Freudian Psychoanalysis

The face behind the analytic theory: Sigmund Freud - an Austrian psychiatrist that believed that a huge part of the conscious is developed through our subconscious. The things in which we suppress while conscious make up who we are; we are what we think and the things we choose to hide or refuse to address play a role in our overall being.

The Freudian Psychoanalysis theory claims that a person's identity is not passed on or inherited through genes but is a result from their past experiences specifically taking place during youth. Result of identity is influenced by outside forces that were encountered during the early experiences in their lives. In our textbook, it states that Freud believed that babies are born with an ability to experience pleasure of all kinds, labeling this as the polymorphously preserve. The states of developing sexuality occurs in stages:
1. Oral stage: the bond between a mother and her child through breastfeeding. (The mouth being the main erotigenic zone, where most pleasurable needs are met) - Comforting fantasies
2. Anal and phallic stages: Pleasure in letting go of wastes, while phallic stages focus on the genitals as a whole. - Sadistic fantasies and the phallic stage associates with fantasies of control.
3. Oedipus complex: The child's mental structure on desires that are both conscious and unconscious are separated and preserved based on a mother and father influence.

Being so concerned with the mind Freud sought out to understand the bases of humans different factors thrill us, captivate us, as well as our sexual experiences, but mostly how we arrive at our final destination and what drives our direct human action. "Our subjectivity is the result of identification with outside forces and contact with those outside forces results in the formation of the conscious and unconscious divide."   

Image source: Google Images.

The Pleasure Principle vs. Reality Principle: Psychoanalytic Analysis

                                                                                        (Copyrights to YouTube)

The concept of this term pleasure principle reminds me of Janet Jackson's hit song from back in the day entitled "Pleasure Principle" and although they are two completely different matters when compared to what the pleasure principle is from a psychoanalytic perspective, the factor still remains that there is desire present in our wants and potential needs. By the Sigmund Freud, the pleasure principle is defined as: "the uncontrollable human drive to satisfy desire, or an appetite for something that promises enjoyment, satisfaction and pleasure in its attainment." As humans, we crave and desires things in the matter of sex, food and power in all forms. What the psychoanalytic analysis proposes is that pleasure comes from many things we might not associate with, things such as rules and laws. Pleasure does not only concern the parts of life where we experience joy and comfort, pleasure can also come from thrill and excitement - our own forms of ecstasy. The pleasure principle works as an aid to allow people to experience satisfaction that is unrestricted and in all forms for every possible desire.

On contrary to the pleasure principle, the reality principle which "represents the constant curbing of desire according to possibility, law, or social convention."(Ott et al. 2012). This theory is associated with the ego which is a part of the mind where we outweigh the positive and negatives of a particular situations before we make a final decision; desire is no longer present, but the conscience and the concern of the outcome become the main priority. Thus leading into repression which is the process of mentally keeping our desires below recognition; in other words not expressing our desires but rather suppressing them instead.

The common difference between the pleasure principle and the reality principle is that in one sense you are only concerned with obtaining pleasure while the other proposes weighing out the cause and effect of a desire, controlling the desire for pleasure, and understanding the concept of moderation and self control.

Othering & Media.

        The relationship between what is "normal" and what is "white" is the concept of othering. It is another branch in media representation that diminishes minorities by classifying them under a "white" category which represents the idea of what is natural and what is considered to be the norm. These terminologies are not meant to be considered as racial classifications but it has proposed many consequences due to its practices. Othering has a significant history, stemming back to its use in early Hollywood times. Specifically speaking, actresses and actors of colour were hired and given the roles of playing ethnic character such as Native American characters for instance, while actors of white American decent played the roles of characters similar to that profile. The process of this concept of othering had brought about clear distinction between white and non white actors and this has impacted today's culture in media.

                   "The notion of othering greatly influences the way media texts function in America"...

Taking rap music as a common example of difference or othering in media today, the genre is often characterized as a genre where most African Americans popularize it and thus making it a norm to be a place where a certain general population participate mostly with because it is accepted as what's normal and what society is used to. However rap artists of different races such as Eminem for example have changed this perception that rap is an all one type culture and nothing more. But what acts as the othering factor here is the difference between middle class, white individuals involved in the rap genre versus the African American rap culture norm proposed on society for years on end.

How Does Ideology Work?

         Well, how does Ideology create us? How does it work? How does it even influence us to begin with? Think about back in the day, before religion became the base of some social structures, the way elders got the young to believe in their truths was through story telling. Myths of all kinds, no matter how unrealistic a dragon that was half human was capable of changing the weather with the snap of his fingers, spreading fire throughout the land when his people rebelled against him sounded - whatever it was, it was used to install a different sort of truth into their people.

"Ideological Processes: How Does Ideology Work?
1. Myth (Roland Barthes) – a sacred story or “type of speech” that confirms and reproduces ideologies in relationship to a cultural object such as a media artifact.
2. Doxa (Pierre Bourdieu) – knowledge that is beyond question—the “common sense” aspects of culture that supports certain ideologies as simply “the way things are”.

3. Hegemony (Antonio Gramsci) – the process by which one ideology subverts other competing ideologies and gains cultural dominance"

           Ideology not only is a proposed way to live, our own personal idea of where the truth lies, its what we believe in and it is what we practice. Similar to culture, ideology embodies the same attributes of purpose and impact in each individual that abides by these ideologies - these ways of living and practices; whether forcefully or by genuine desire. “Ideological discourse not only speaks to us, it creates the us”. 

                                                                                                       Image source: Google Images.

Ideology: What is it?

        The concept of  Ideology is based on a culture's specific idea of sets of beliefs and customs. This also deals with habits and rituals which are continuously practiced in the given society. Those who abide by these customs, the beliefs in which they stand by are conceived to be the truth, it is what is believed to be natural and useful to their lives and to those in their culture. However, different truths apply to different people and cultures. Religion is a perfect example of an ideology, a truth that is perceived by one group of people, but considered to be aloof to another. The contrast between Muslim faith and Catholic faith, they both possess different ideas of truth, faith, and belief. These sets of beliefs may seem arbitrary, or false to those who adhere to another ideology. "Within any given culture, many ideologies coexist; some are marginalized while others are hegemonic (i.e. dominant and the cultural norm)"

Now that we have understood the underlying message behind what ideology is, the next question this proposes is: what does it do? In class, it was listed that Ideology:
1. Limits the range of acceptable and even conceivable ideas.
2. Normalizes (e.g., naturalizes) particular sets of social relations.
3. Privileges some interests over others.
4. Interpellates individuals into subjects.

Ideologies may be held consciously or unconsciously, people are also either forced into these ideologies or simply willing to adapt to them. Hailing is term used to describe when individuals recognize and respond to an ideology and allow it to represent who they are. Culture is closely related to the concept of ideology, these two impacts reflect on the individual, as our textbook states, individuals are “always already interpellated” into ideology. 

(Image source: Google Images)

Semiology: Signs & Language.

Semiology, a concept established by Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913) described to be, "“A science that studies the life of signs within society. Semiology investigates the nature of signs and the laws that govern them” (Critical Media Studies, p. 101). As stated in class, the importance of semiology lays in the fact that it permits us to understand and analyze culture as if it were a language. Signs clarify our understanding, they indicate what we are trying to express through language, symbolizing a specific meaning. It proposes the question: if signs did not exist, how would life be? How would we know what to do, when too much is enough or is not enough? Basically, how do we know? There are three characteristics of signs: a. Arbitrary, b. Linear and c. Difference.

According to our Critical Media Studies textbook, Arbitrary is "the meaning of a sign is dependent on its social, historical and cultural context.", Linear means that signifiers operate in a chain which changes the meaning of what is being said and finally Difference associates with the way one sign recalls the other, even if it is not present. "Meaning is made through absence. Meaning is made through difference." If we cannot distinguish one word from another then we cannot communicate. For example, the meaning of “man” is defined through difference and by its opposite: woman. To be a man is not to be a woman. We require one to know about the other. Media associates with this concept in terms of the types of information and data they present to the world.

                                                "This idea of binary oppositions is very important."

Taken from powerpoint, copyright to Professor Petit.

Culture & Media.

Culture is what makes each of us different from the next. Culture is what defines us as humans and classifies us in society. It is the traditions we are taught and it is in what we are taught that reflects in our impact in society and how we contribute to it. Culture is defined according the freedictionary.com as: The patterns, traits, and products considered as the expression of a particular period, class, community, or population.

“Culture is one of the two or three most complicated words in the English language. This is so partly because of its intricate historical development, in several European languages, but mainly because it has now come to be used for important concepts in several distinct intellectual disciplines and in several distinct and incompatible systems of thought.”

Raymond Williams, Keywords (1976) 

http://pubpages.unh.edu/~dml3/880williams.htm#N_1_

Culture defines what we consider reality to be. Media is a universal influence world wide, thus reflecting how much we consider to be our own realities and perceptions of what is real and what is not. There are no boundaries within culture and what media considers to be right and just. It is important for media companies keep every aspect of freedom of speech and expression as the main focus because the more audience they have to appeal to, the better. Media strives to paint the picture of having something made for everyone. This is the definition of culture. The influence of semiology is the ability for culture to act as a language. What we speak, express and communicate to one another and around the world. Signs, language are the key concepts of communication. What we speak is our language, which is stemmed from our culture; to be elaborated on in the following post.