The First Desire To Castration A Psychoanalysis Look At Requiem For A Dream

Abstract

<p>In the 1978 novel Requiem For A Dream, Hubert Selby writes about the American Dream and how it never becomes more than such for his characters. In 2000, Darren Aronofsky and Selby adapted the novel for the big screen. Aronofsky's film is a unique combination of high style and unflinching drama. Aronofsky's use of style reinforces his Marxist film techniques, which help reveal a gritty truth about addiction, beyond just "drugs." The film brings into question, what is addiction? And what drives us toward it? Using psychoanalysis, beginning with Freud, reissued by Lacan, and translated by Slavoj Zizek, I navigate the film's narrative plot as a reflection of the human condition commandeered by the Death Drive. The Death Drive is not to be confused as a death wish, but a wish for life of excess. Each character in Requiem For A Dream desires to remake their identity through vertical social mobility. Their desire, and path can be traced within Harold Bloom's uniquely American Sublime. Compelled by the American Myth, executed through the American Sublime, and dammed by the Death Drive, I am able to categorize the character's desires into psychoanalytic understanding of: Jouissance, objet petit a, and Fetishtic Disavowel. This paper uses psychoanalysis to analyze several scenes, which can be seen as reenactments of key ideas in psychoanalytic discourse.</p><p>This presentation occurred at the Wright State University Campus-Wide Celebration of Research, Scholarship and Creative Activities on April 16, 2010</p>