the key to their freedom and escape from oppression. Only when their ‘dogtooth’ falls out are they ready to leave the family home and face the outside world though this of course will not happen and the sense of hope and motivation that it gives the children to continue competing against one and other is entirely false.  

By the end of the film, the eldest sibling comes full circle as she is finally able to identify with her ‘inner self’ which she develops from exposure to the outside world in the form of videotapes of Rocky, Jaws and Flashdance which she bargains with a security guard who visits the home for. Her unconscious desire to lose her ‘dogtooth’ becomes her ‘ideal self’ and her curiosity brings this desire to life. In an uncomfortably brutal scene she begins to mutilate her mouth with a barbell in an attempt to break her dogtooth. An over the shoulder shot allows the viewer to observe her looking in to the mirror at herself, pausing to smile and expose her teeth as she begins to hit her mouth the barbell. While this is happening she continues to pause in between to smile at her reflection almost as though she is gaining some form of pleasure from her liberation. In Lacan’s mirror theory infants are able to look at themselves in the mirror and recognise themselves and similarly in this scene the eldest sibling is recognising the implications of her ‘inner self’ on her ‘outer self’ and how she can make the two come together to form her own identity. Although she is successful in losing her ‘dogtooth’, it isn’t entirely clear whether she is successful in her venture in to the outside world as rather than running away she gets in to the boot of the father’s car and we never see her again though it can be inferred that the indoctrination of her parents is too extreme to allow her to function in the outside world due to the huge differences in language and behaviour that is socially constructed. Lacan believes that we can never match up to our ‘ideal self’ because we will always want more and this seems to be true of Dogtooth also. 

The mise en scene is a visual representation of the patriarchal familial structure as it appears minimalistic, clean and orderly. Almost every shot appears very neutral, whites and blues and greys make the films colour palette which amplifies the cold, emotionless tone of the narrative. The only scenes which appear more colourful are those which take place outside which could be symbolic of the sense of freedom that outside has.  

Another theme which can be applied to psychoanalytic film theory is sexuality which is most evident in the scenes which take place between the security guard and the son. The father pays a security guard at his workplace to have sex with his eldest son in order to control his sexual urges. The interactions between the son and security guard are completely devoid of emotion, there is no love involved just sex and it appears extremely unnatural and awkward. It could be argued that even in these moments the patriarchal order of the family is reinforced because the son does not care for the pleasure of the security guard and is only focused on his own selfish desires. In scenes of nudity there are often shots of individuals from the waist down which places an emphasis on the visual pleasure for the spectator. Laura Mulvey’s ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’ suggests that the cinema acts as a ‘safe space’ for spectators to indulge in their voyeuristic behaviour because no-one is watching them take pleasure in admiring the human form which would otherwise be frowned upon in day to day life. This creates a sense of ‘separation’ between the audience and the film and allows them to be active spectators and engage in scopophilic tendencies. Mulvey’s theory can be applied to the intimate scenes in Dogtooth because it projects ‘women as image and man as bearer of the look’ by hovering over the female form to allow the viewer to become voyeuristic by exposing them to the erotic contours of the body. The cinematic gaze is most often produced by masculine means and therefore this reinforces the idea that women's bodies are an object of masculine desire. 

Bibliography:

(1) Dogtooth (2009) 

(2) Dogtooth Movie Review & Film Summary (7th July 2010) (online) available from:       
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/dogtooth-2010

(3) A dive into the twisted psychology of Dogtooth (11th March 2018) (online) available from: http://thebigpicturemagazine.com/a-dive-into-the-twisted-psychology-of-dogtooth/ (online)

(4) Dogtooth and the Tyranny of the Paternal Metaphor (2012) (online) available from: http://film-philosophy.com/conference/index.php/conf/2012/paper/viewPaper/212 

(4) Dogtooth (22nd April 2010) (online) available from: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/apr/22/dogtooth-review 

(5) Film Review: Dogtooth (22nd April 2010) (online) available from: https://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/film-review-dogtooth-1-800939

(6) Decoding 'The Killing of a Sacred Deer,' the Craziest Tragedy of 2017 (28th November 2017 (online) available from: https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/vb354d/decoding-the-killing-of-a-sacred-deer-the-craziest-tragedy-of-2017 (online)

(8) The Favourite review: Yorgos Lanthimos courts controversy but cops out (7th January 2019) (online) available from: https://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/sight-sound-magazine/reviews-recommendations/the-favourite-yorgos-lanthimos-olivia-colman-emma-stone-rachel-weisz (online)

(9) Freud's Stages of Psychosexual Development (online) available from: https://psychologenie.com/freuds-stages-of-development

(10) Oedipus complex: One of Freud's Most Controversial Ideas (20th September 2018) (online) available from: https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-an-oedipal-complex-2795403

(11) The Oedipus Complex (online) available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iH_PRnY7Jkw

(12) Yorgos Lanthimos interview (9th December 2018) (online) available from: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/dec/09/yorgos-lanthimos-the-favourite-interview 

(13) Dogtooth Film Review (25th April 2010) (online) available from: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/apr/25/dogtooth-film-review

(14) Lacan, Jacques Internet Encyclopaedia of Philosophy (online) available from: https://www.iep.utm.edu/lacweb/#H3

(15) Laura Mulvey (1999) Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema, Film Theory and Criticism, III Women as the image, men as the barer of the look, New York, Oxford UP, Page 840

(15) Lanthimos's 'Dogtooth,' a Family Parable (24th June 2010) (online) available from: https://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/27/movies/27dogtooth.html

(16) Jacques Lacan Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy  (2nd April 2013) (online) available from: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/lacan/

(17) symbolic, real, imaginary (2002) (online) available from: http://csmt.uchicago.edu/glossary2004/symbolicrealimaginary.htm

Film Studies Research

Film Studies: Research on theories and films and their context

Topic ideas:

• A textual analysis and application of Jacques Lacan theory of lack and the mirror stage to the films of Yorgos Lanthimos - Dogtooth, The Lobster, The Favourite

Dogtooth:

Family structure - the father is the only member of the family to leave the home to provide for his family while the others must remain in the walls of their home.

The development of language - linked to psychological development

Mirror stage - mirrors are often seen within the film, within the first scene of the film, the siblings are in the bathroom listen to the tapes that their mother and father have created to teach them words and their meanings. A mid shot shows the oldest sibling sitting with her back to the mirror - this links to her development because she has had a bizarre upbringing where she hasn't been able to make the usual connection between her inner self and outer self though this is developed as she tests the boundaries and takes it upon herself to remove her 'dogtooth' herself through self mutilation which she does whilst looking in the same mirror that we see her facing away from in the beginning of the film.

The mirror theory is demonstrated through the metaphor of the 'dog tooth' as the children are told that only when their dogtooth falls out are they then ready to venture in to the outside world. As a viewer we are aware that this entirely unrealistic because adult teeth are not known to just fall out unless it happens in an accident. Therefore the 'dogtooth' is a symbol of something that they will never achieve and they are condemned to misery in the compound of their own home. This is similar to Lacan's theory of lack and that we will always desire something but even when/if this desire is met there will be something else that we desire therefore we will never truly be satisfied.

Dogtooth notes:

Words - the children learn new words through the use of a recorded tape, the words they learn do not resemble the true meanings - their world is already distorted - links to development 

We see the father drive a woman wearing security uniform to a very secluded place - this is where the majority of the film takes place and is the family’s home 

Brother is seen using weights before the security guard arrives - he shares the idea that men have to be strong to seduce women 

When the brother is having sex with the security guard it is shot from above - similar to a scene where we see the parents having sex, which demonstrates patriarchal dominance within the family

Their purpose is to compete against each other to prove their worth to their parents - links to Lacan theory because they will never reach the top position or at least remain the ‘best child’ because they are competing everyday in order to impress their parents and to be able to make decisions about how the family spend their evening 

The siblings play childlike games 

Freud talks about ‘penis envy’ - relates to power structures within society and in Dogtooth this relates to the family structure. 

The family in Dogtooth is lead by a patriarchal figure - the father 

Throughout the film there is questioning of the structure of the family, usually in males we see them looking up to their father and wanting to be like them or even in some cases stronger than them. This is also illustrated in women when they look up to their fathers and wonder why they can never become the ‘head’ of the family. In Dogtooth it is the eldest female sibling who rebels against her family or the ‘society’ she has been raised in. She becomes more curious about the things that they have been taught and is fascinated by the security guard who comes to visit the family - she doesn’t have any other interactions outside of the family besides this one. She learns behaviour from the security guard to bargain with people, offering them a prize in return for them doing a favour. In this case the security guard is bargaining with the older sister in order to gain sexual pleasure. The older sister copies this and bargains with her sister, asking her to lick her on the stomach and other areas of her body in order for a prize to be won. 

Freud Oedipal complex 

Lacan suggests that the oedipal stage is more about the need to obey the father rather than dominate father, father represents the paternal metaphor 

Family represents a hierarchal patriotic structure and this is also seen in society as the child gets older and leaves the family and joins greater society 

In dogtooth the phobia is entirely constructed through the paternal figure with help fro the mother. The greatest fear lies in the outside world, the father brainwashes his children with stories of the dangers that lurk outside of their home 

The family structure is surrounded by this idea of fear and phobia of what lies waiting for them in the outside world and this is done through patriarchal force 

Family - focuses on their interactions and the power struggles within the family. The dogtooth is a metaphor for their freedom although it can never be achieved 

The idea of their ‘unseen brother’ who the father uses to instil fear in to the children and he even fakes his death 

At the beginning of the film we are introduced to three children within the family listening to a tape recorded by their mother. She is delivering words and their definitions - sea is a leather armchair with arms - this shows they are being brainwashed by signifiers with imaginary meanings 

He gives punishment to the children and creates the competition between them 

Dog training - shows the father’s parenting - poses the question ‘do you want an animal or a friend?’ 

False narrative - the made up stories 

Mother is the voice of reason - tells children the meaning of words if they ask 

The son is the middle child but is raised to the top of the children’s hierarchy

Son hasn’t developed sexuality - awkward and childlike, the father could be doing this to create the ideal heterosexual figure for his family or Freud would argue that this is to control the desire that the son has for his mother 

Airplane is a symbol of freedom - the siblings constantly fight over it 

Eldest sister says she wants to be called Bruce - could this be because she has recognised the patriarchal force in her family and understands that if she goes by a male name then she can be viewed as being a strong figure ? 

Lack is in the form of the ‘dogtooth’ metaphor 

Lack - the sisters because they will never become the head of the family simply because they are female 

Lack -  to be the best sibling because the siblings are constantly in competition with one another - link to a scene where the family are listening to a piece of music and the father narrates over the top, telling the children what the words of the song mean because they are words they do not recognise 

Odephius - greek myth of a son who said he would kill his father and marry his mother, freud develops this idea in his concept ‘the oedphius complex’ a stage in which he believes a child 

The Favourite:

Queen Anne - her lack is the trauma of losing children and being alone yet when she has the choice of two female companions fighting over she still ultimately miserable and dying

Abigail - she wants to gain her status back but when she does she realises what she has committed herself to, she will always be a prisoner to the Queen if she wants to remain a lady

Bibliography:

(1) https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/dogtooth-2010 (online)

(2) http://thebigpicturemagazine.com/a-dive-into-the-twisted-psychology-of-dogtooth/ (online)

(3) http://film-philosophy.com/conference/index.php/conf/2012/paper/viewPaper/212 (online) 

(4) https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/apr/22/dogtooth-review (online)

(5) https://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/film-review-dogtooth-1-800939 (online)

(6) https://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/film-review-dogtooth-1-800939 (online)

(7) https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/vb354d/decoding-the-killing-of-a-sacred-deer-the-craziest-tragedy-of-2017 (online)

(8) https://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/sight-sound-magazine/reviews-recommendations/the-favourite-yorgos-lanthimos-olivia-colman-emma-stone-rachel-weisz (online)

(9) https://psychologenie.com/freuds-stages-of-development

(10) https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-an-oedipal-complex-2795403

(11) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iH_PRnY7Jkw

(12) https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/dogtooth-2010 

(13) https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/dec/09/yorgos-lanthimos-the-favourite-interview 

(14) https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/apr/25/dogtooth-film-review

(15) Dogtooth (2009) 

Psychoanalytic Film Theory

Mulvey: Pleasure and Narrative Cinema

Laura Mulvey: A British filmmaker and theorist, most well known for her essay 'Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema' (1975) . Her work is observed to be one of the most defining texts in establishing feminist film theory. 

Mulvey (1975) states that film fascinates us through images and engages our emotions. Through the use of psychoanalysis she aimed to "discover where and how the fascination of film reinforced by pre-existing patterns of fascination already at work within with individual subject". She refers to this as a "political weapon". 

In mainstream cinema patriarchy is heavily prominent, placing a focus on women as objects of "visual pleasure". She argues that this visual pleasure takes the form of scopophilia where the viewer can take great enjoyment and pleasure in observing the human form in an environment where they will not be condemned for doing so. She argues that films actually encourage this  type of behaviour from the viewer by creating a "safe space" that is specifically designed for people to explore the visuals that cinema creates. 

She describes a 'shift in spectatorship' in the films that she had come to love and admire. She  became a female spectator of films, viewing them with 'different eyes' than before. The difference here is that instead of being absorbed in to a films narrative and mise en scene and becoming voyeuristic spectator, she became an active viewer who placed herself at a distance from the film in order to form criticism. The group that she was involved with during this period of time were known as The Feminist Studies Group. 

(Laura Mulvey discusses the emergence of her essay 'visual pleasure and the narrative cinema')

Sigmund Freud discusses scopophilia in his 'three essays' (1905). In simple terms he discussed the link between children's voyeurism and cinematic looking. Describing a curious gaze that we possess that stems from childhood before we have developed a sense of what is right and wrong in a social context. For instance, children are often outspoken and do not realise that it is rude to point at someone and say something aloud about their physical appearance. A fully developed adult brain has adapted to filter through our thoughts and be selective with what we share aloud with others therefore relating to our personal definition of societal norms. In cinema Freud believes that we resort back to this childlike mindset and become absorbed by what we are viewing, allowing ourselves to stare and take pleasure in doing so. He believed that the most satisfying of visual pleasure is that of the human form and face. 

He states that women's portrayal within a narrative act 'against the development of a storyline' and alters in pace to act almost like a freeze frame in moments of erotic contemplation. "Women as image, man as bearer of the look". Women are not only an 'erotic object' within the narrative but also for the spectator who for them are an object of fantasy. Throughout the narrative the spectator is being guided through the story in an attempt to let them identify with the male protagonist which intensifies their visual pleasure of female characters by making them feel included in the storytelling. 

This leads on to the concept of fetishistic scopophilia: the image of the woman can be viewed as a threat to the male spectator which can instil fear. The two methods of escaping this fear is to first investigate the woman and unravel her 'mystery' which can be achieved by exposure to the female body (fragmentation), the spectator no longer views her as a whole and is therefore removes any intimidation. The second method is to deny castration by turning the woman in to a reassuring fetish.

(an explanation of scopophilia and how it affects individuals who experience it)


Applying the 'Male Gaze' to film

The Male Gaze is most prominent in mainstream cinema and can be explored within the majority of films. This can either be explicit in films such as The Wolf of Wall Street and Bad Teacher where there is a distinct female character created entirely for the visual spectator or subliminal where the viewer has to become an active spectator rather than allowing themselves to be completely absorbed in the narrative. In The Wolf of Wall Street this is demonstrated in the visuals of Naomi who is the stereotypical 'ideal woman' or an object of fantasy. In scenes where Naomi is present long, close up and point of view shots are often used in order to allow the viewer to hover over the contours of her body and view her as an object of desire. Throughout the film she is also portrayed as very glamorous and sexy through the outfits she wears, tight, short skirts and dresses, high heels and long blonde hair all contribute to her aesthetic.
Mulvey Research:

1) https://www.womenandfilm.net/home/2017/9/21/on-the-female-gaze (online)
2)

Psychoanalytic Film Theory

Lacan Theory: "lack" and the mirror stage

Jacques Lacan theory know as the "mirror stage" consisted of an infant's ability to recognise themselves through the use of a mirror. It was believed that from the age of 6 months onwards an infant has developed the ability to view themselves as an object as a reaction to seeing their reflection in the mirror. Lacan's theory was developed from the earlier work of Henri Wallon who conducted observations of how chimpanzees and human infants react to viewing their reflection from which he found that infants were considerably more interested in this concept of exploring the self whereas the chimpanzees soon lost interest. This theory was considered to be a significant moment in the development of an infant, though by the 1950's this concept was no longer considered a stage in development. It was now considered subjectivity or the paradigm of "imaginary order".

Lacan developed the idea of the "inner self" and "outside self", a comparison of an individual from what their image portrays and what one may be feeling inside. This inner self Lacan argued was chaotic as this part of an individual is subject to change constantly and therefore reflects instability whereas the outside self reflects stability as this is how we portray ourselves to others and our effect on this stems from the super ego, a self that we idealise.

He argued that the idea of "lack" is responsible for the arising of desires in an individual.

In films this can be represented through taking drugs, the individual is trying to live a life they want to be.

Hedonistic.

Lacan distinguishes between the three kinds of lack. According to the nature of the object which is lacking.
The first one is Symbolic Castration and its object related is the Imaginary Phallus.
The second one is imaginary Frustration and its object related is the Real Breast.
The third kind of lack is Real Privation and its object related is the Symbolic Phallus.
The three corresponding agents are the Real Father, the Symbolic Mother, and the Imaginary father, Of these three forms of lack, castration is the most important from the perspective of the cure.

Mirror Stage

Lacan Application: Requiem for a Dream

'I'm somebody now Harry' 

In the clip from Requiem for a Dream Sara is talking to her Harry about why she takes the 'diet pills' and in doing so reveals a deeper tragic story of loneliness, grief and a lack of purpose. For Sara being on television is her ultimate dream, her 'ideal self' something which she obsessively fantasises about until the thought begins to torment her whole life. 

After losing her husband she is no longer a wife and her turbulent relationship with her son Harry means that she isn't really able to be a mother to him therefore she has lost the sense of self that came with those two major roles in her life and wants to find something to fill the void that she is left with. Sara takes the diet pills to try and reminisce on a  happier time where her husband was still alive and when her son was still graduating college and she believes by fitting in to the same red dress she will be alleviated from the pain of her loss. Though, this 'sense of self' that she has created is impossible to match, like Lacan's theory of lack, even if we do at some point come close to or even achieve our 'ideal self' we cannot be happy. Once we have something it loses its meaning and becomes less important but when you have something to aim for it gives you a sense of purpose and motivation to achieve what you have set yourself out for. 

Sara's sense of self is being confused by a version of herself that she will never be able to get back and the pills that she is taking are just going to make her grief and pain worse once she stops taking them so she is trapped in the cycle of abusing medication due to this lack that has appeared in her life in the form of late husband and addict son whom she refuses to acknowledge has a problem. Through the use of close up shots we can see that Sara is trying to maintain a 'happy' image despite the deep sadness that she is obviously hiding therefore this could also relate to the idea of 'inner self' and 'outer self' and she is aware that her 'outer self' must project an image of stability otherwise people will get suspicious of her addiction.