Subjectivity Construction through Familial Discourse Represented in Film: A Case Study of Alyosha’s Identity in Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Loveless

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Graduate Student of English Language and Literature, University of Kurdistan, Sanandaj, Iran

2 Assistant Professor, Department of English Language and Literature, University of Kurdistan, Sanandaj, Iran

10.34785/J014.2019.168

Abstract

This paper aims to study the process of identity shaping of a teenager in a family from the perspective of Subjectivity theories. The process of identity formation has been one of the main concerns for various critical approaches in human sciences in general, and the psychoanalytical and Marxist approaches in particular. The case study of the present research is the character of Alyosha from Andrey Zvyagintsev’s film, Loveless (2017). Since there is no particular theory for the contentual analysis of Film, critics in the analysis of the films’ content, take advantage of various literary, sociological and psychoanalysis theories. Therefore, the Conceptual Framework of the present study concentrates on the critical approaches of Structural psychoanalysis and Structural Marxism; particularly definitions of the Unconscious, Repressed Desire, the Name of the Father by Lacan, the Ideology, ISAs, RSAs by Althusser, and the Žižekian concept of Lack of Language. This investigation in the process of identity formation can play a significant role in demonstrating the covert motives of the character’s suicidal act. It will illustrate the way Alyosha as a subject inherits his parents’ repressed desires and lack of language caused by ideology. The application of considering concepts indicates the central role and inevitable impact of the familial discourse at the emergence of subjectivity within the family.

Keywords

References

Althusser, L. “Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses (Notes towards an Investigation).” Lenin and Philosophy and Other Essays. trans. Ben Brewster. New York: Monthly Review Press, 1971.
Badiou, A. “The Idea of Communism.” in The Idea of Communism. Costas Douzinas & Slavoj Žižek (eds.), London & New York: Verso, 2010.
Bradshaw, P. (17 May 2017). “Loveless review - eerie thriller of hypnotic, mysterious intensity from Leviathan director.” The Guardian. Guardian News and Media. Archived from the original on 26 May 2017. [Retrieved 31 May 2019]
Callari, A. and Ruccio, D. F. Postmodern Materialism and the Future of Marxist Theory. Hanover and London: Wesleyan University Press, 1996.
Chang, J. (30 November 2017). “Andrey Zvyagintsev’s missing-child drama ‘Loveless’ is a shattering portrait of Russian social malaise.” Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 3 December 2017. [Retrieved 31 May 2019]
Chiesa, L. Subjectivity and Otherness: A Philosophical Reading of Lacan. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2007.
Easthope, A. The Unconscious. London: Routledge, 1999.
Fink, B. The Lacanian Subject: Between Language and Jouissance. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1995. 
Freud, S. Strachey, J. and Richards, A. Introductory lectures on psychoanalysis. London: Penguin, 1991.
Freud, S. Civilization and Its Discontents. Trans. James Strachey (ed). New York: W. W. Norton, 1989.
Krause, A. E. Functions of a Bureaucratic Ideology: “Citizen Participation”, Social Problems, Volume 16, Issue 2, 1968, pp. 129–143. DOI: 10.2307/799999
Lacan, J. “Some Reflections on the Ego.” The International Journal of Psychoanalysis, Vol. 34, 1953, pp. 11-17.
Lacan, J. “The Seminar. Book III.” The Psychoses, 1955-56. trans. Russell Grigg. London: Routledge, 1993.
Lacan, J. Écrits: A Selection. trans. Alan Sheridan. London: Tavistock Publications, 1977.
Lacan, J. (1978) The Seminar of Jacques Lacan, Book XI: The Four Fundamental Concepts of the Psychoanalysis. Jacques-Alain Miller (ed), Trans. Alan Sheridan. New York: W. W.Norton.
Lacan, J. and Mehlman, J. “Introduction to the Names-of-the-Father Seminar.” October, Vol. 40, 1987, pp. 81–95. 
“Loveless (Nelyubov) (2017).” Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. [Retrieved 31 May 2019]
Mishra R. K. “A study of form and content.” Journal of English and Literature, Vol. 2, No. 7, 2011, pp. 157-160.
 Negin, O. and Zvyagintsev, A. Loveless. Available Online at www.sonyclassics.com. [Retrieved 7 March 2019]
Plakhov, A. (2 June 2017). “От нелюбви не зарекайся.” Kommersant (in English). Archived from the original on 5 July 2018. [Retrieved 31 May 2019]
Sadjadi, Seyed Bakhtiar. Investigating the Subject's Identity: The Critical Treatment of the Lacanian-Althusserian Dialectic and Subjectivity Formation in James Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Exeter University, 2010
Sartre, J. Being and Nothingness. trans. Hazel Barnes. New York: Washington Square Press, 1966.
Simonton, D. K. “Cinematic success criteria and their predictors: The art and business of the film industry.” Psychology & Marketing, Vol. 26, No. 5, 2009, pp. 400-420. DOI:10.1002/mar.20280
Tarighatbin, M. and Sadati S. S. “Semiotic and Cultural Analysis of English and Persian Advertising Slogans.” Contemporary Literary and Cultural Studies, Vol. 1, No. 1, 2019, pp. 39-61.
Tarvainen, J., Westman, S. and Oittinen P. “The Way Films Feel: Aesthetic Features and Mood in Film.” Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, Vol. 8, No. 5, 2015, pp. 279-286. DOI: 10.1037/a0039432
Turner, K. “Lacan’s Fantasy: The Birth of the Clinical Concept.” International Journal of Žižek Studies, Vol. 11, No. 2, 2017, pp. 1-18.
Watson, C. “Identification and desire: Lacan and Althusser versus Deleuze and Guattari? A short note with an intercession from Slavoj Žižek.” International Journal of Žižek Studies, Vol. 6, No. 2, 2017, pp. 1-16.
Youdell, D. “Subjectivation and Performative Politics: Butler Thinking Althusser and Foucault: Intelligibility, Agency and the Raced-Nationed-Religioned Subjects of Education.” British Journal of Sociology of Education, Vol. 27, No. 4, 2006, pp. 511-528.
Žižek, S. Looking Awry: An Introduction to Jacques Lacan through Popular Culture. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1991.
Žižek, S. Enjoy Your Symptom! Jacques Lacan in Hollywood and out. Revised Edition, New York/London: Routledge, 1992.
Žižek, S. Tarrying With the Negative: Kant, Hegel, and the Critique of Ideology. Durham: Duke University Press, 1993.
Žižek, S. The Metastases of Enjoyment: Six Essays on Women and Causality. London: Verso, 1994.
Žižek, S. The Indivisible Remainder: An Essay on Schelling and Related Matters. London: Verso, 1996.
Žižek, S. and F. W. J. von Schelling. The Abyss of Freedom/Ages of the World. An Essay by Slavoj Žižek with the text of Schelling’s Die Weltalter (second draft, 1813), trans. Judith Norman, Ann Arbor, Michigan: The University of Michigan Press, 1997.
Žižek, S. “Schelling-in-itself”. Elizabeth Wright & Edmond Wright (Eds.) The Žižek Reader, London: Blackwell, 1999, pp. 249-267.
Žižek, S. Welcome to the Desert of the Real! London: Verso, 2002.
Žižek, S. Interrogating the Real. London, New Delhi, New York, Sydney: Bloomsbury, 2005.
Žižek, S. The Parallax View. MIT Press, Cambridge, London: England, 2006.
Žižek, S. How to Read Lacan. New York: W.W. Norton & Co, 2007.
Žižek, S. Less than Nothing: Hegel and the Shadow of Dialectical Materialism. London: Verso, 2012.
 
Critical Literary Studies
Volume 1, Issue 2 - Serial Number 2
September 2019
Pages 73-97

Files

History

  • Receive Date: 19 April 2019
  • Revise Date: 11 June 2019
  • Accept Date: 26 August 2019

Share

How to cite

Statistics