Pop Culutre; Mythology & Psychology (A beginning)

What is Popular Culture?

Read about Popular Culture on Wikipedia (another pop culture idea). Take notes to define, understand the component parts of the subject area, and its characteristics.

Popular culture studies popular culture from a critical theory perspective. It is generally considered a combination of communication studies and cultural studies.

Barriers between so-called high and low culture have broken down, which encompasses such diverse media as comic books, television, mass media, and the Internet.

The theory of progressive evolution:

Capitalist economies create opportunities for every individual to participate in a culture which is fully democratized through mass education, expansion of leisure time and cheap entertainment, media, and paperbacks. In this liberal view, popular culture (low culture) does not threaten high culture but is an authentic expression of the needs of the people.

Mythology (a beginning)

Morning reading & viewing: "The Myth of Cupid & Psyche" 

• What other stories, films, TV shows, graphic novels, games, do you know that have similar elements?
• A clip of a familiar enough story

Watch, pay attention, take notes on ideas you find interesting: Crash Course Mythology, #1

A word about myths:

• Myths usually run along cultural lines--embodying a specific worldview or belief of that culture. They are often the basis of religion or religious belief.
• Myths often explain origins, natural phenomena, or aspects of our 4 major themes in literature: life, death, nature, or love. Myths often touch upon these themes.
• Myths name or describe the supernatural or divine world of beings beyond our human comprehension. They may include legends and are closely related to fairy tales and folklore. Hero myths or legends are used as role models for behavior or cultural taboos and mores. They exemplify what a culture deems important or essential to their group or way of living.
• Myths attempt to explain the connection between the divine and human existence, or to answer: Who am I and how do I fit into the natural order? They often concern themselves with humans and their place in the natural order of the universe.
• Creation myths explain how a person or world came to be. There are a variety of creation myth types. Please refer to the handout for more details.

LIBRARY: Please pick up our next novel The Dead Father's Club.

Now, Some Psychology:

Take a few minutes to read about William James and Sigmund Freud.

William James (the father of psychology): Consciousness is a process, not a thing. Its prime purpose is to stay alive. Consciousness is a stream of associated thoughts ("transitive parts--moving" and "substantive"--resting.) Thoughts in our consciousness form "the self". The empirical self is connected to our behavior and might consist of the spiritual self, material self, and the social self to create our SELF. "True beliefs" are those that we find useful. "Old truths" are replaced by "new truths". James' work eventually influences the behaviorist movement in psychology.  

Freudian Theory

EQ: What is Psychology & Psychotherapy? What contributions/concepts did Sigmund Freud make to the field of Psychology & Psychotherapy? How can a writer use psychology to understand herself or her characters?

As we discuss the topic of Sigmund Freud, please practice taking notes. You will use your notes in a creative writing and analysis assignment later.

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)

Freud in a nutshell:

Freud created "Freudian Psychology" (psychoanalysis): interpreting what people say and do in order to figure out what their root problems are.

Freudian psychology is used by literary critics using psychoanalytical criticism. (i.e., analysis of a text through the lens of psychological theories). In order to use this type of criticism, you need a basic understanding of Freud's key concepts.

Freud believed that psychological desires influence the forming of a personality.

Theory of Unconscious:
The part of the mind that thinks and feels without you being aware of these thoughts and feelings is called the UNCONSCIOUS.
The UNCONSCIOUS is comprised of 3 sections: The Ego, the Id, and the Superego.

1. The Ego is the self
2. The Id is the animalistic or primitive side of the unconscious.
3. The Superego is the control

Dreams are one way of communicating with the unconscious. They are coded messages mailed to your conscious self.

Freud also stated that:

• We all have desires.
• Sometimes the self cannot admit that it wants certain things, because we all learn (usually during infancy) that some things are bad for us.
• As a result, the mind REPRESSES (repression) or hides these desires in the unconscious until they resurface as expensive psychoanalysis bills.
• In general, most repressed desires are sexual in nature.

We are sexually motivated from birth. Freud divided people into three major developmental stages:

1. Oral (infancy to about 1 year old)
2. Anal (2-3 years)
3. Genital (until about adulthood)

Freud had two major principles:

1. Pleasure Principle: we pursue pleasure. From the moment we're born, we want to be comforted, fed, etc. This pleasure seeking can be both physical and emotional.
2. Reality Principle: You can't always get what you want. Sometimes you have to alter your instinctual behavior to get what you want. Often this leads to suppression.

These two principles combine to affect our personalities and make us who we are.
Jokes, dreams, myths, compulsions, obsessions, fetishes, hysterical fits, etc. all are part of our repressed desires, says Freud.

Two Famous Complexes:

Oedipus Complex: A desire to get rid of one's father and "marry" one's mother.
Virtually all men deal with this repressed desire, says Freud.
A male child develops an Oedipus complex as a result of having to compete with their fathers for their mother's attention/affection. They have not learned to accept their fathers' authority and are still dependent on the mother.

Girls go through the Electra Complex - basically the same thing, but reversed gender roles: daughter wants father, etc.

More Freudian Theory: (hang on to your pencils...sometimes a pencil is just a pencil...)

Here's a bit more information about Freud's theories. Feel free to research these links as much as you'd like to get smarter. To learn more about Freud as a person and as a historical figure, click the link(s).

Mental Defenses

Repression: When painful memories or anxiety or negative thoughts occur, repression is the process of pushing or keeping them out of the mind. Be aware a person is not AWARE of Repression, as it is a subconscious event. The goal in psychoanalysis is that these repressed memories or thoughts break through to the conscious level where they can be worked on and resolved.

Suppression: Similar to repression, except that this is in the conscious mind. A person chooses not to think about a desire, wish, etc. instead of seeking for it. (Puts it out of the mind). We do this often when we want to change the subject of a conversation because its too difficult to bear, or if the topic makes us uncomfortable.

Projection: when someone consciously experiences an unconscious drive, wish, or feeling as though it belongs to someone else. A person with intense unconscious anger may project that anger onto her friend and think it is her friend who is angry, for example.

Rationalization: to explain away anxiety provoking thoughts or feelings. Usually a person who cannot face an aspect of himself, may rationalize his actions as being normal  or okay.

Reaction Formation: A person says or does the exact opposite of how he or she really feels. A desire or wish may be unacceptable, so this is turned into its exact opposite. We see a lot of this sort of thing when evangelists or preachers go on about hating homosexuality, then later are caught engaging in that sort of behavior. Before the psyche breaks down, the individual is using reaction formation to keep unwanted desires at bay.

Displacement: When an unacceptable desire is redirected toward a more acceptable alternative. Instead of unconsciously desiring sex, a woman might buy a warehouse full of shoes. Shoes are, of course, a symbol for a vagina (something that allows something else to fit into it...)

Sublimation: Like displacement, when you sublimate a desire you turn unacceptable urges into their opposites - an acceptable outlet for ones feelings/desires. Artists often do this when they channel their rage or anger into their art or music. Sylvia Plath is a good example of how her disturbed subconscious bubbled up into her poetry. In sublimation, for example, sexual frustration might end up as an angry heavy-metal album...what might we say about Lady Gaga or Marilyn Manson?

HOMEWORK: Read pages: 1-64 in The Dead Father's Club for Tuesday. Watch the psychology videos (see below) and take notes:

Psychology videos:

• Rorschach & Freudians
• Consciousness
• Cognition
• How to Train Your Brain: Behavioral Psychology