Universität Leipzig
Institut für Amerikanistik
Lehrstuhl für Literaturwissenschaft
Hauptseminar: Psychoanalysis in Literature
WS 2006/07
"Madonna On the Couch:"
A Psychoanalytic View On Madonna's Music Videos
Matthias Groß
Amerikanistik (2. HF KMW)
10. Studiensemester
10. Fachsemester
Matrikelnummer: 9109940
Abgabe: 20. Juni 2007
"Sigmund Freud,
analyze this!"
(Madonna,
Die Another Day
)
2
Content
1. Introductory Remarks
page 4
2. Part I Preliminary Theory
5
2.1 Psychoanalysis And Film: A Theoretical Cross-Over
5
2.2 The Dream Screen: Dream Work And Cinema
8
3. Part II Madonna Meets Freud
11
3.1
Die Another Day
or: "The Dissection of the Psychical Personality"
11
3.2
Human Nature
or: "Beyond the Pleasure Principle"
13
3.3
Frozen
or: "The Uncanny"
17
4. Conclusion or: "Psychopathic People On the Stage"
19
5. Bibliography
21
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1. Introductory Remarks
This paper is taking interest in Madonna and psychoanalysis, yet it is not supposed to
conclude as an analysis of Madonna and her psychic condition as a patient. However, what I am
trying to do on the following pages is to detect and employ various concepts of Freud's
revolutionary theory (or rather theories) in the context of pop star Madonna and her music
videos in particular. Initiated by a seminar on psychoanalysis and literature, this paper tries to
portray how influential Freud's findings were and to this day still are, but probably also that the
post-Freudian society at times seems to escape into thoroughly explaining matters with the help
of their layman understandings and ideas of psychoanalysis. What I am trying to say is that one
is tempted to overdo interpretations with the help of psychoanalysis, ignoring the fact that it has
limitations as well. I noticed myself, especially, becoming oblivious to that fact when analyzing
Madonna. That occurrence, however, exemplifies how prone we are, as post-Freudians, to
employ this theory in our thinking, understanding, and interpretation of ideas and concepts; not
only in academic spheres, but also in everyday life.
I have tried to structure this paper in accordance of the various psychoanalytic concepts
that I chose to discuss in regard to Madonna's music videos. However, my intended agenda for
this essay proved somewhat incompatible with my findings, which means that quite frequently
there was no clear-cut distinction to make between, for instance, the universal prominence of
sexuality and the dream and their overall importance in applying psychoanalytic theory on
literary texts (in this case on music videos and sequences). Owing to better readability and
coherence, however, I still arranged this paper in chapters, pointing out once more that cross-
references and repetitions to some extent are indispensable.
Since the focus of this paper is on Madonna's music videos, visual representations so to
speak, I start out discussing the importance of psychoanalysis and its ramifications for film
theory. I have struggled with the equalization of entire films, in which film theory is based, and
music videos; yet I have found that these sequences, in a way, tell entire stories as well, and,
owing to their limitations in regard to the time frame, are condensed to a much larger extent
than are ordinary films, which is reflected in the frequent employment of symbolism and ciphers
in music-video composition (This condensation itself implies a close similarity to Freud's
comments about the dream-work.) Beginning with general theoretical observations on film
theory and psychoanalysis in terms of modes and conventions of perception I will lead to the
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discussion of the actual contents of Madonna's music videos in regard to at least some of
Freud's ideas.
2. Part I Preliminary Theory
The noticeable affinity of literary studies and psychoanalysis not only becomes
prominent when taking into consideration that psychoanalytic models and theory development
were contingent upon or at least oriented themselves on myths rather than having a distinct
scientific basis but also, and probably to a much higher degree, considering that both concern
themselves with language and texts and, accordingly, decipher or decode them to expose latent
meanings and separate them from the manifest contents. That linkage between the two
disciplines would be conferrable to film theory as well.
2.1 Psychoanalysis And Film: A Theoretical Cross-Over
Whereas the discourse in regard to psychoanalysis is based on practical ("talking cure")
rather than theoretical grounds, discourses in film theory emphasize a cultural practice of
imagination (Kappelhoff 2002: 130). In that respect, cinema and film are media of exchange
processes maintaining specific relationships to the unconsciousness of society and its
individuals.
1
Stressing this relationship, film becomes comparable to the analytic discourse, i.e.
conscious symbolic actions correlate with unconscious psychic activities (Kappelhoff 2002:
130).
Independent of the actual contents of films, they generate and convey ideological
consciousness, meaning that display formats, narrative structures, and cinematic codes stress
the consciousness-building function of film and modes of its reception. Thus, psychoanalytic
concepts in film describe a cultural practice which is primarily determined by exercitations of
imaginativeness and the satisfaction of lusts (Kappelhoff 2002: 133). The realistic effect of
1
In his essay "Civilization And Its Discontents" Freud concerns himself with the emergence of culture within
society and discusses concepts which are essential for the functioning of society and the establishment of
culture. Freud himself stresses the projection of individual psychic processes onto the level of general society in
one of his self reflections: "Immer klarer erkannte ich, daß [sic] die Geschehnisse der Menschheitsgeschichte,
die Wechselwirkungen zwischen Menschennatur, Kulturentwicklung und jenen Niederschlägen urzeitlicher
Erlebnisse, als deren Vertretung sich die Religion vordrängt, nur die Spiegelung der dynamischen Konflikte
zwischen Ich, Es und Über-Ich sind, welche die Psychoanalyse beim Einzelmenschen studiert, die gleichen
Vorgänge, auf einer weiteren Bühne wiederholt." (Freud 1950: 32) A detailed discussion of that matter will
follow in chapter 3. 2
Human Nature
or: "Beyond the Pleasure Principle."
5
cinematic images, in that respect, constitutes, in a way, an ideological delusion which conceals
the technical construction, the aesthetic conception, and the ideological function of an artificial
aggregation of cultural practice. The core of this practice described in terms of perceiving is the
convention of employing the central perspective. This codification of visual perception, to a
certain extent, ensures the integrity of a subject's relation to the world and compensates the
loss of the totality of the metaphysical view of the world by means of that subject's unifying
view. Accordingly, this stylistic convention enables the subject to identify with the
representation and make sense of it by the illusion of a universal gaze
2
which converts the
fragmentary reality into totality and, thus, allows the viewers to conceive themselves as
omnipotent subjects and to cater to their fantasies of power. In this context, identification is
feasible on two distinct levels: a primary identification of the viewer with the gaze of the camera
is confronted with a secondary identification of the viewer with the protagonists of the film
(Kappelhoff 2002: 134). The psychoanalytic model of the apparatus of the psyche can, thus, be
transferred to the cinematographic apparatus and, ultimately, ascribed the ideological function
indicated above:
The `reality' mimed by the cinema is thus first of all that of a `self.' But
because the reflected image is not that of the body itself but that of a world
already given as meaning, one can distinguish two levels of identification. The
first, attached to the image itself, derives from the character portrayed as a
center of secondary identifications, carrying an identity which constantly must
be seized and reestablished. The second level permits the appearance of the
first and places it `in action' this is the transcendental subject whose place is
taken by the camera which constitutes and rules the objects in this `world.'
(Baudry 1986: 295)
In the context of the theoretical observation on how psychoanalytic theory can be
employed in the discussion of film and film theory, and especially in regard to the elaborations
concerning identification, I would like to refer to Lacan's theorization of the psyche. Lacan,
similar to Freud, distinguishes between different divisions of the psyche: the Real, the Symbolic
Order, and the Imaginary Order. To cut it short I only summarize the importance of Lacan's
theoretical conceptions for this paper: the Real marks the materiality of existence which always
exceeds the meaning structures of the Symbolic Order and, thus, is incomprehensible for the
individual. The Symbolic Order is about language and narrative and, through language, is "the
2
Especially Jacques Lacan in the context of psychoanalysis has widely theoretically discussed the term.
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