MediaSpace Wiki

Critical Analysis S2010 S12

Theories of Mind: Media and the construction of self

The self is a construction of media
- But we also construct our media
- And the content of our media
The construction of self through media is the real issue in the Psychoanalytic analysis of media
So Cutting through all the deep Freudian theory and its adaptation
- It remains true that we forget everything we learn several times while we are young
- But while we forget it, we don't lose it
- It becomes a substrate of who we are
  - confidence
  - ability to trust
  - ability to love
  - discipline
  - jealousy
  - fear
  - patience
  - self-control
- This "substrate" quality is what psychological constructs like Id, Ego, Superego, and Oedipus Complex are all about
  - The assumptions that emerge from the things we forget
- We may not remember what happens when we are young, but it still deeply shapes who we are
- That is the fundamental concept beneath the unconscious mind
  - Forget versus repress may simply be a value judgment
The unconscious is shaped by our experience of language and the expressed perceptions of others
- It finds expression in our choices
  - The things we choose to watch
  - The meaning we assign to it
  - Our behavior
    - Freudian slips
    - Failures of memory
    - Jokes and Puns
    - Neuroses
    - Dreams
- What's the right way to hang the toilet paper?
  - People often have strong views about "what's right" here
  - There is no "right" way
  - But we tend to view the way our parents do it as "right"
- This is fundamentally what "the unconscious" is all about
  - The things that we assume are "right" without really thinking about them
- When analysts view film or video as "dream expression", it is this forgotten unconscious that they are referring to
  - From the standpoints of both creation and consumption
  - Meaning exceeds the surface
  - We experience the unconscious as if it were a language - Jacques Lacan
- We are "spoken" by our culture
- We become what we assume by the messages we attend to
- We commit to what we believe in the messages we create
X equals Sum Media
- Relationships
- Communities
- Organizations
- Societies
- Our selves
In the end, psychological theory is largely an extension of semiotics
- but with an ideological overlay of vocabulary
- in which we oppress ourselves

-- Last edited April 28, 2010

Unless otherwise noted, the contents of this page were written by participants on the Media Space Wiki, operated by Davis Foulger, and should be cited accordingly. For example (APA):
Foulger, D. and other participants. (April 28, 2010). Critical Analysis S2010 S12. MediaSpaceWiki. Retrieved on from http://evolutionarymedia.com/wiki.htm?CriticalAnalysisS2010S12.