A Morning With our Consciousness; Freudian Personality Test Exercise; Pinocchio: Day 1

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This morning, please take the Selective Attention Test.
  • How many times was the ball passed?
  • What is your reaction to this test? 
Next, let's go back to Consciousness, Crash Course #8 and the rest of our Freud notes. Next, take one of these Freudian tests:

Short Freudian Personality Test:
  1. You’re peering into the sea. What do you feel?
  2. You’re walking in the forest and looking down at the ground. What do you see? Now write down the feeling you had.
  3. You watch seagulls flying above your head. How does this make you feel?
  4. You’re looking at running horses. What emotions did you get?
  5. You’re in the desert, and there’s a wall in front of you. You can’t see the end of it. There’s a little hole in the wall. You see an oasis through it. What are you going to do?
  6. While wandering around the desert, you suddenly find a jug full of water. What are your actions?
  7. You are lost in the forest in the night. Suddenly you find a house with lights on. Think of what you’re going to do.
  8. You’re in the fog, and you can’t see anything. What’s the first thing you want to do?
Check/compare your answers here. For other Freudian tests online, check out the links below:
In writing, reflect on your test.

Next, after our Freudian foray into psychological criticism, let's blend our new found skills with some pop culture and mythology. 

What is a hero? What are the characteristics of a hero? Define them.
I asked you to read "The Trials of Herakles." Let's see what you remember:
  • How many trials did Herakles undergo? 
  • What were some of these trials?
  • What was your reaction to these tasks as you read about them?
  • Why did you react the way you did?
  • What is your opinion of masculinity or the male archetypical story?
  • Can you name other characters from fiction, films, tv shows, or comic books/graphic novels that are similar to Hercules? 
  • What Freudian elements might we discover in the story?
  • Can you define this archetypal story plot? What parts does the male archetypal story include?
  • The Labors of Hercules - 8 bit
Now for some analysis: Herakles/Hercules, Crash Course #30

We'll take a look at Hercules in Pop Culture next class. If you didn't really read "The Trials of Herakles" do so for homework to get the most out of our next session.

Now, back to Freud and the archetype of the male journey.

Pinnochio (1940), Disney.

As you watch the film, take notes on how Pinnochio's journey toward self-actualization is a mythic journey of the self. Use Freud's theories we discussed. Identify and be able to explain how using psychoanalytical theory changes the way we approach the film. Consider:
  • Freud's stages of development
  • Freud's theory of the unconscious: The Id, Ego, Superego
  • The Pleasure Principle & the Reality Principle
  • The Oedipus and Electra complexes
  • Phallic/yonic symbols
  • Freudian disorders and Defenses
  • Dreams or wishes
You will be analyzing and writing about the film, so please take notes on what specific examples you see. It may be a good thing to break your notes into scenes: For example, Jiminy's visit to Gepetto's house; or The Blue fairy's arrival; or Pinocchio's first day alive, etc. (inciting incident, rising action/complications, turning point or crisis, dark moment(s), enlightenment(s), climax, falling action/resolution, etc.

HOMEWORK: Keep reading Dead Father's Club (pg. 123-200) Complete "The Trials of Herakles."

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