With his theories being debunked by his successors, one would have assumed that Freud would have been buried in history completely. However, the Freudian fan-base still reflects in the 21st century.
Vienna born neurologist-psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud would not have anticipated the significance he holds, especially in the popular culture. Freud has become a common household name. Everyone has heard about him, even if they aren’t acutely aware of his life and his works. Freud shares a Shakespearean stardom in today’s day and age.
To begin with, let’s think of how his theories have shaped the vernacular of the 21st century. The commonly thrown around words- mommy issues, daddy issues, phallic symbols in movies and films, and defence mechanisms seem to be the common ones which I can pan out. They have made a mark in the dictionary of a millennial, as common cultural references. For instance, people engaging in a sexual relationship often embark to call the other (mostly the male) as “daddy”. The highly sexualised word-usage connotes to theories earlier laid out by Freud.
American sitcoms and Freud
F.R.I.E.N.D.S
Come to think of it, the greatest American sitcom F.R.I.E.N.D.S has characters who do have certain darkness or a psychological manifestation in them. This darkness channelizes the comic effect. For instance,Chandler Bing shows the internal suffering that a child from a broken home feels like. He has admitted on the show himself how he uses his humour as a “defence mechanism”, as he has a hard time dealing with his emotions, rendering him insensitive at times. Phoebe had an extremely disturbing childhood, which can be interpreted through her ditzy character when she refuses to look at the reality of things (remember that episode where she didn’t know Bambi was a sad movie). On the same show, Monica Geller represents signs of “penis envy” and extreme competitiveness to win someone’s attention or praise. She is also said to suffer from an obsessive-compulsive disorder, to clean everything, along with Rachel Green who a school of thought claims, apparently had ‘daddy issues’.
The Big Bang Theory
Similarly, Howard Wolowitz in The Big Bang Theory has ‘mommy issues’ as he tries to replicate the same bond he had with his mother, with his wife. Similarly, Sheldon’s behaviour suggests the presence of a strong super-ego, as he tries to showcase the moral high ground he stands on (with his heightened sense of self and social awkwardness). The most ironical part of the show is the relationship between Leonard and his mother (who is a renowned Psychiatrist). She believed that a child should not have a loving relationship with his mother. Hence, Leonard received the cold treatment throughout his childhood. This lent to him facing attachment issues.
Gossip Girl
The popular teenage drama inspired from Cecily von Ziegesar’s novel series Gossip Girl explores the Freudian concept of ‘daddy issues’ in the character of Serena van der Woodsen, one of the show’s most visibly distraught character. Her short- failed relationships with men, which includes a high-profile affair with a married politician, and her dating a father of a teenager were some of her more questionable choices as depicted in the show. There were a couple of instances where she went out in search of her father. Her lack of self-esteem also called for some desperate attention-seeking moments, as she was New York’s “It Girl”. Blair Waldorf’s overcompensating nature came from the lack of attention she received from her mother, which in turn garnered in her the ‘mean girl’ attitude. Her ability to emote was highly restrained by her psychological manifestation.
Literature and Freud
Some popular examples from early 20th century, if we pick up some of the popular books, are D.H. Lawrence’s Sons and Lovers; or Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway. We see the usage of psychoanalytic concepts in the characters, especially with Paul Morel’s Oedipus complex, and the extremely close (almost sexual) nature of his relationship with his mother, Mrs Morel. In Mrs Dalloway, the character of Septimus Warren Smith suffers from what was then known as shell-shock (PTSD). Depression, hysteria and psychosexual development took place in the pages of her novels, and how fickle treatments were there to treat it.
Similarly, the 1884 book by Robert Louis Stevenson, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, shows the relationships between Jekyll, Hyde, and what theVictorian society emulates. These concepts are later explained by Sigmund Freud in his Theory of the Structure of the Mind. The theory divides the human psyche into three sections: the id, ego, and superego (popularly known as the iceberg-model)
Music and Freud
A study conducted found that the existence of psychoanalysis contents in American pop music. These included id, ego, superego, defence mechanism, and symbolization reflected in lyrics and scenes in the song and the music videos. A striking example of this is Taylor Swift’s 2014 single “Blank Space”. The singer has often been accused of using her music as her defence mechanism (I don’t see what is wrong in that), and has been trolled for crying over ex-lovers. The lyrics and the music video together provide the Freudian experience. For instance, in the line “I could show you incredible things”, the scene shows Taylor sitting on her bed with two tame horses, at both sides of the bed. There are a couple of more interesting visuals, that add to the psychoanalytic treatment of the song.
Image- blank space
In Drake’s 2013 release, “Nothing Was The Same”, enjoyed a grand success. It was one of the first times that rap music or any music for that matter had eschewed being other-than-human for embracing an ultra-human ideal. In creating Freudian resolutions between the id, ego, and super-ego in pop songs, he created a paradigm shift, not just in rap, but in music overall.
Movies and Freud
Like discussed above, the vernacularization of important Freudian theories shows the effect he has had on the masses. Not a lot of us would know further about the other psychologists, who have lent valuable knowledge into the field of psychology. From Woody Allen’s characters to cartoons in the New Yorker, to modern television, a depiction of a psychiatrist’s therapy session wouldn’t be complete without a couch. (This is how Freud conducted his initial experiments).
Freud had the advantage of being an extremely good writer, who would illustrate psychoanalysis concerning the work of great artists such as Shakespeare, Dostoevsky and Leonardo da Vinci.
Looking at one of Shakespeare’s adaptation in Hindi cinema, Vishal Bhardwaj’s Haider (2014), believed to be an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. It depicts the complex relationship Haider shares with his mother. There is a particularly interesting scene, right before her marriage to his uncle, where he kisses the nape of her neck (an extremely intimate scene), shifting the very western developed ideal of Oedipus complex into the Indian cinematic universe subtly. Oedipal themes have been noticed in Francis Ford Coppola’s films as well. Lars Von Trier’s horror film Antichrist was “loaded” with Freudian constructions.
Even though Freud steadily fell out of favour among psychologists since the 1960s, after B. F. Skinner published his theories on behavioural therapy. His theory focused on environmental stimuli rather than dreams or repressed memories. Psychology also developed into a more empirically-tested science, emphasizing evidence-based ideas over Freud’s often unprovable theories. But the cultural empire that Freudian theories share is unparalleled. Last month, Netflix released its original series Freud, which is a historical fiction. In the series, Freud becomes Holmes-like as he tries to solve a murder mystery, alongside working for his grant and conducting hypnotic experiments over patients. Even if his theories are rendered not so helpful in today’s day and age, the universalisation of his theories did him a great victory, lending pearls to the audio and visual retreats of the 21st century.
Discovering Utopia 