Skip to main content

The Mirror Scene | FIRST


The mirror is a coated surface that reflects a clear image of reality as any dictionary may define. However, the image that is seen by one would not solely be the clear image of reality, when the psychological state of whom is taken into consideration. The identification of self and the image of oneself that is intended to be seen through reflection may not be overlapping in several moments, it can be even the opposite. The ideal self that one wants to become is described as “ego ideal” which is desired to be seen when one looks toward its reflection. This relationship of one and its ego ideal is depicted through mirror scenes in the cinema since the mirror is a powerful metaphor in the case of referring interrelation of these terms. In cinema many of the characters who are in depressive states are depicted as they are falling apart from their reflections by putting distance in between the mirror and the performer, or placing the mirror in an unreachable position, indicating the disconnection of their existing self and their ideal personas. On contrary, the over-intimacy of the characters and their reflections may indicate the manic state of mind concerning the unification of the self and the ego ideal. Now, I am interested in revealing the underlying psychoanalytic references that discuss the relation of self and ego ideal, since the act of looking at the surface and recognizing oneself from there is interesting in itself. 




Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Umbrella | Sexual References

The interpretation of an umbrella as an erotic symbol dates back to Greco-Roman god Bacchus and his followers called bacchantes. Since Bacchus’s cult was mainly associated with pleasure, rave, and ecstasy, the usage of the umbrella in different occasions like festivals or events by cult members assigned an erotic meaning to that object. Later its associations were generally made with royalty and wealth and this aspect has been forgotten. After a long time has passed, the character named Henrietta Petowker in Nicholas Nickleby was portrayed as “[she] knows that she is admired at the theatre by the jauntily phallic appearance of a most preserving umbrella in the upper boxes” by Charles Dickens, while he was pointing out the erotic perception of the object. Sixty years later Freud explains the relationship of umbrellas with the unconscious as such “all elongated objects, sticks, tree-trunks, umbrellas (on account of the opening, which might be likened to an erection), all sharp and elonga...

The Magical Umbrella

Have you ever seen an umbrella that opens by itself when there is rain? It would sound ridiculous when one argues that he saw one in real life as if it can only be happening in some kind of a mythological story or in a fairytale that is made to be read by children. This magical object in vast size that one can not see its end, was there to protect all from a sudden change that no one can interfere with. First, people on earth could not understand how it intuits whether it is raining or not. One day, the umbrella stopped closing after the rain, then it became a dome for grounders as would sky. After a long time passes they forgot all about rain and sun rays by adopting it. Then imagine that the protector of yours has disappeared out of the blue, after all of the efforts you put collaboratively to beautify what you had. Now, you do not have anything on the ground to hide from the burning sun shining towards you as like you are under the spotlight on the stage. You are all wet under the r...

The Umbrella

The word umbrella derives from the Latin where “umbra” means shadow.    Similarly, “para” defines shelter or shield, and “sol” means sun and they construct the word “parasol” which is used with the term umbrella interchangeably, yet parasols have a straight shaft different than the curved handle of the umbrella. As their etymological roots suggest, the primal intention of creating this object was the protection from exposure to the sun around four millennia before today. The early materials used in the construction were the tree leaves and branches until the invention of paper in China. The paper predecessors of this object later oiled since then the function of them have expanded from sunshade to protection from the rain even though they were not totally waterproof. These oil-paper parasols as well as dry, silk parasols made their way to Europe around Renaissance and became a fashionable trend amongst women. In 1708 The Kersey’s Dictionary defined the umbrella as “a scre...