Film analysis

After the lecture on psychoanalysis, we were shown a film containing 'psychological terror' which our set project is based upon.

Since we have been set the project we have watched two films so far, these were The Shining and Peeping Tom.

The Shining (1980) directed by Stanley Kubrick.

I noted some of the things within this film which I found distilled the feeling of 'Psychological terror' to the viewer.

-The music created tension and gave an uneasy feel to the film. It also plays a big part, like another character. Loud strings were used in some scenes and it made the viewer feel as though something terrible could/might happen.

-The terrible crime committed before the films storyline begins, gives the feeling that it is hanging over the entire film and is very much part of the action as Jack slowly changes.

-The sets are simple, not too cluttered. Big empty spaces, tall wide rooms and corridors makes you feel like anyone could be lurking around and it would be easy to get lost- this is kind of linked to the maze outside of the hotel. The floors of the hotel have large geometric shapes. In one particular scene when the little boy has a ball rolled to him as he is playing with cars on the carpets shapes, I could see arrows in the carpet. These were almost beckoning the boy to walk in the direction of the ball but at the same time he patterned carpet was creating arrows in the opposite direction- this for me would be the direction the little boy should be going in to get out of a incident/scare that seems to be about to happen.

The use of children in thriller/horror genres create a creepy mood/feeling. Children and horror make a good combination and have been used before in many other films to great effect. I feel the reason why it works in the shining may come from the Freudian theory of Id, Ego and Superego. The child representing the Id and the father the Superego. In this instance the Superego is threatening to the Id and the visions the Id sees could come from the unconscious mind of the child- perhaps manipulated by the Superego.

Peeping Tom (1960) directed by Michael Powell.

I found this an interesting film when applying it to the work of Freud.

The main character, Mark (serial killer) seemed to me to switch places with the other characters when labelling them the Id, Ego and Superego.

First off, when he kills his first victim and meets Helen, he is the Ego suppressing his Superego. the woman in the Id. His second victim also is the Id.

He had a strange relationship with his father and his father filmed him as a child just as he does now with the world around him. In this respect his father becomes the Superego and I feel that Mark becomes the Id and Helen who is sat watching the the footage of his fathers on the screen becomes the Ego.

At the end in the last scenes Helens mother becomes the Superego, telling Mark to stay away from her daughter. I feel now that Helen and Mark switch from Id to Ego as they both struggle to deal with what is going on around them.