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2.4 Lacan – Desire and the Other


( Due: Sun, 16 Jan | Status: Not Completed )
1. Watch Joss Whedon’s Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog at Trailer Addict, keeping Freud and Jung’s theories in mind, and noting how Whedon uses the three-act structure you’ve already learned about.


2. Jacques Lacan combined Freudian Psychoanalysis with Ferdinand de Saussure’s “semiotic” theory of language. He claims to be a true successor of Sigmund Freud, which he contrasts with the work of Anna Freud and Melanie Klein (who are outside the scope of his course). Lacan’s theory is that the unconscious is “structured like a language,” offering new readings of Freud and new ways to approach the unconscious mind. Lacan’s own writing on his theories is notorious for its complexity and difficulty.
3. Read the “Jacques Lacan” entry at the “Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy:”
The IEP is a good resource for scholarly information about philosophers, theorists, theologians and psychologists. It is “peer reviewed,” meaning that academic experts (Professors) write the articles and other experts look over them for accuracy. You may want to bookmark the site for future reference
4. The “no subject” wiki is dedicated to the terms, concepts, and ongoing practice of Lacanian psychoanalysis. Lacanian analysis is still widely practiced as a form of talk therapy, especially in French-speaking countries and Latin America. There is no assigned reading from the wiki, but it is a good source of detailed information about Lacan’s theories and those of his followers, including the influential Slavoj Zizek.
5. Consider the following:
a. How would one interpret the behavior of Dr. Horrible in terms of Lacanian psychoananlysis?
b. What are the principal differences between Lacan’s theories and Freud’s?
c. Lacan’s psychoanalysis and Jung’s are very different – what important traits do they share? What would you get if you combined them?
d. How might Lacan’s concept of the unconscious as having a linguistic (semiotic) structure be useful to a writer?

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