 this video I'd like to discuss psychoanalytic criticism as a framework for understanding and analyzing different artifacts that we find in media and and literature and different areas like that so Let's jump right in psychoanalytic criticism is grounded in the work of Sigmund Freud and his development of psychoanalysis And that's we're gonna talk a little bit about the the framework of psychoanalysis now I want to be clear. This is not a a judgment on psychoanalysis It's not a an endorsement nor is it, you know, trying to discard the the validity of psychoanalysis We're not gonna get into that at all. We're simply looking at these are the tenants Not whether they're right or wrong or anything like that But these are the tenants of psychoanalysis and then use that as a framework to lay over a different artifacts so that we can understand whether There's something psychologically Driving the creation of these artifacts and everything's like that. So again, we're not gonna get into whether or not, you know Freud had it right or wrong. We're just using his information here and it's the framework of psychoanalysis It's a tool for analyzing different artifacts So again rooted in the the theories of psychology and psychological development that were developed by Freud so in order to understand what kind of Framework that establishes we're gonna take a look at Freud's work. So here's some just very basics about about Freudian theories on psychoanalysis First of all, he was he was convinced that behavior is driven by the unconscious that we are the most of our behavior and our Interactions and things are driven by things that we don't consciously think about they're not at the forefront are on mine They're driven by you know, these things that we don't even realize are happening So and that these are largely developed by childhood events and he goes for a series of different Things that influence these things but two of the major ones are first our relationships with our parents and if you know anything about Freud you may know that he Really leaned into this the idea of the complicated relationship between a child and their mother For both, you know boys and girls when they're that that that relationship with their mother is what's paramount and that they're in conflict Constantly with the mother's attention with the other kids and with the father and different things like that so that those relationships are Are where a lot of this internal conflict comes from for us then also he goes through some different series of Physiological fixations to put it kindly he says that we are different times kind of obsession driven by the need to satisfy Different fixations that we have starting with an oral fixation for example, you know, babies are constantly putting things in their mouth They're they're sucking on their fingers in a past fire or whatever that that we have that kind of oral fixation Then he goes through different physiological areas including including you know sexual sexual organs and reproductive organs that that we become fixated with and that can really Kind of have a major impact according to Freud major impact when our ability to satisfy one of those physiological fixations is Interrupted or we are for whatever reason not able to satisfy those physiological fixations that that will stick with us and be a part of You know some conflict that we have some unsatiated need from childhood based on that so Lots of different things that he talked about those are two of the key ones But but really the core here is that that a lot of these subconscious behaviors that we develop Stem from our childhood and something that happened in our childhood and has a significant carryover into adulthood Freud also said that we developed defenses that are created to keep these conflicts buried Okay, that we we find ways to keep them pushed down so that they are not at the forefront as they remain in the subconscious or unconscious That and remain hidden from the conscious and so we're not fully aware of how these are influencing us Some of the different things and this is just a handful of the things that he mentioned are some of the different defenses that may be familiar to us are a Selective memory that we that we choose to remember certain things or or that we put a different spin on things You know in our adulthood the way things happen as a child that they may not have happened that way But but we just choose to remember certain things and not remember others We have this selective perception that we choose to see certain things and not see other things Based on what's going to be less harmful to our psyche in a sense We that we rely on denial and and on projection projecting our you know issues on other people and things and then various fears Maybe a fear of intimacy or fear of death or whatever, but these various fears that that we could that we try to keep Buried so we develop these defenses in order to do so and we developed you know fear of intimacy so that we won't be in danger of Being abandoned again or being you know feeling left out or whatever So so we just choose not to get involved because of that you know kind of proactively So to speak would be one of his ideas in terms of why we develop these defenses in order to keep these conflicts buried So okay, so our behaviors driven by our unconscious It stems from a lot of stuff that happens in our childhood in various ways And that we develop these defenses to keep those conflicts buried so that we don't actually have to deal with them, right? So then there are these three areas as a result that vie for dominance within us, right that we are constantly that are constantly Engaged in in battle themselves and engaged in conflict and these three things he called the id the ego and the super ego and just in a very broad Sense the id is where he says that the location of these drives is that it's what it's what's driving us It's our need for instant gratification. The id wants to be satisfied right now The the super ego to jump jump on and on the other side of things and leapfrog over ego for just a second The super ego is where our you know There's the location of our judgment. It's our moral compass It's what you know It's what we it's our beliefs and values and things like that that says, you know We can do this and we can't do that and it's also where we house Those things that's influenced by our society and by our culture in terms of what's right and wrong and what's you know What we can do and what we can't do So the super ego is where that so that you can see the id and the super ego are really at conflict with one another Then the ego is the location of these defenses that we talked about first of all It's where we keep everything down, but it's it's the middleman there It's the kind of you know, it's the arbitrator between the id and the super ego It's it's what's trying to satisfy both of those things Probably unsuccessfully since they're they're diametrically opposed, but the ego is then caught in the middle So you can think of it in a sense in cartoons We see this a lot of times right we have that a cartoon character I'll have the angel on one shoulder and the level on the other shoulder So the the angel would be our super ego telling us this is what's right. This is what's moral This is what we should be doing This is what a good person would do and you know a just person would do and then on the other shoulder We get the little devil which is our id saying no, I want this now I really want this and we and you want this and so we let's do it Let's just you know, why shouldn't we do it? Why should let's have that gratification right now And then the ego is in the middle right the ego is caught in the middle So if you are a Simpsons fan, I mean if you know this from the Simpsons You're a Simpsons fan This is this is portrayed very well in the characters of the Simpsons You know where Bart is the id Lisa is the super ego and Homer's caught in the middle So Bart we know is all about what do I want now? Let's just do it. Let's not think about it This is what I want. So why shouldn't I have it and why shouldn't I do it? So Bart's all about the id Lisa on the other hand is always in her head. She's always saying well That's not fair. That's not right Even though I want this I can't do this because it's gonna affect other people and it's gonna know so forth So she's the super ego on on the other extreme into that spectrum and Homer we know is caught in the middle He's constantly torn by what he wants whether it's a you know, whether it's a doughnut or whether it's what whatever it is That that he wants in that particular moment. He's drawn You know almost inexorably toward it, but at the same time he's got this kind of moral compass where he's saying Gosh, I shouldn't have that or I shouldn't it's gonna hurt somebody. It's gonna you know But but I really want to and so he's kind of caught in the middle We see Homer as the ego then in the Simpsons if you care to picture it that way But Freud said that all of these things are Influencing us these three areas are constantly vying for dominance within us and so we have this conflict not necessarily again Not consciously. We're not super aware of this But within us these these battles are going on at all times anyway And so finally he said then that all of this influences our adult behaviors And all stems from childhood stuff things that happen in our childhood Where we're either allowed to develop or our development and it's at a certain stage or in a certain area is Stunted in some way and so we don't get past it We become fixated on that and it becomes a major influence But that all of these things then carry over into adulthood and subconsciously unconsciously They drive all of our behaviors that they they dictate what we're gonna do and and what our mindset's gonna be on something and whether We know again not even consciously not even something that we realize and actively think about But they all influence us in a subconscious way in an unconscious way So those are the basics of Freud and I mean basics and that's just a quick overview And just to give us an idea of where we're coming out from this framework here So now that we have that understanding, let's look at the major premises then of psychoanalytic criticism Again, we're not concerned with whether or not for we'd got it right or not or whether it's you know Validist as therapy. That's not that's not our concern. Our concern is this is what's true about psychoanalysis According to Freud and so this is how we're going to use this as a framework moving forward So again Freud says that that our unconscious childhood Conflicts influence our adult behavior. So this is conflicts are still there conflict You know the results in that the the the the battles between the id and the super ego and and put in the ego in The middle and all of that then influences our adult behaviors. That's that site. That's the premise of psychoanalysis, right? So for our purposes We're gonna say that all of that that we just talked about shows through in what a person creates That their psychology will come through and be evident in their creation because they're going to be Unable to to stop it. It's unconscious, right? We can't we can't stop what's coming through so that by looking at what they create We as examiners we as viewers can Pull some insight based on that about that person about their their life and about their their values and so Recognizing then the psychological or attributes of the creator offers us as examiners insight into an artifact So we can see, you know, if that person was influenced by their psychology when they created that thing then we can see How so and we can kind of pull draw some conclusions about that person? Psychologically by examining this artifact and by what's coming through then That's the premise So some common questions that come up as a result of psychoanalytic Criticism first of all, how do the operations of a repression? Structure or inform the work? So the these these ideas of repression and conflict and things that weren't fully realized as a child and so For how does that come out? How does that inform the work? What can we tell about that person from this work? What what conclusions can we draw about their childhood and what then they were able to receive and and resolve and and what they weren't So how do the operations that repression? Structure or inform the work what edipal or other family dynamics are present again The edipus complex has to do with it. It's based on the play by Shakespeare Ed so the character adipus from the Shakespeare work who is becomes obsessed with his mother, right? And and so Freud says well, that's totally natural. He was in conflict You know as a child you all all male children are in conflict so to speak with their father for their mother's attention and Affection and he didn't get that so then he became obsessed with it. That's the edipus complex So what edipal or other family dynamics again? Rooted in childhood are present here and what what conclusions can we draw about that person's childhood and what they did receive What they didn't receive what they were able to resolve and not resolve How can characters behavior narrative events and or images be explained in terms of psychoanalytic concepts of any kind? So looking at any of these psychoanalytic concepts What conclusions can we draw so for example? fear of fascination with death Is there is there some something to be drawn from that? Is there is that evident in this work? Is there something evident from or related to sexuality whether that's love and romance or you know Physical sexuality is there something you know really evidently present related to that and if so what does that? Tell us about that person's psychological identity Or you know what conclusions can we draw about the the relationship between the id and the super ego? And then as a result the ego from this person so just you know using any of these different types of Psychoanalytic concepts is there's is there's something to be found there that we can we can the standing out to us that this person is subconsciously letting out through this work a Few more questions that we could look at what does the work suggest about the psychological being of the author just in general Who is this person's psychological? What does this tell us about this person? What might have given interpretation of an artifact suggest about the psychological motives of the examiner So now we're flipping around a little bit here. What does this interpretation tell us about us? Because this person had worked, you know, they're they're psychoanalysis or their psychology comes through in that work But our psychology also can come through in our examination. So what does this interpretation? What is the the analysis the interpretation that we develop say about us say about the psychology psychological motives of us as an examiner? Are there prominent words in the piece that that could have different or hidden meanings and words being if this is a piece of literature or something? verbal like that But if it's a work of article what what's prominent in this in this work in this artifact? And does that have a different or hidden meaning to it? And if so, could there be a subconscious reason that the author is using these problem words or these significant words? Is there something subconscious there that that leads the person to to say those things? You know, sometimes we might refer to that as a Freudian slip, right? So so we want to understand is there a reason that these particular words are showing up? And does that tell us something about the psychology of this individual as well? so I Want to as I've done before I want to work through an artifact with you and just examine something and So I just picked something that came up for us this week from by us. I mean my wife and I we were watching a popular What's popular music competition shows right people are singing and and so the end this particular show They had to pick a song and they had to pick from a group of songs and they were showing all these people go through And there was I mean there were probably 50 people that went through and they show all of them of course But it seemed like 90% of the people picked the same song And I ended up It was nonsense to me. I'm not familiar with this song and I said to my wife, what is this? Are they are they just making this up? Is this just random words that they're throwing together or what? So I should admit that I had a little preconceived notion of this song before Or some judgment about this song before I ever even heard the actual song Or saw the video and I ended up watching the video because I said about what is this nonsense That all these people are picking that is obviously popular and I'm so out of touch with popular music I was a little more in touch when our kids were at home and we had to listen to it all the time in the car or whatever Because I'm a generous dad like that and I let them listen to their stations But now that they're gone. I don't listen to any of that stuff anymore. My my radio has not been on pop music for Several years now. So Anyway, so I picked this song and you're probably familiar with it and I'm not familiar with was not familiar with it It's called watermelon sugar by Harry Styles And and I don't know much about Harry Styles to be honest. I mean, I you know, I did a little background on him for the purposes of Recording this video. I understand he was part of the, you know, popular group one direction now a solo artist and And as very as very popular and seems to be popular with the ladies as well So, um, but this watermelon sugar, they just can't I mean When I heard these people singing the song over and over and over again and singing the chorus I'm just like what is this is ridiculous. What what does this even mean? So I decided I'll pick this for my analysis. So I'm going to do a psychoanalytic criticism and again in the Most shallow sense of the word criticism because I'm just trying to rush to this to give you an idea of what this might look like We're going to do this for watermelon sugar. Are you ready? Same questions. We just looked at for watermelon sugar We're going to look at now. So how do the operations of repression structure or inform this work? Well, um, it's very clear from the video and I'm then from the The light research that I did on this that this song has is very much grounded in sexuality So I'm sensing some sense of repression in terms of sexuality and From his childhood, you know, for for going according to Freud's Concept of psychoanalysis that he had some sort of repression that happened in his childhood related to sexuality and is now It's probably subconsciously trying to let that out in a in a more Obscure way, right? He's using euphemism for for sexuality in a particular Maybe or may or may not be a particular, you know sexual act that he's referring to but he's using it euphemistically Both because he probably can't say this what he wants to say and still have the rate It still haven't be released on radio and so forth but Presumably because you know if it was that important to just say it then he would but presumably he's got some issue Just you know referring to that and admitting to it and saying it and having that be a part of the song So he's found a way to euphemistically refer to this sexual act or this is you know, or this sense of intimacy Depending on your interpretation of the song, whether it's just about Touch and physical contact or whether it's about something in particular But seems to imply some sort of repression of Based in in sexuality I would at a pole or a family dynamics are present again, you know I don't know if I see a particular family dynamic represented here so much as just a general repression of sexuality I would presume that that maybe sex sex was not a topic common to his to his home and now he's trying to Express that a little more in his in his art and in his work In a way that he can though still again euphemistically without really coming straight out and saying what he's talking about So how can a character's behavior narrative events or images be explained in terms of psychoanalytic concepts of any kind? So again, I would come back to To sexuality and really almost the the operations of you know, id super ego and ego Is id is telling him. I want this. I want this physical contact. I want this and maybe even this person in particular. There's some Um a question about whether this this song is about a particular person that he was involved with and then that relationship ended So maybe it's it's an expression of the id of either. I want this Sexually gratifying act or I want this person back in my life But a super ego is saying you can't just say that you can't just you know Start flaunting this as as openly as you would like So we got to find some way to couch that and the ego is saying, okay Let's talk about it. Let's let's put it out there But let's let's couch it in this euphemism of watermelon sugar and the imagery that goes along with that And and make it very clear what we're talking about without actually having to say it, right? We're going to imply what we're getting at here Without actually saying it so You could kind of lay that over that the the whole id versus c super ego and and being then negotiated by the by the ego and and some of those different fears that he made some of the different Things that you may be expressing in that way What's the work suggest about the psychological being of the author? um my my again my you know Armchair expert so to speak a view of this Would be coming back to sexuality that he's that he's exploring some of this and But not really comfortable Coming right out and and expressing it either comfortable expressing his desire for For this particular act or this particular person If this song is again connected to this particular person that he was involved with That uh that uh my guess is again that he had some Repression related to sexuality when he's a child and is now enacting that As as an adult letting it come out a little more. Uh, and i'm probably some sense of Inadequacy in a sense that he's that he's feeling the need to Focus on this and flaunt this that he's feeling inadequate in other ways and maybe saying Look, i'm good at this stuff. I'm good at you know, I know what i'm doing with physical touch And I know what i'm doing so despite my inadequacies in some other areas Maybe he's lacking confidence in in other areas That but but I have confidence in this so he's going to put it on display and That that could be a part of it as well What's a given interpretation of an artifact suggest about the psychological motives of the examiner? You know, I don't know that's that's a good question. What are my psychological motives here? Um, I guess my main motive is to to really focus on how shallow this song is This is one of the songs that my kids would have hated when we were grown up Especially my daughter because we would have been driving along. She would have sung every word of the song And then I would have asked her what does that mean? What's the song about and she would have said and she constantly did? I don't know. I just like the song. I just listened to it So I would say you just listen to this entire song saying every word and you don't know what you're singing about You don't know and I believe she wouldn't have thought about that necessarily but But for me it gets to What's the purpose of this song? I mean my psychological motives here are Digging a little deeper. I think and you know So that that's the only conclusion that I could draw in this brief time here Is for me that I'm looking for something a little deeper. I'm looking to be critical of this person I don't know. Maybe I'm jealous of his success. Maybe I'm jealous of I don't know of his looks of his youth or whatever that that's all possible According to Freud that that I would be I'm jealous of all those types of things. But uh, anyway Are there prominent words in the piece that could have different or hidden meanings? Yeah, yeah, I think I think the title of the song. Yeah, absolutely and the imagery in the video certainly referring to hidden meanings again at the very least about physical contact about about, you know, probably sexual contact and maybe more specifically depending on your interpretation of the song, but Yeah, absolutely. There there are words there that don't mean what they mean that that are implying different things and and the The imagery of the video certainly backs that up There's a subconscious reason for the author using these words Again, maybe it's that it's just maybe it's just about radio play because you can't just say the things He wants to say and is referring to in the songs and have it played on the the radio popular radio But there could be something deeper there too about, you know, he's not comfortable Saying the actual words and and or we're expressing those actual ideas or talking about who it's actually about And so he represses that in a sense that That he finds other words to euphemistically refer to those things Okay, hopefully this again gives you an idea of what we're looking at here with psychoanalytic criticism We talked about the foundations of this. I tried to give you some common questions and then walk you through A really, you know, rough quick analysis of a particular artifact So again, I would encourage you to get into some deeper thought about these things and really dig deep as you as you consider The psychoanalytic framework for criticism If you have any questions feel free to email me. I'm always happy to to communicate and Collaborate with people via email and answer any questions you might have about this or anything else related to media and literary criticism In the meantime get out there. Think about Freud. You can apply it to yourself. You can apply it to other people Again, not not endorsing or discarding his theories, but just like Use it as a way to dig deeper into these artifacts and to really consider Who it is and what they're what's coming through in their creation