閒情逸致

This week, we discussed “Jensen’s Gradiva”  in “Gaze, representation and identification” class. Freud was one of the most influent psychologist in 20th Century, even his doctrine does not treated as a scientific therapy now. In Freud’s theory, the mental illness, such as delusion or phantasy, showed the dissatisfactions of private rooted desires which are linked to childhood repressed memories, especially  the lost of sexuality. Besides, the desires to your parents will cause anxiety, and the one who you love may resemble with your parents for satisfying your predestined lost sexuality. In Freud’s idea, there is no delusion or desire existing without reasons. Dreams merge real things you experienced and your unconsciousness.

Gradiva is an excellent mode to fit psychoanalysis, the male character is an archeologist who repressed his sexuality by focusing on ancient sculpture, however, his sexual desire derived from the vivid female sculpture and he fell into delusion. Until he discovered his forgotten memories about his female playmate, his delusion was disappeared hence. So to conscious his unconsciousness is the most effective therapy. But should Freud take fictional characters, who were created by German writer Jensen, as real patients? Or should every problem lead to the simple conclusion of sexual lost?

In Psychology, Freud’s therapy is outdated. However, it is an attractive spectator in literal  research. I can't omit saying that psychoanalysis is really very interesting, so I decide to play an analyst to analyze myself for fun.

I was fond of a guy named Feng. After the first meeting with him, I had a dream. In the dream, he held my hand and carried me on his back. I laughed peacefully.  I try to find something which can remind my repressed memory, then I found an old picture which implied that I once had a male friend in kindergarten and I finally remember his name which is the same with  “ Feng”.  Besides, I appreciate the character, Xiao Feng, in martial novel “Tian Long Ba Bu”. Therefore, the name was an inscription as a stimulus of my imagines of man.So the name and the way he talked,which lets me think of my father, aroused my repressed desirable memories and made he become an erotic object. It may be the more acceptable reason to interpret the mysterious emotion, but there was another question emerged from my experiment, if I could conscious my unconsciousness by Freud’s way, will it sill belong to the category of “unconsciousness”?

In additon to psychoanalysis, we are all accustomed in habits, even those are not good. Based on it, it is reasonable to explain the imagines of lovers are overlapped parents’ shadows.

Anyway, this kind of brainstorm was interesting. Maybe it can solve mental problems.

p.s : Andre Masson once painted "Gradiva", which is a perfect sample to express repressed erotic desires.