There is a common occurrence since the advent of modern psychology. Theories and practices gradually become accepted as fact by the general public. In this process the ideas often become diluted and perverted. Eventually the psychological community moves on and distances themselves from the now apostate public religion of psychology. The public holds their dogma and it reveals itself by way of the media they produce. Films like Ordinary People and Secret Window openly express the public religion and faith of psychology of the eras that produced them. (As Dr. Kathryn Raily says in Twelve Monkeys, “Psychology is the religion of our day.”) One can therefore see the value in viewing a film of a period as representative of the psychological dogma of the era.
Though Freud’s psychoanalysis had been practiced and accepted in the psychological community for decades, it had really gained ground in the public mind by the 1940’s. It seemed that everyone was being psychoanalyzed and exposing their various complexes and neuroses. Producer David O. Selznick was no different. Having been through his own psychoanalysis he felt the need to really share what it could be about. He teamed up with Alfred Hitchcock to produce Spellbound which one could deem a demented love note to the diluted and apostate psychoanalysis of the public mind. By taking a critical eye to the representation of psychoanalysis in the film one can better understand what people believed about the subconscious mind and how important it was to their everyday lives.
The film proper begins with a placard describing in extremely simplified and, honestly, thinly restrained jubilant terms. It is very clear that the film is expressing the belief that psychoanalysis is an effective, and perhaps the most effective, means of solving emotional problems. The truncated description in said placard and the expository language of our female protagonist as she is treating her patients indicates the quaint idea that the psychoses and neuroses are simply resolved through the miracle of psychoanalysis.
The film makes use of many of the concepts of psychoanalysis, presenting them in clear and simplified terms. Perhaps the most notorious aspect of this theory is the phallus and its importance in expressing repressed anxieties and desires (some would argue that the mommy issues of the Oedipal complex are more infamous). Freud indicates that the fear of losing any significant body part indicates fear of castration. Since this is such an arresting idea the film uses it to potent effect in several ways. When our lovely protagonist,Constance, is introduced she smoking a cigarette in a long cigarette holder. The very idea of a woman being the protagonist is shocking and then to have her manipulate the phallus shows that she is usurping the male role. She resists overtures from men and is accused of being cold and scientific; male traits. The other men are threatened by her position representing their fear of castration.
When John Ballentyne arrives, in the persona of Dr. Edwards, he appears weak and unsure. As the events of his psychosis are revealed Constance then takes the dominant role. This is a symbolic castration of John as his power is taken by the women we saw manipulate the phallic cigarette.
Soon we are introduced to Constance’s “father”, her mentor who willingly and happily takes them in. That night he has an episode and takes a straight razor, another phallus*, and enters the room where Constance is sleeping. He looks at her in the bed and we are shown his tight grip on the razor. The shot is both aggressive in preparing to use the phallus to regain his power from the castrator and protective tightly gripping the phallus to protect it from harm or removal. The aggression is transferred to the “father”. John descends the stairs with phallus still in hand and confronts the “father”. We don’t see John’s face rather it cuts between shots of the “father” and the phallus/razor set at crotch level (very subtle, Mr. Hitchcock, very subtle). The “father” then satiates John’s aggression with a glass of milk. Milk representing the mother’s breast so he satiates the castration anxiety with the comfort of nursing at the mother’s breast. He falls asleep, as an infant in that moment of perfect bliss.
These representations of psychoanalysis are indicative of the kind of expectations of audiences in the 1940’s. Their understanding of psychoanalysis was limited to the sensational aspects of the theory like phalluses and castration complexes. Besides the inscrutable minutiae of real psychoanalysis doesn’t put butts in the seats, but phalluses certainly will. Spellbound has become then an interesting insight into the popularity of an idea and its representation in media and thereby the perpetuation of those ideas to our day. So even now, our understanding of psychoanalysis is more molded by the truncated version in media rather than a careful study of the source text. It will be interesting to see what current conceptions of psychology represented in the media will look like through the glass of time.
*I admit that it is terrifying to condense the phallus with the means of castration.
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