In the movie Far from Heaven, all acts by the characters in order to gratify their sexual urges are quickly followed by some form of punishment. What is the significance of this? According to psychoanalysis, this is a form of the punishment of castration that is often associated with the oedipus complex. What is the significance of the oedipus complex in the movie Far from Heaven? According to Lampl-De Groot's essay "The Evolution of the Oedipus Complex in Women", the child renounces his first love-object in order to retain his penis. In psychoanalysis, the penis represents power. Frank denounces his homosexuality to not only retain his job but also to stay in his marriage where he also maintains the power.
Are the punishments for trying to gratify their sexual urges accurate representation of castration according to psychoanalysis? Now, as noted before, the penis generally represents power, so the loss of a penis would be the loss of power. There were five instances in the movie that I found where one of the characters was trying to gratify their urges and were punished for it.
The first one is where Kathy is trying to sleep with Frank in the bedroom. He turns her down saying that he's too tired. The look on Kathy's face is steeped in rejection. The loss of power in this scene is that she is no longer able to entice her husband. The second scene that I noticed is when Kathy visits Frank at his office. Because of the surprise Frank and his lover break a lamp in his office. The lamp is pretty phallic, in general. The fact that it is broken could be taken as a sign for castration. However, the next day the secretary, finds the broken lamp in Frank's closet. This fact leads to an uncomfortable exchange where Frank has to try to explain why the broken lamp is in his closet. Frank loses some credibility because of this and has a chance to lose his job.
After the party at their house, Frank tries to sexually attack Kathy. After a few seconds of general uncomfotableness, Frank breaks down and hits Kathy. The loss of power in this scene is that Frank is crying which is taken as a loss of masculinity and Kathy's loss of power is that her appearance is damaged. The next scene that I noticed was when Kathy is dancing with Raymond. She really wants to dance with Raymond, however in doing so, she is opening herself up. This is a loss of power because she is leaving herself vulnerable. The last scene that I noticed was in the hotel room between Frank and his lover. After this scene, Frank loses his wife and family. Whatever power he had with his family, was lost because of his inability to control his sexual urges.
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1 month ago
you did a really nice job detailing scenes where characters are punished for trying to satisfy their urges. i'm not sure what the punishment was for her dance with raymond... the ensuing gossip? the incident where raymond's daughter is injured? i'm not sure there is a castration effect in place here, specifically.
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