Lacan theorises when a person is an infant it enters a mirror stage, in this stage it looks at its fragmentary self as an imaginary whole (Lacan, J., 2006), film theorists would see cinema functioning as a mirror to its spectators in the same way. Cinema allows us to project our fantasies onto the film we are watching in order to fulfil a desire through the production. Cinema reflects onto us the idealistic image of ourselves, rather than the person we truly are. Lacanian psychoanalysis begins with the tripartite system, imaginary, symbolic and real, these are a system which form one's sense of awareness. The imaginary is derived from perpetual and fantasied mental processes, the symbolic order is derived from culture and through language and the real is a derivative of our senses (Gerson, M.J. Accessed 2020). The main idea from Lacan's theory is the we create unrealistic fantasies because once we achieve a fantasy we do not feel complete, we like the fantasy of achieving something not the actual achievement. Before the mirror stage, an infant only recognises itself in parts (Toes, hands etc.), (Smith, 2010) once it is able to recognise itself in a mirror it is able to unify these parts and it gives the infant a feeling of wholeness, this is important to a child's development. Although the identification of ones self allows for the feeling of wholeness it also creates conflict, the child starts to feel a form of hostility towards the image they identify with creating this sense of lack, (Smith, 2010) the infant cannot find satisfaction from the image therefore, it is constantly looking for a form of fulfilment which continues throughout their adult life. The infant will also find some pleasure in recognising itself in the mirror, this is because the image in the mirror he has control over, infants have no control in their early stages they have little to no mobility skills yet, they cannot feed or bathe themselves therefore having control of their image holds a lot of weight in their development.
Throughout Lacan's work he talks a lot about the structure of the psyche in which theoretically controls our lives and our desires, the psyche can be split into three parts which all intertwine in order to form a person. The real, the imaginary and the symbolic are all part of the structure of the psyche. The real is very present in infant that haven't yet reached the mirror stage, the real is not concerned with anything other than what it is biologically formed to do, babies are not concerned with fantasies and ideals, they are only concerned with primal needs, such as the need to eat, sleep, urinate and defecate. These functions are functions that us and animals understand therefore they are part of the real. The next part of the structure of the psyche is the imaginary order, this is developed when a child enters the mirror stage. Once the child enters the mirror phase it is no longer only concerned with its primal needs it is now faced with demands which it doesn't understand therefore, they can never be met. This creates a sense of lack or unfulfillment which the child makes up for by creating an "imaginary image of themselves". (Lacan, J. 2006) The demands can be seen when babies cry to get food or when they go to the bathroom. The child is demanding that someone do something to solve their needs however, as they grow the demands go past just demanding needs. The last structure is the "Symbolic Order" in which a child learns about language and the societal constructs. Once a child learns their language they are able to understand societal constructs which allows them to create desires (Modules on Lacan, Accessed 2021). Desires are different to demands as the child now knows that it cannot have everything it wants developing this feeling of lack further. The child instead creates desires which it believes it wants however, once it has achieved a desire it realises it still feels empty therefore, as it grows the desires become more and more unrealistic as once it reaches that achievement they will feel more unfulfilled.
Good example of Lacan's Theory - The Double
The film uses the idea of the existence of doppelgangers to reflect the idea of desires. The main characters is so lonely and invisible that an exact version of himself could appear and no one would notice. The doppelganger is a version of himself that he wishes he was, he is liked at work, he is confident, funny and he could win the heart of the girl the real version loved. The mirror stage is reflected throughout the movie through the use of a doppelganger, the lonely character is able to transfer his imaginary desires onto the doppelganger in order to show a version of himself he wishes he could be.
Lacan, J., 2006, Écrits: The Complete First Edition in English Kubová, K. 2011., Suspense and Film: A Lacanian View Gerson, M.J., Jacques Lacan: A Real, Imaginary, and Symbolic Psychoanalysis (Online) Available at : https://www.psychstudies.net/jacques-lacan-a-real-imaginary-and-symbolic-psychoanalyst/
Smith, E.S., 2010. The Presence of Jacques Lacan's Mirror Stage and Gaze in Robert Louis Stevenson's Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and in Rouben Mamoulian's 1931 Film (Thesis)
Available at : https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1074&context=english_theses
Accessed 2021, Modules on Lacan: II: On the Structure of the Psyche (Online)
Available at : https://cla.purdue.edu/academic/english/theory/psychoanalysis/lacanstructure.html
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