Freud for Beginners illustrate the life and theories of Freud in a comical and educational way. The art had exaggerated portraits of important figures in Freud's life and history, as well as edited illustrations of famous paintings to make the reading more light hearted. They also delve into the controversies of his theories and how his students' theories split from his own yet enforced it at the same time.
I was not too satisfied at the end of the book with Freud being unable to find a solution to why there is repression of the Id, but such is life. It does have me thinking, what if repression comes from an internal defense against having too much of a good thing? For example, to satisfy hunger, one must eat, but not too much because that would make us feel ill. Perhaps that is where the restraint comes from, but I have no historical context to back it up.
Personally, this book was a lot of an easier read than any article or textbook on Freud that I have previously read. I enjoyed the comic book format and that it went in depth into Freud's past and his progression of logic to reach his conclusions. I also liked the fact that he linked his theories to history, mythology, and case studies to show that they are not singular instances but rather a part of human nature that's been repeated over time.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No doubt that Freud's the father of the ways in which we understand functioning of memory, unconscious, ego etc. But like every foundation, there are layers of arguments and additional research placed a top Freud's research. Critically, there's a lot to explore and examine in how Freud conceived of differences, especially men and women
ReplyDeleteWhile many of Freud's findings were first controversial, they have since been totally assimilated into pop culture. Obviously, the Surrealists used these ideas of the subconscious and in reaction against Freud, women filmmakers/video artists from the early 60's tore into Freud's theories about women, in particular. Laura Mulvey is one of the most notorius- she used Freud's theories of sexuality and sexual devience to critically view how women are portrayed in film- how the camera performs as a male voyeur and how the industry created a male gaze that didn't incorporate perspectives or looking from the female character's point of view.
Wayne Dyer has that "a lot easier to read" element to his books. We call Wayne Dyer the father of motivation for a lot of good reasons. The idea is getting something simple to understand but having solid theory behind it.
ReplyDeletewww.speakerresource.com/srct/