Sunday, August 12, 2007

Psychoblogging

Science blog Neurophilosophy has an article on the psychology of the films of Alfred Hitchcock.

Extract:
Repression is one of the Freudian concepts which recurs in Hitchcock's films. According to Freud, "the essence of repression lies simply in the turning something away, and keeping it at a distance, from the conscious". Freud believed that traumatic memories, usually of childhood events, are repressed by the conscious mind; this is a defence mechanism which keeps the ego free of conflict and tension. These memories remain hidden in the subconscious, and manifest themselves in the neuroses and psychoses of the individual, when something induces the momentary retrieval of a repressed memory, triggering a neurotic or psychotic episode. One aim of Freudian psychoanalysis is the retrieval of these repressed memories from the subconscious, in the hope that confronting them will cure the patient's neuroses.
Most of us were probably first exposed to the general ideas of Freudian psychology in Hitchcock films, and they're still valuable tools in understanding the concepts.

11 comments:

Kos said...

Well, with Psycho being the total obvious one, what other ones do you feel fit this bill and why?

Teacake said...

I think it's possible, though I can't recall for sure and I'm too lazy to look it up on IMDB, that Psycho is the only Hitch movie I've ever seen. Can we have a movie of the month with a Hitchcock movie?

Kos said...

We certainly are due for a movie of the month.

This is Jeff, btw. I figure if Nobody can become Teacake, I can become Jefe.

Natsthename said...

YEs, a HItchcock film would be excellent!

So many to choose from, though.
Rear Window
North By Northwest
Vertigo
Notorius
Psycho
and on and on and on...

Anonymous said...

Why not one that a lot of people haven't seen? I think "Frenzy" was pretty intense.

Anonymous said...

Or "Rope".

Teacake said...

Why not one that a lot of people haven't seen?

Someone tried that last time and a lot of people still haven't seen it, cause you can't rent those.

Natsthename said...

Rope is awesome, too. But I want to be able to FIND THE MOVIE! ;)

Anonymous said...

I've never had a problem finding either of those, or the movie that seemed to elude everyone else. Did anyone look before objecting? Wasn't discovering new films part of this site's purpose to begin with?

Kos said...

Spellbound!

Speaking of Rear Window, the wife and I saw a modern remake (well, more of an homage), Disturbia, Friday night, and I have to say I really enjoyed it. I also have to say that there were some definite problems with the movie, but for the most part it was much better than I'd expected. This is in large part because of Shia LaBeouf, who I think is the standout actor of the new generation.

Teacake said...

Shia LeBeouf is a great young actor, agreed.