Post-modern prisons

In the labyrinth of high school peer politics and social regulations, the prison guard in the Panopticon is not the principal, it is the Cool Standard. This unseen guard imposes strict codes on dress and behavior, eliciting fear and angst at the spectre of making a horrid uncool mistake.


I know he has passed away, but when reading of Jean-Francois Lyotard's "incredulity towards meta-narratives," and his claim that any code of universal ethics is impossible, I am tempted to inflict something sudden, irrational, and mean--like a kick in the shin--and try to make him admit: Okay that's just not right!

Foucault

Who's the Boss?

According to Foucault, modern society is veined with suppressing invisible threads of power and politics. These strictures render us docile and obedient,doing what is boring, disagreeable or even humiliating because we are told to by a boss, teacher, police officer, any designated member of society that has some sort of power over us. Keeping the status quo, acting socially acceptable, not making a scene, keeping one's nose to the grindstone, not making waves, doing what we're told. But even when the boss is not around, we self-discipline. Imagine you are driving a road in the middle of nowhere, not another car for miles, and you come to a stop sign. Do you stop?

Analysis 3, Psychoanalysis

Psycho Planet

In this episode of Star Trek “Return of the Archons,” the crew of the Enterprise discovers a society that is forcefully manipulated into a psychologically compartmentalized existence that fits into Sigmund Freud’s three delineated manifestations of the theory of the mind. By day the citizens appear to be completely under the influence of the ego, which Freud describes in The Ego and the Id as that “which seeks to bring the influence of the external world to bear upon the id” (Freud 19) The citizens are complacent, happy, controlled by “what may be called reason and common sense” (Freud 19) . At 6:00 pm however, the festival red hour begins, and for twelve hours these same citizens turn violent and libidinous, completely descending into the id as Freud describes it in his New Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis, “we call it a chaos, a cauldron full of seething excitations... It is filled with energy reaching it from the instincts… striving to bring about the satisfaction of the instinctual needs subject to the observance of the pleasure principle” (Freud 498, 499) . In control of this pendulum swing is the god-like Landru, the lawgiver.
It turns out Landru is a computer who claims that before it took over, the planet was plagued with war, hate, unhappiness, uncertainty, and crime. In other words, like our normal human existence. Landru’s daytime controlled society is happy and peaceful, with none of the “ancient evils.” But, Landru realized the necessity for instituting a specific regulated escape valve for the id. Real life human existence is a continual struggle of balancing the id. The “ego in its relation to the id is like a man on horseback, who has to hold in check the superior strength of the horse” (Freud 19).
As the “lawgiver” in control of these psychological states, god-like Landru has set himself up as a figure who must be obeyed. In this way he fits into Freud’s role of “the super-ego [who] retains the character of the father” (Freud 30) .

Works Cited

Freud, Sigmund. The Ego and the Id. New York: W.W. Norton, 1960. 19-30. Print.

Freud, Sigmund. New Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis. The Essentials of Psychoanalysis. Ed. Anna Freud. New York: Penguin, 1986. 498-499. Print.

If a Mirror Cracks in the Forest...

Introduced last Wednesday to Slavoj Žižek, the self-proclaimed Lacanian and Slovenian "rock star" of philosophy. I was struck by his off-hand comment that in his earlier books he naively supported democracy. This opinion appears to be linked to his view of his core as somehow untrustworthy and negative. He is clearly a rebel thinker, and brave enough to throw political correctness on its ear. A cursory look at his Puppet and the Dwarf, The Perverse Core of Christianity, reveals an unexpected stance; instead of the typical, liberal slam against a belief in absolutes, Žižek criticizes western intellectual's postmodern ethical relativism and recommends some sort of Christianity.

Regarding Lacan's crucial mirror stage, where the baby fragments into realization of another self--the separate idealized version of self. Alienation arises because the mirror image appears more whole than the baby's own uncoordinated self, and voila, ego is born to attain mastery over the image.
But what if there are no mirrors? What if the baby only sees others for months, even a few years, before he/she sees an image of him/herself. Sounds like a premise.

Hamlet's Mommy Issues

With filmmaker Zeferelli's Freudian glasses on, Hamlet's "closet scene" is rife with juicy Oedipal possibilities. Before the prince enters his mother's chamber, he says "now I could drink hot blood." Hmmm, mother's milk? Hamlet says, "I will speak daggers to her." Phallic allusions? Mel Gibson quickly ramps up the emotion to a full state of id release as he expresses his frustration and rage towards his mother, and in this state,he pulls out his sword and thrusts it. (Into what he thinks is his false father figure, the uncle, but who is actually Polonius). Zeferelli stages the controversial kiss just before Hamlet sees the ghost of his father. Is the ghost a projection of Hamlet's guilt for harboring sexual feelings towards his mother?

Structuralism Presentation

In the process of formulating the content of our presentation, I came up with some ideas regarding relating structuralism to the use of homonyms and homophones, and jumbled word theory which I emailed to our group. We had an effective communication via email, and we also had an efficient and creative group meeting to define and divide up our duties. I contributed six images (or signifieds) and six words (signifiers) to our "What's Your Sign?" game, and I also researched the historical role and importance of structuralism in the development of psychology as a science.

We each had a slide of the power point to explain, and my slide contained the terms "langue" "diachronically" and "synchronically" and I attempted to convey these concepts in laymen's terms. I also discussed the importance of structuralism in the development of the first school of psychology.

I emailed this sample of jumbled letters to my group, and although the sample did not make it into the presentation, I found it fascinating so I will include it here.

Arocdnicg to rsceearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer are in the rghit pcale. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit pobelrm. Tihs is buseace the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

Defamiliarization

They give these shoes to us --these shoes that people on the outs can choose to pay a lot of money for. They make me wear these shoes that take me through that door that will slam my life behind me--my lady, my baby, my mom who’s suffered and done so much for me. If I could, I would run my feet to bloody pulp the other way, back in time, correct that time, stay in line. It’s too late for time to serve me. Instead, it’s the other way around.

Structuralism Analysis

As in Saussure's breakdown of signifier and signified as having the dual potential influences of the synchronic and the diachronic in our understanding and experience, so too in advertising image there can be an intended effect operating on two levels: the immediate, and the historical. "Everything that relates to the static side of our science is synchronic; everything that has to do with evolution is diachronic" (Saussure 64). Because the Converse All-Star sneaker has kept the same basic design since the 1950's, it has diachronic or historic appeal. Basketball player Chuck Taylor favored the shoe, and it became popular with 1950's greaser and rockabilly culture. The low top version of the shoe was designed by Chuck Taylor in the '60's and the sneaker was adopted as a fashion trend among punk rockers of the '70's and '80's. The same style of black tennis shoe has also been the issued shoe in the Los Angeles Juvenile Hall system since the '60's. This vintage, unchanged design, in association with sports stars, rock and roll and criminality has given the shoe a tremendous counter-culture allure. The hard reality, however, of life in juvenile hall, is not very alluring.

Works Cited

Saussure, Ferdinand. "Course in General Linguistics." Literary Theory: An Anthology. Ed. Julie Rivkin, Michael Ryan. Malden:Blackwell, 1998. 64. Print.