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Writer's pictureThe Katabasis Program

Reading for Session III: Freud, Mulvey, and Voyeurism

Updated: Mar 15, 2023

Colleagues, Thanks for a great second class discussing queer theory, Nietzsche, and Hitchcock's numerous methods of control. The next time we see each other, we will move into more explicit psychoanalysis via Freud and Mulvey. ** REMINDER: We are skipping next Tuesday, Feb 1st, and will have our third class session on Tuesday February 8th** We've moved a few things around in the syllabus this week to accommodate our slightly shorter class time as we bump into longer movies. Required: Screening of Rear Window (in previous class or at home) Selections from The Ego and the Id, Sigmund Freud (PDF) “Visual Pleasure in Narrative Cinema”, Laura Mulvey (PDF) Optional: “Symbolic, Imaginary, Real… and True” from Lacan, Malcolm Bowie (PDF) Screening of Peeping Tom

  • In The Ego and the Id, famed psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud posits his tripartite theory of the psyche: the animalistic Id, the slightly more controlled and composite "I" of the Ego, and the imposed societal and religious order known as the Super-Ego. This reading is critical for both a) understanding the Mulvey piece, which will be our bread and butter for next class, and (b) for a general informed intellectual approach to Hitchcock at large. Note that the first 3-5 pages are dense but things quickly pick up (in a good way!) once you are over that hump.

  • You may not have heard of scholar Laura Mulvey before, but you have probably heard of the term “the male gaze”-- a term which this essay is often credited with inventing. Mulvey, a film theorist who adopted the politics of feminism and the language of Freud + Lacan, published this essay in 1975 as part of a major challenge to cinema itself. In contrast to other works we will read in this course, those of which focus specifically on the meaning and context of Hitchcock’s works, Mulvey uses Hitchcock’s works to critique broader trends in “narrative cinema” (a fancy term meaning “movies that tell a story”). This essay is notoriously a bit of a conceptual bear in the field, so wrestle with it such that you are ready to ask questions, but not to the point of exhaustion. This essay left a massive wake in both film theory and pop culture (there is even a movie at Sundance this week called “Brainwashed” which focuses on the male gaze), but please also try to consider the essay independent of any preexisting notions of “the male gaze” you might have.

  • *optional* Jacques Lacan, a psychoanalyst who inherited and interpreted the Freudian tradition, is notoriously dense to move through. Many of the most trained intellectuals rely primarily on secondary sources to help them navigate Lacan. Consequently, we have assigned a piece from secondary scholar Malcolm Bowie, who traces Lacan's tripartite structure of the Real, the Symbolic, and the Imaginary. While this piece is optional, it under girds a successful interpretation of Mulvey. Highly recommend!

  • * optional * Peeping Tom is an essential proto-slasher movie directed by late-career Michael Powell (of Powell and Pressburger, though this movie has a very different tone than Black Narcissus). It was released in 1960 and reviled to such a degree that it nearly ended Powell’s career. The movie came out before Psycho but explores extremely similar themes of male looking, voyeurism, and violence against women — making it an excellent pairing with the Mulvey essay.

Readings are either below as copyright allows, or can be found in the email sent to the class (contact us if you don't have access or are missing something!).


Cheers,

S/D






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