The Oedipal Odyssey of Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut: Psychosexual Dynamics of a Cinematic Masterpiece
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EYES WIDE SHUT (1999)
GRIPPING KUBRICK'S PHALLUS
GRIPPING KUBRICK'S PHALLUS
THE OEDIPAL ODYSSEY OF EYES WIDE SHUT: EXPLORING THE PSYCHOSEXUAL DYNAMICS OF A MASTERPIECE
By Bryn V. Young-Roberts AFTER THE CLIMAX At the conclusion of Eyes Wide Shut (1999), after a couple of nights of high tension, paranoia and ostracism, Dr Bill Harford (Tom Cruise) walks into the bedroom to find his wife sleeping, his previously concealed Venetian mask on the pillow next to her. His initial reaction is to fear the mask, as his deception has been uncovered. |
But the room is bathed in a blue light that suggests guilt, calm rational thought and emotional honesty.[1] These were all elements previously associated with his wife when she was expressing emotional exposure in a scene where she discussed her fantasies under the blue hue of a window. Rather than lie or make excuses about it however, he sits next to her on the bed, crying.
Unlike a previous bedroom scene, in which he had been confronted with emotional ambivalence regarding sexual desire and had worn a façade of denial, he accepts her embrace and is honest with her. He has overcome the paranoid-schizoid stage[2] and matured into the depressive position, able to accept her as both a separate entity and a loving wife, acknowledging his dependency on her and jealousy.[3] Anxiety that certain aggressive impulses can hurt her are recognised, and destructive urges have been replaced by guilt. Narcissistic ignorance of the desires of others has been relinquished. Bill has worked through some of his Oedipal[4] complexities. Blubbering, he cathartically confesses, “I’ll tell you everything”.
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[1] For further insight into Kubrick’s use of colours, consult Cocks (2004: 145).
It has been suggested that the mask on the pillow serves as a visual symbol that he has confronted his fears and desires, and undergone a psychological unmasking (Nelson 2000: 283). But what exactly was this unmasking? This article takes the view that the bedroom scene is an end to an Oedipal odyssey in which Bill has finally overcome his phallic anxieties and reached emotional maturity. By examining Eyes Wide Shut through an understanding of psychodynamics we can explore the idea that the film is a psychosexual development in Bill’s character, and that his actions throughout the film are not limited to a pointless and fruitless quest for sex in the seedier side of Manhattan’s nightlife merely for the sake of bawdy cinematic titillation.
[2] ChangingMinds.org describes the Paranoid-Schizoid position as “innate conflict between the opposing life and death drives (manifested as destructive envy) and by interactions in external reality. A child seeks to retain good feelings and introjects good objects, whilst expelling bad objects and projecting bad feelings onto an external object. The expulsion is motivated by a paranoid fear of annihilation by the bad object. The schizoid response to the paranoia is then to excessively project or introject those parts, seeking to keep the good and bad controlled and separated. Projective identification is commonly used to separate bad objects whilst also keeping them close, which can lead to confused aggression”. ChangingMinds.org [online]. Available at: http://changingminds.org/disciplines/psychoanalysis/
concepts/paranoid_schizoid.htm [Accessed 6th April 2010]. |
While published academics such as Cocks (2004) and Nelson (2000) have touched upon the psychological make-up of Eyes Wide Shut, highlighting its role as an exploration of sexual ambivalence within a happy marriage, none seem to have delved any deeper into the basic motives of Cruise’s onscreen character. A psychodynamic perspective on Stanley Kubrick’s work seems like a particularly logical approach, as Cocks (2004: 4) points out that “Kubrick himself was an early and messianic reader of Freud”. In addition to this, Kubrick is also viewed by some, particularly Naremore in On Kubrick (2007: 3) as one of cinema’s last great modernists. This suggests insightful results from such an approach, as Sigmund Freud’s work was a large part of the modernist movement.
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Explore the use of Holocaust themes throughout Kubrick's entire work
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A psychodynamic approach is the incorporation of all Freud’s theories, as well as the theories of all those that paralleled and succeeded him. In it we view all human behaviour as the result of drives and forces within people, particularly focusing on the unconscious that lies between the structures of personality. It’s basic principles are that behaviour and feelings are determined and affected by these unconscious motivations, which are rooted in early childhood experiences, and are often in conflict with one another.[5]
According to this approach an individual’s personality is composed of a tripartite of the Id, Ego and Super-ego, motivated by the instinctual drives of Eros (sex drive and life instinct) and Thanatos (aggressive drive and death instinct), which shape it by modifying during various conflicts at different stages in childhood. To clarify, the Id is the component of personality that works on the pleasure principle, base desire that is unaffected by logic, reality or consequences. The super-ego is charged with controlling the Id, making a person feel guilt and moral obligations, while the ego mediates between the two. Within the framework of psychodynamics is psychosexual development. This theory postulates that at different stages in childhood (particularly the first five years) a physical fixation on various body parts (erogenous zones) adds to the creation of the libido, a sexual drive that becomes a source of pleasure and/or frustration, which is essential in the development of adult personality. While a build up of sexual energy (libido) creates tension, it is the discharging of it that leads to all human pleasure. There are five psychosexual stages, comprising of (in chronological order) the oral, anal, phallic, latency and genital. An individual must resolve conflicts in each stage to advance to the next one or it will result in permanent fixation, a stagnant focusing of energies in one particular area of sexual growth. |
[3] The Depressive Position is described by ChangingMinds.org as “a significant step in integrative development which occurs when the infant discovers that the hated bad breast and the loved good breast are one and the same. The mother begins to be recognized as a whole object who can be good and bad, rather than two part-objects, one good and one bad. Love and hate, along with external reality and internal phantasy [sic], can now also begin to co-exist. As ambivalence is accepted, the mother can be seen as fallible and capable of both good and bad. The infant begins to acknowledge its own helplessness, dependency and jealousy towards the mother. It consequently becomes anxious that the aggressive impulses might have hurt or even destroyed the mother, who they now recognize as needed and loved. This results in ‘depressive anxiety’ replacing destructive urges with guilt. Projective identification is used to empathize with others, moving parts of the self into the other person in order to understand them”. ChangingMinds.org [online].
Available at: http://changingminds.org/disciplines/ psychoanalysis/concepts/depressive.htm [Accessed 6th April 2010]. |
The first two stages do not have much relevance to Eyes Wide Shut, which applied to the film, reveals very little about the protagonist. Of the upmost importance to this article is the phallic stage, for reasons that will become self-evident as we progress. However it is not crucial that the specifics of the approach are grasped at this juncture, as they will be explained in more detail at relevant points.
Of course, the approach has its criticisms. Although rather embracing of his writings herself in Psychoanalysis and Gender, Rosalind Minsky (1996: 17) notes how others claim that Freud-based psychology is biased as “father centred and phallocentric” and highlights his position as “white[6], middle-class, and male” which means his work “embodies oppressive social relations which reflect this background”. Describing it as “conservative, male-dominated, authoritarian” and primarily concerned with “an acceptance of the status quo, including culturally acceptable gender roles” she voices the concern of many feminists.
Of course, the approach has its criticisms. Although rather embracing of his writings herself in Psychoanalysis and Gender, Rosalind Minsky (1996: 17) notes how others claim that Freud-based psychology is biased as “father centred and phallocentric” and highlights his position as “white[6], middle-class, and male” which means his work “embodies oppressive social relations which reflect this background”. Describing it as “conservative, male-dominated, authoritarian” and primarily concerned with “an acceptance of the status quo, including culturally acceptable gender roles” she voices the concern of many feminists.
[4] At its most basic level, the Oedipus complex is when “the child realizes that there is a difference between their mother and their father. Around the same time they realize that they are more alike to one than the other. Thus the child acquires gender. The child may also form some kind of erotic attachment to the parent of the opposite sex. Whilst their understanding of the full sexual act may be questioned, some kind of primitive physical sensations are felt when they regard and think about the parent in question”. ChangingMinds.org [online]. Available at:
http://changingminds.org/disciplines/ psychoanalysis/concepts/oedipus_complex.htm [Accessed 6th April 2010]. [5] Answers.com describes it as ‘The study of human behavior from the point of view of motivation and drives, depending largely on the functional significance of emotion, and based on the assumption that an individual's total personality and reactions at any given time are the product of the interaction between his genetic constitution and his environment’. Answers.com [online]. Available at: http://www.answers.com/topic/psychodynamics-1 [Accessed 2nd May 2010]. |
However the accusations go much further than sexism, as it can also be said that psychodynamics are unscientific, due to the subjective nature of many of its central concepts which are impossible to test empirically. It is too dependent on interpretation, with no certainties in its theories. There is also criticism that the approach is limited, as it does not acknowledge any notion of free will, insisting that all behaviour is determined by drives alone.
In response to these charges, Minsky argues that while they may all be justified, psychodynamics can still be of analytical value as it allows us to “analyse different aspects of what we call reality alongside other theories” and although it is highly dependent on interpretation, it does not detract from an exhaustive reading of a text because “we bring to them not only our own understanding but also our unconscious experience which inevitably shapes and determines what we make of them”, which to a degree, is also true of all theoretical approaches (1996: 17). Whatever value it may or may not have, the aim of this work is not to seek the validity of the approach, but to adopt it as a method of study and explore Kubrick’s film as a psychosexual journey. The overall intention is to see what insight we gain into the film using this model. Freud himself commented that any analysis using his methods “can make nothing of a large amount of his material” without a thorough knowledge of “history of civilisation, mythology, the psychology of religion and the science of literature”, perhaps suggesting that the practice is not confined to science, and is possibly more akin to an art form (1926: 246). Both The Wolf at the Door (Cocks, 2004) and Kubrick: Inside a Film Artist’s Maze (Nelson, 2000) speculate that a large part of the narrative of Eyes Wide Shut may be taking place in a dream, although they are unable to determine at which points this becomes the case, or whether or not it is Bill that is dreaming. |
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Here it is proposed that the entire film can be examined as though it were a dream, if we accept it to be the dream of the filmmaker. While this allows us to investigate Kubrick’s psychology it should be noted that the focus of the essay is not directed at the idea of it being a dream, but what mental processes it can reveal about events in the film. By following dream logic, characters can take on more than one appearance, an idea that is helpful in understanding some of the concepts explored in this article.
Furthermore, although this allows us to explore the psychology of Kubrick, it should be understood that this is really only as a mechanism for us to examine the psychology of the film. Essentially, it is a cheat in order for us to be able to understand the film within the context of knowing who the dreamer is, and at what point it becomes a dream. As a bonus, if Kubrick has been extremely personal and honest in making the film, then it may give us insight into the psychology of the man himself too. Stanley Kubrick was a film director of meticulous attention to detail who worked with more freedom than most who are financed by the Hollywood system. |
[6] Although Freud is described as ‘white’, he was also Jewish, and therefore part of an ethnic minority, which slightly reduces the validity of the criticism.
[7] According to the Roman poet Ovid, “The goddess Nemesis makes Narcissus fall in love with his own reflection, which he cannot embrace. He sits by the pool, watching it until he dies”. In modern psychological writings the name has become a term for those obsessed with themselves, viewing their ego as the center of the world, lacking acknowledgement of the desires of others. ChangingMinds.org [online]. (Updated 4th April 2010) Available at: http://changingminds.org/disciplines/ psychoanalysis/concepts/narcissism.htm [Accessed 6th April 2010]. |
Famous for such films as The Shining (1980) and A Clockwork Orange (1971), his style is recognisable by his formal visual practice and dedication to symmetry. He was also famous in the tabloids for his reclusive lifestyle, as he lived and worked in England during the second half of his life. He was born and died within the 20th century (1928 – 1999), passing away only days after completion of Eyes Wide Shut. By all accounts he had a healthy relationship with his parents, his father encouraging him to play chess, which became a lifelong passion of his, and bought him his first camera, which led to his extraordinary career in photography and film. Due to the large investment of time and perfectionist measures he put into his work, it is entirely possible that a psychodynamic reading of his films can reveal some of his internal processes, either intentionally expressed or not, as he strived to inject as much significance over every aspect of production as possible.
Throughout the article we shall refer to the psychology being understood as belonging to the character of Bill, although we do not view him as the author, it makes for easier and more streamlined reading if we consider him to be Kubrick’s alter ego. Since Kubrick described this as his ‘most personal’ film, it does not seem an unlikely possibility (Nelson: 328). This choice of alter ego is particularly relevant further on, when we delve into the narcissism of the mind that is dreaming, as a trait of a narcissistic mind is to fantasise oneself as successful and famous.[7] Arguably, very few actors were as famous as Tom Cruise in the 1990s, and Kubrick’s casting of Cruise’s face in this dream, (if indeed he does view Bill as his alter-ego), is perhaps already a telling insight into his ego.
Throughout the article we shall refer to the psychology being understood as belonging to the character of Bill, although we do not view him as the author, it makes for easier and more streamlined reading if we consider him to be Kubrick’s alter ego. Since Kubrick described this as his ‘most personal’ film, it does not seem an unlikely possibility (Nelson: 328). This choice of alter ego is particularly relevant further on, when we delve into the narcissism of the mind that is dreaming, as a trait of a narcissistic mind is to fantasise oneself as successful and famous.[7] Arguably, very few actors were as famous as Tom Cruise in the 1990s, and Kubrick’s casting of Cruise’s face in this dream, (if indeed he does view Bill as his alter-ego), is perhaps already a telling insight into his ego.
THE MOTHER LOVER
In the beginning of the Oedipal stage “a critical point of awakening is where the child realizes that the mother has affections for others besides itself” and then loosens “the ties to the mother of vulnerability, dependence and intimacy. This is a natural part of the child becoming more independent and is facilitated by the realization that the mother desires more than just the child”. This separation and externalization of love “allows a transition away from the narcissism of earlier stages” (ChangingMinds.org). [8]
While smoking pot one night, Bill’s wife tells him about an intense desire she once had for a naval officer when they were on holiday. Keeping in mind that his wife, Alice (Nicole Kidman), is a displacement of his mother (as all women we are intimate with are, in Freudian terms), his position of comfort before learning of the fantasy is that “women just don’t think like that”. Bill then seems unable to deal with his wife’s fantasy of infidelity, which suggests he still has unresolved issues regarding this stage of Oedipal development. This is supported by having “never, ever been jealous” of his wife, always having been “sure” of her in regard to her commitment to their unity, despite his own flirtations with other women, a reflection of his naive, infantile Id-like state.
In the beginning of the Oedipal stage “a critical point of awakening is where the child realizes that the mother has affections for others besides itself” and then loosens “the ties to the mother of vulnerability, dependence and intimacy. This is a natural part of the child becoming more independent and is facilitated by the realization that the mother desires more than just the child”. This separation and externalization of love “allows a transition away from the narcissism of earlier stages” (ChangingMinds.org). [8]
While smoking pot one night, Bill’s wife tells him about an intense desire she once had for a naval officer when they were on holiday. Keeping in mind that his wife, Alice (Nicole Kidman), is a displacement of his mother (as all women we are intimate with are, in Freudian terms), his position of comfort before learning of the fantasy is that “women just don’t think like that”. Bill then seems unable to deal with his wife’s fantasy of infidelity, which suggests he still has unresolved issues regarding this stage of Oedipal development. This is supported by having “never, ever been jealous” of his wife, always having been “sure” of her in regard to her commitment to their unity, despite his own flirtations with other women, a reflection of his naive, infantile Id-like state.
Upon hearing of his wife’s desire for another, he is now unsure of his world, and retreats back to constants such as his narcissism and the mask of his professional identity. He receives a phone call, in which he has to reassuringly reinforce his identity by saying, “Yes, this is Dr Harford”. In Lacanian terms this is particularly significant as a man’s professional mask undermines a basic desire to be his mother’s penis, or rather, phallic symbol (Minsky 1996: 149). Although the phone call is regarding the death of a patient, its timing also coincides with the death of Bill’s perception of life with Alice as a unified whole.[9] His wife is no longer a simple good object, and he is unable to view her as simultaneously good and bad objects (the depressive position). He has become stagnant within a paranoid-schizoid phase, and his adult Oedipal journey has begun.
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[8] ChangingMinds.org [online]. (Updated 4th April 2010) Available at: http://changingminds.org/disciplines/
psychoanalysis/concepts/oedipus_complex.htm [Accessed 6th April 2010]. [9] The name of the dead patient is Lou, also the name of Europe’s longest reigning monarch, reinforcing the idea that a long tradition and institution has died. |
THE SELF-LOVER
It is a reluctant beginning however, as his narcissism follows him throughout the odyssey, tempting him into retreat. As Pile explains in The Body and the City (1996: 115), he must “first, overcome [his] narcissism and, then, deal with the Oedipal situation.” From the very first few seconds we meet Bill his self-loving narcissism permeates the screen. As he voyeuristically gazes through a window at home we notice his room has a bag of golf clubs in one corner, golf being a game that can be played alone and associated with gripping solid clubs as though they are phallic extensions. Incidentally, it is a game played by people who love to ‘swing’, which is also a term associated with a group of people Bill later aspires to join.
It is a reluctant beginning however, as his narcissism follows him throughout the odyssey, tempting him into retreat. As Pile explains in The Body and the City (1996: 115), he must “first, overcome [his] narcissism and, then, deal with the Oedipal situation.” From the very first few seconds we meet Bill his self-loving narcissism permeates the screen. As he voyeuristically gazes through a window at home we notice his room has a bag of golf clubs in one corner, golf being a game that can be played alone and associated with gripping solid clubs as though they are phallic extensions. Incidentally, it is a game played by people who love to ‘swing’, which is also a term associated with a group of people Bill later aspires to join.
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His room also contains a large set of bookshelves, indicative of a person who likes to study things, perhaps more so than participating. Note the parallels between studying and masturbation, both of which are acts traditionally performed alone with an open book. The other side of the room is dedicated to a mirrored wardrobe, firmly shut so nobody can see his clothes, he doesn’t want to expose anything. His narcissism is hiding his masks from view, the way a bald man might hide a collection of wigs. It is so tightly shut that it even appears concave, as if it had been pressed upon, a sign of over-use, as though he had tried to enter the world of the mirror, join with his image and become the unattainable ideal.
Further indicators of self-love adorn his family home as magazines and unlabelled videos make a mess of a table, simultaneously being innocent objects while also signifying porn. Likewise, a TV and video player sit on a rack that does not neatly fit in, making an ugly stain upon the family home’s décor. As he looks for several items we see him fondle himself all over, just before vainly checking his appearance in the photo of (presumably) a loved one. It is a narcissistic act only topped by his need for tissues immediately afterward, placing them in his top pocket, close to his heart.
Further indicators of self-love adorn his family home as magazines and unlabelled videos make a mess of a table, simultaneously being innocent objects while also signifying porn. Likewise, a TV and video player sit on a rack that does not neatly fit in, making an ugly stain upon the family home’s décor. As he looks for several items we see him fondle himself all over, just before vainly checking his appearance in the photo of (presumably) a loved one. It is a narcissistic act only topped by his need for tissues immediately afterward, placing them in his top pocket, close to his heart.
The items he was looking for are keys and a pager, tools of communication and acceptance of boundaries, requirements of social acceptability. They are not items he had with him when he was alone, looking out the window. He only requires them when preparing to interact with others, as he crosses over from his darkened room of voyeuristic window and golf clubs, gated by phallic pillars, and prepares to interact with those of the world on the other side.
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In light of it being Bill’s (Kubrick’s) dream, his voyeuristic tendencies are evident from the very first shot, as we watch Alice getting undressed, seemingly ignorant to the fact anyone is observing her. Two large phallic pillars salute her naked body as they dominate half the screen, simultaneously complimenting her with their solid structure, while more sinisterly their neo-classical style suggests they desire the power of Washington and the oppressive force of the Nazis (both Washington and the Third Reich were proponents of neo-classical architecture), reinforcing the idea of a dominant male society. A remote control amid Bill’s ‘porn’ collection is further implication of a desire for control, sexual power at one’s own hands.
The carnal animalism of her black dress drops to the floor leaving her body naked save for a pair of high heels, which is mirrored later on by a prostitute at a Christmas party.[10] This has the effect of making her seem honest, with nothing to hide, yet at the same time vulnerable, particularly so in high heels, foot-wear that does not allow a quick escape from a pursuer. Curtains behind her glow with the red of passion, while the open window blind displays her as though she were an Amsterdam prostitute for sale. A few seconds later we discover Bill (a name associated with money) has left his wallet by the bedside table, his commoditisation of sex confirmed via a parapraxis[11] of sorts.
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[10] Black is an association of “animalism, the body, irrationality and emotions”, while white is “humanity, the open mind, rationality and self-control”. Steve Pile. The Body and the City. London: Routledge, 1996. P35.
[11] Defined as “a slip of the tongue or pen, forgetfulness, misplacement of objects, or other error thought to reveal unconscious wishes or attitudes” by Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com [online]. Available at: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/parapraxis [Accessed 21st April 2010]. |
In contrast to a similar shot where we saw Bill and his bookshelves, Alice’s mirror wardrobe is slightly ajar, heightening the sense of voyeurism by allowing a peek inside at her clothes. Near a lamp, in the corner lies not a bag of golf clubs, but a pair of tennis rackets. Significantly these are instruments for a physical game played by two people either against one another or as a team. Unlike the golf clubs, this links Alice to her husband in terms of physical acts, the requirement of two people being complemented by a waltz on the soundtrack. If this is Bill’s dream-view of her, then he seems to see her only as one half of a couple, and not as an individual, which he very much saw himself as.
This is not to suggest that Bill is a pathological narcissist, it is merely an exaggeration of a ‘normal’ psyche. However, this narcissism continues to follow him throughout the film, as the commodity and desire of shop windows tempt him into stopping to look at his own reflection. |
Although they ultimately fail to prevent his odyssey, their haunting presence in the background act as a reminder of the bliss of a previous time, witnessed in the opening shot.
At first Bill appears to be a cerebral narcissist, his profession of doctor suggesting he gains self-adoration from intellectual abilities and achievements. However it is also his profession that hints that this is one of his masks, as his job sees him deal with bodies all day. This would make him a somatic narcissist, a seeker of the body, beauty, the physical, and sexual conquests. However, this may just be a flirtation with the somatic, a desire to conform with a more macho psychology, as his failure to make any sexual conquests during his dream suggests it is a wish rather than a fact. Bill may be wearing a mask over another mask, in order to reassert his phallus.[12]
At first Bill appears to be a cerebral narcissist, his profession of doctor suggesting he gains self-adoration from intellectual abilities and achievements. However it is also his profession that hints that this is one of his masks, as his job sees him deal with bodies all day. This would make him a somatic narcissist, a seeker of the body, beauty, the physical, and sexual conquests. However, this may just be a flirtation with the somatic, a desire to conform with a more macho psychology, as his failure to make any sexual conquests during his dream suggests it is a wish rather than a fact. Bill may be wearing a mask over another mask, in order to reassert his phallus.[12]
[12] Interestingly, an extreme form of wearing many masks is Dissociative Identity Disorder, which is frequently caused by sexual trauma during childhood.
DOUBLE PHALLUS ACTION
Another typical narcissistic trait experienced by Bill is his fear of extinction, represented in the dream by a near-miss HIV scare with a prostitute, and persecution from a secret society. However it goes much deeper than his narcissism. He has many other reasons to feel anxiety, all of which stem from phallic concerns.
According to Lacan, men and women only couple through a mutual desire for a phallus. As Minsky explains, a woman’s penis-envy “makes her want to have a phallus, [but] she can only do this by being the phallus – supporting the status of the man’s phallus through involving herself in the masquerade. So she inevitably ends up giving the man a phallus (to confirm his phallic power) which she herself does not actually possess… conversely, she can only gain from the man what he thinks he is”. This is in actual fact a “meeting of two ‘lacks’, each trying to give each other what neither of them actually has’ (1996: 166).
Men then, need women to project onto in order to maintain a healthy phallus, which leaves them vulnerable to constant threat from exposure, as they are dependent upon women for their manhood. It is the overriding factor of why Bill can not show genuine emotional honesty at the beginning of the film, having to maintain a masculine guard at all times to protect his phallic status.[13]
Another typical narcissistic trait experienced by Bill is his fear of extinction, represented in the dream by a near-miss HIV scare with a prostitute, and persecution from a secret society. However it goes much deeper than his narcissism. He has many other reasons to feel anxiety, all of which stem from phallic concerns.
According to Lacan, men and women only couple through a mutual desire for a phallus. As Minsky explains, a woman’s penis-envy “makes her want to have a phallus, [but] she can only do this by being the phallus – supporting the status of the man’s phallus through involving herself in the masquerade. So she inevitably ends up giving the man a phallus (to confirm his phallic power) which she herself does not actually possess… conversely, she can only gain from the man what he thinks he is”. This is in actual fact a “meeting of two ‘lacks’, each trying to give each other what neither of them actually has’ (1996: 166).
Men then, need women to project onto in order to maintain a healthy phallus, which leaves them vulnerable to constant threat from exposure, as they are dependent upon women for their manhood. It is the overriding factor of why Bill can not show genuine emotional honesty at the beginning of the film, having to maintain a masculine guard at all times to protect his phallic status.[13]
Since Bill has unresolved Oedipal matters, his wife’s split from infantile motherly perfection creates an emphasis on his ‘lack’. The journey in which he encounters a patient that loves and kisses him, a friendly and inviting prostitute, and a naked woman that sacrificed herself for him, would appear to be an attempt to see himself as desirable to women. According to Minsky, it is something he needs to do in order to justify his “right to the power and status that possession of the phallic sign bequeaths him”. She goes on to explain that “to be unloved or undesired is to risk being reminded of the rejection by his mother and the symbolic castration by his father” (1996: 159).
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[13] The name Bill is an abbreviated form of William, originating from German words meaning protection and helmet, fittingly guarding terms.
This anxiety of “justifying” his phallus manifests itself in many ways, essentially being the crux of the journey, however, at its lowest ebb it involves Bill’s mind directly questioning his manhood. His persecution by a group of young men as a homosexual in one scene responds to an almost gay-like flirtation between him and Nick Nightingale (Todd Field) in another. Rather than suggesting Bill is an outright homosexual, it feminises his character, degrading his social status as penis bearer. If he cannot find a woman to project his phallus upon, then he is queered. The violent danger implied in the scene with the young men, and later on when a male hotel receptionist (Alan Cumming) flirts with him while discussing a bruise on Nick’s face, embodies the fear of castration that accompanies this ‘lack’.
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THE FINAL ‘CUT’
Boys normally abandon their extreme narcissism due to a fear of castration when they enter the Oedipal stages. Viewing the image of a woman as a symbol for castration, the horror of this ‘mutilated creature helps to conform the reality of the father’s threat of castration’ (Lebeau: 82). It forces the boy to bend to the will of a patriarchal society and obey the Oedipal law that states he may attempt to be like his father, but not have everything his father has. So while a father may be a caring, loving sort, he is simultaneously a threatening presence.
A symbol of authority, power, and holding a social status that is an ideal to strive for, Victor Zeigler (Sydney Pollack) would appear to be Bill’s father figure in Eyes Wide Shut. “No games”, he says, “I was there at the house, I saw everything that went on”. The statement carries both a firm warning, yet a familiar love. It is dialogue that could easily be used in the context of a reprimanding father to his son. “Games” being what children play in “the house” of the family home.
Boys normally abandon their extreme narcissism due to a fear of castration when they enter the Oedipal stages. Viewing the image of a woman as a symbol for castration, the horror of this ‘mutilated creature helps to conform the reality of the father’s threat of castration’ (Lebeau: 82). It forces the boy to bend to the will of a patriarchal society and obey the Oedipal law that states he may attempt to be like his father, but not have everything his father has. So while a father may be a caring, loving sort, he is simultaneously a threatening presence.
A symbol of authority, power, and holding a social status that is an ideal to strive for, Victor Zeigler (Sydney Pollack) would appear to be Bill’s father figure in Eyes Wide Shut. “No games”, he says, “I was there at the house, I saw everything that went on”. The statement carries both a firm warning, yet a familiar love. It is dialogue that could easily be used in the context of a reprimanding father to his son. “Games” being what children play in “the house” of the family home.
It is partly Zeigler’s interruption that prevents Bill from a sexual encounter with two models at his Christmas party, perhaps as in the fatherly context he sees the girls as belonging to his phallic makeup by extension of them being at his party. Instead, Bill must do as his ‘father’ has ordered and go upstairs. There, Zeigler flaunts his sexual prowess and possession in the guise of a completely naked and submissive woman (Julienne Davis), whom Bill is only allowed to examine. Zeigler has no problem with Bill looking at his woman, perhaps as it reinforces the threat of castration, but the ‘son’ may not posses what the father has. Bill does not have sex at the party.
This is further evidenced at Somerton, a house of great primal sexual activity. Bill manages to gatecrash the event, of which Zeigler is in attendance. Although all the guests wear masks, it is presumed that Zeigler is the man who maintains a glance with Bill from an upper level balcony. He wears a black Bauta Venetian mask, (ala Darth Vader, the dark father), that sports a large frown, looking down at Bill, as though it were the look of a disapproving father. Interestingly, the mask is that of an owl, and in this Pagan context, possibly Moloch, a giant owl god to which children are sacrificed. His wife stands next to him, wearing the mask of a crying, physically beaten woman.
This is further evidenced at Somerton, a house of great primal sexual activity. Bill manages to gatecrash the event, of which Zeigler is in attendance. Although all the guests wear masks, it is presumed that Zeigler is the man who maintains a glance with Bill from an upper level balcony. He wears a black Bauta Venetian mask, (ala Darth Vader, the dark father), that sports a large frown, looking down at Bill, as though it were the look of a disapproving father. Interestingly, the mask is that of an owl, and in this Pagan context, possibly Moloch, a giant owl god to which children are sacrificed. His wife stands next to him, wearing the mask of a crying, physically beaten woman.
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The scene creates a tableau of sorts, having punished the mother, the frowning father stares down disapprovingly at the son, a visual embodiment of the threat of castration. After being outcast at Somerton, Zeigler repeats the threats issued there, that Bill is not to discuss where he had been and what he had seen. Considering that he was on a futile journey to be with his mother and to be able to see her in a way that would make that possible again, it can be interpreted as an overwhelming threat of castration from his ‘father’.
WHY THE BOY MUST BECOME A MAN
The birth of a male child “gives the woman the penis she is longing for”, which means she no longer requires the man as her phallus (Minsky: 54).[14] However as her unity with the boy is broken, he begins to see the father as an ideal and the mother as a ‘lack’. The threat of castration denigrates the value of the mother in comparison to the father, and maintains an appearance of a status quo of men as phallus bearers in society. As Red Cloak (Leon Vitali) warns him (pointing and shaking a finger at him as a parent would to a child, which Zeigler also does later on in the film), if he were to pursue further investigations, there would be dire consequences for him and his |
family, a threat that the incestuous Oedipal odyssey is not accepted by patriarchal ‘society’.Zeigler ‘the father’ has the backing of ‘society’ on his side, a patriarchal society that is secret, acting as a mask for the threat of castration that is never openly discussed, but is a powerful force that directs civilisation. It can be assumed that all the participants at Somerton were also at Zeigler’s Christmas party, and that the masks they wear at the orgy are actually their true faces that were masked during the Christmas festivities. This ‘secret society’ is a blanket for the male dependency on women to be their phallus, and denying them one of their own, which would allow them to stop masquerading as their partner’s phallus. It is demanded that Bill’s Id must bow to the pressures of ‘society’ and integrate their values into his super-ego.
[14] Minsky, quoting Freud, points out that both a “baby and a penis are often spoken of as a ‘little one’” (1996: 54).
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Just as Red Cloak is about to force Bill to strip from the mask of his clothing in front of ‘society’, exposing him for all to see both physically and emotionally, (unveiling his ‘mask’ of masculinity), it is only a mother-figure who can save him. The woman, (whom Bill examined earlier in the film), can be read as ‘mother’ as she had been intimate with Zeigler ‘the father’, and is wearing an elaborate hairpiece mask that suggests matriarch. Emphasis on it being the ‘mask’ of matriarch.
She takes his place in being punished by society, volunteering exposure, sacrificing herself for her ‘son’ as she is already castrated. In this way she has acted as a phallus for him, preventing him from exposing his ‘mask’ of masculinity, and creating the sense of unity between protective mother and son, that Bill is seeking. It invites back the narcissism of an earlier time, the idea of which Bill has “been jerking over”, as Zeigler later puts it. |
She pays for rebelling against patriarchy with her life, ‘society’ finding it unacceptable that the son should be allowed to interfere with the possessions of the father. Poignantly, she is led away by a man wearing a doctor’s plague mask,[15] a double for Bill due to his profession, which reinforces that his actions can hurt ‘mother’, an important step in progressing through the paranoid-schizoid phase. It has marked an end to the fantasy of reunification with mother, Red Cloak verbalising it as she is escorted away, “no one can change her fate now, there is no turning back. Go.”
And sure enough, when Bill tries to retrace his steps the following day he can not find many of the people he had encountered, or access some of the places he had been on his adventure, as though the bridges had finally been burned (or a cord had been cut) and he is forced with progressing forward through the Oedipal journey. Fittingly, when he goes to see the body of the woman at the hospital morgue the shot of him walking down the corridor is reminiscent of the stargate sequence of 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), in which the protagonist confronts an alien and is reborn. Of course Bill is not reborn in the literal sense, but it marks a new stage of life for him where his eyes are opened by the confirmation of death to motherly unity. |
[15] ‘The mask with the long beak is made to keep in it substances and aromas that it was believed would have protected the doctor from getting contaminated from the plague’ in 18th century Europe. There was very little they could do for their patients, and so their appearance was a sign of death. Delpiano [online]. (Updated 2007) Available at: http://www.delpiano.com/carnival/html/medico_peste.html [Accessed 2nd May 2010].
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Zeigler later tries to belittle her role as mother figure for Bill by claiming she was a hooker. This degrades her sexually, taking away any notion of her as a caring, loving part of a whole with her ‘son’ and reinforcing Zeigler’s position of castration-threatening father. The final interaction between the two men sees Zeigler comforting Bill from behind, in a position reminiscent of sodomy. While Zeigler smiles and Bill looks unhappy, it suggests a loving nature from the father while still demonstrating that he is still in charge, sexually.
THE INEVITABLE ANTI-CLIMAX
So while the phallus is recognised as a symbol of power, it is really a misrecognition, part of the mask worn in order to guard men’s vulnerable dependency on women. More accurately, the phallus is a symbol of powerlessness, the threat of castration coupled with the desire for a unity with the mother that is irreversibly lost and can never truly be compensated.
Bill never manages to be intimate with anyone other than his wife however; the entire dream is a process of his mind coming to terms with the fact that he will “never be able to regain the paradise of unity and self-completion which we phantasised with our mothers in the imaginary” (Minsky: 147). He is slowly coming to understand that reintegration with the mother is an impossibility that can never be fulfilled, the neon lit shops he walks past a reminder that life is full of consumerist desires designed to distract us from the fact.
So while the phallus is recognised as a symbol of power, it is really a misrecognition, part of the mask worn in order to guard men’s vulnerable dependency on women. More accurately, the phallus is a symbol of powerlessness, the threat of castration coupled with the desire for a unity with the mother that is irreversibly lost and can never truly be compensated.
Bill never manages to be intimate with anyone other than his wife however; the entire dream is a process of his mind coming to terms with the fact that he will “never be able to regain the paradise of unity and self-completion which we phantasised with our mothers in the imaginary” (Minsky: 147). He is slowly coming to understand that reintegration with the mother is an impossibility that can never be fulfilled, the neon lit shops he walks past a reminder that life is full of consumerist desires designed to distract us from the fact.
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Before You Go...
If we still haven't satiated your thirst for discussion on Kubrick, and Eyes Wide Shut in particular, then you'll want to read our next article:
How Kubrick Explores 20th Century American Jewish Identity In Eyes Wide Shut
Also Worth Checking Out
If we still haven't satiated your thirst for discussion on Kubrick, and Eyes Wide Shut in particular, then you'll want to read our next article:
How Kubrick Explores 20th Century American Jewish Identity In Eyes Wide Shut
Also Worth Checking Out
- Wanting even more Kubrick? We take a darker look at his body of work in our article How The Holocaust Is Reflected In The Films Of Stanley Kubrick
- See how director Zack Snyder deals with sex and sexuality in the superhero world in our article Watchmen: Post-Modernism, Gender And Sexuality In America
- Explore some other great film-makers! Vittorio De Sica's 1940s opus Bicycle Thieves makes for an excellent Introduction To Italian Neorealism Cinema