The Awakening Psychoanalytic Analysis

In 2011, the film called: The Awakening was relaeased. Which is not to be confused with the book of the same title by Kate Chopin. Even though there were mixed reviews on the movie, it should not take away that this would be a dream for all Sigmund Freud enthusasists. There is a number of elements that correspond to his thoeries on personality and psychoanalysis. The film is about Florence Cathcart, an author and debunker of the supernatural, sometime in post-World War I. After a boy 's death, she is requested to investigate a boarding school that is reportedly having sighting a ghost on the grounds. She soon finds out that there is more to the story. In the beginning of the movie, Florence breaks up a fake seance. During her explaination

From a psychoanalytic perspective, one could say that these issues stemmed from the anal psychosexual stage of her infancy (between 1 and 3 years of age) (3). Robert even comments, "you strike me as a woman that won 't do anything she doesn 't want to do" (4). The phrase "anal retentive", comes from Freud theory that if a child that experiences a conflict in the anal psychosexual stage, then they may develope personality traits that are aqauinted with a child 's efforts dealing with using the bathroom. These traits being: being methodical, stubbornness, and being controlling. Another trait that Florence seems to exibit is an oral fixation (her smoking). The idea of oral fixations is another one of Freud 's theorys relating to the psychosexual stages. This one being assoicated to the oral stage, which is commonly from birth to about one year of age. In this time frame the mouth is the main focus of gratifcation, for example putting things in the mouth and feeding. While at the boarding school a few boys are observed beating up another student. These same children appear several times bulling other students. This behavior could be described as The Awakening