A Research on Dreams World in Fellini's Filmmaking
Federico Fellini died on 31 October, 1993 was an Italian film director and had reached the pinnacle of international success.(Frank Burke & Marguerite R. Waller,17) In April 1993, he was honored with a life time achievement by the American Academy of Motion Pictures and Science with four awards in the category of Best Foreign Film for La strada (1954), Le notti di Cabiria (The Nights of Cabiria, 1957), 8 ½ (Otto e Mezzo, 1963) and Amarcord (1973).(Peter Bondanella,57)
Generally, Federico Fellini’s career as a movie director is divided into seven stages,(Alpert, Hollis,28) which are Early screenplays (1940-43), Neorealist apprenticeship (1944–1949), Early films (1950-53), Beyond neorealist (1954-60), Art films and dreams (1961–1969), Honors (1970–1980), and Late films and projects (1981–1990).In the end of Fellini’s neorealist period (1950-1959), (Federico Fellini, Peter E. Bondanella & Manuela Gieri,224) Fellini began to contact the work of Carl Jung, which has deeply influenced his later movies, such as the movies of 8½ (1963), Juliet of the Spirits (1965), Satyricon (1969), Casanova (1976), and City of Women (1980). In fact, Fellini’s interest in Jung was critical to the later development of his own filmmaking style. This report tries to analyze and examine Fellini’s on Dreams, Unconscious and Imaginative World of his filmmaking. This report comprises of two parts. The first part is a general introduction to Jungian psychoanalysis and its influence reflected in Federico Fellini's filmmaking. Then the second part will specifically analyze Fellini’s unconscious and imaginative world in 8½ (Otto e Mezzo, 1963) from the perspective of Shadow and Anima.
Introduction of Carl Jung's influence on Federico Fellini
Introduction Jung’s Analytical Psychology
#p#分页标题#e#At first, Analytical Psychology (or Jungian psychology) is Jung’s term used to describe his theory and practice of psychology. (Peter Bondanella, 12) Now, it refers to the school of psychology originated from his ideas and then advanced by his students and followers.
Carl Jung used this term to distinguish his theory from Freud’s form of psychotherapy.(Isabella Conti & William A. McCormack, 294) Though Freud had great influence on Jung and Jung’s Analytical Psychology which has a number of similarities with Freudian psychoanalysis, Jung’s postulated unconscious was quite different of Freud’s model. The most significant difference is the assumption of collective unconscious. (Bondanella, Peter, 58) There was a time that Jung was closely associated with Freud, but he broke with Freud latterly, most because of Freud’s narrow emphasis on sexual energy as the motivating force behind behavior.
The aims of Jung’s psychology are reconciliation of the individual life and integration of the deep motivations underlying human behavior. (Boyer, D, 20) Jung believed that an interpreted psychic disturbance and cognitive unconscious were individual's attempt to achieve a wholesome of the various parts of the personality.
The fundamentals for Carl Jung’s theory include: Unconscious, Collective unconscious, Archetypes, Self-realization and neuroticism, Shadow, Anima and animus, Wise old man / woman and Psychoanalysis.
Introduction of Carl Jung's influence reflected in Federico Fellini's filmmakingCarl Jung’s psychoanalytic theory was fully manifested in Federico Fellini’s films in twenty sixties.(Murray, Edward,23) Different from Antonioni, another contemporary Italian film masters who was also focused on illustrating the inner world of characteristics, Fellini visualized the inner world of characteristics directly instead of demonstrating from the outside. For Fellini, dreams and fantasies were ways to gain access to an imaginative world of greater significance.( Jung, Carl,105) He used symbols and archetypes contained in the collective unconscious as a new vocabulary of imagery to appeal to viewers on emotional. #p#分页标题#e#
Fellini’s 8½ (Otto e Mezzo, 1963) concerns about Guido who is a director ran out of his inspirations. This film comprises the experiences, memories, fantasies and dreams while Guido was preparing for his ninth films. This film has introduced elements like dreams, memories and fantastic images and sounds.( Mark Hayes,45) Then in 1965, Fellini continued this exploration of dream world with his first color project, Juliet of the Spirits (1965), which is often called another ‘told from the point of view of a woman’. Such as Federico Fellini's dreams, unconscious and imaginative world in 8½ (Otto e Mezzo, 1963)
Introduction of dreams, unconscious and imaginative world in 8½ (Otto e Mezzo, 1963)
8½ is a film directed by Federico Fellini in 1963. The film's title which is “8½”, means Fellini's eighth and a half film as a director.
In Federico Fellini's 8½ (Otto e Mezzo, 1963), a lot of flashbacks, fantasies and dreams have interspersed in the movie and the inner state of character presented on the screen directly. The film shot in 1963 is now being widely imitated and almost becomes a synonym for psychological film.
Free association is the foundation of forming material flow of though in the stream of consciousness. The less impact on thinking has, the greater the degree of free association will be.
In 8 ½ (Otto e Mezzo, 1963), Fellini tried to reveal Guido’s unsolved conflicts. Parts of these conflicts are consciously and others unconscious. Instead of shooting the continuous stream of consciousness of Guido, Fellini chose to use eleven dreams, flashbacks and fantasies in the “stream” to present Guido’s inner world. This allows audiences to cope into Guido’s inner world deeply. Therefore, in fact, this film has two clues: One clue is the narrative description of pending film, the other is the parallel clue composed of flashbacks and fantasies, which aim at exploring the inner motivations of escaping from reality. #p#分页标题#e#
In this film, Fellini’s demonstration of dreams can be comparable to Jung’s Analytical Psychology. The eleven dreams in this film has become the temple of research for most Film Academies. The scenes that Guido climbed out from the closed car, flew into the sky, was pulled down by a rope and surrounded by a large group of women all can be regarded as masterstrokes.
Detailed analysis of 8½ (Otto e Mezzo, 1963)
Shadow of inner world
According to Jung’s theory, shadow is a component of the personality which is normally repressed. (Conti, I. F, 125) The shadow of a man’s psyche is as unique as his shadow cast by the figure. The shadow implies all these characteristics that a person refuses to recognize as part of him.
Introspection
8 ½ (Otto e Mezzo, 1963) begins with Guido visiting a health spa to have a few days of rest. On the way to spa, Guido experienced his first dream and met his shadow. Scenes begins with Guido, viewed from behind, sitting alone in a car on a congested streets. Then he tries to clean the dashboard and windshield with his handkerchief. After a few lanes, some people are standing in a bus with arms dangling and smoke begins to billow out of Guido’s car. Guido begins to be panic and climb out from his car. Trying to kick his way through the glass, Guido finally finds his way out of the car. After that, he begins to float into the sky. When Guido is travelling through the clouds, he met two men and a rope ties to his leg. Then Guido awakens from his sleep, signals to the audience that the sequence was a dream.
#p#分页标题#e#This dream reflects the psychological state of the character Guido, a period of intense introspection. A grotesque traffic jam just like Guido’s state of life, a state of being blocked creatively. The trip to spa implies that Guido himself is aware of the need for relax and get ready to take a psychological journey to contact his inner world. (Enzo Peri & Federico Fellini, 30)
In the film Guido is awakened by his scriptwriter, Daumier. Daumier is one of a group of inner figures who generate from Guido’s unconscious. As an intuitive artist who follows the call of inner emotions and needs, Guido naturally has a shadow that appears cold and negative intellectual. Throughout the film, Daumier acts as an articulate and unremitting critic who keep belittling Guido’s most vital and creative images and symbols. In fact, Daumier’s criticism is an expression of his agonizing self doubts.
Guilt in Sexual Behaviors
In the dream after Guido had sex with his mistress, his mother is wiping the walls beside Guido and his mistress’ bed and complaining that the wall is too dirty. After that, his mother takes him to families’ tombs. In front of the tomb, he has a conversation with his father. His father complains that the tomb is too small. After that, he kisses his mother, who suddenly becomes his wife. The meaning of the psychological association is very clear.
It has expressed Guido's guilt in his sexual behaviors and it also indicates the conflict in the classic triangle composed by himself, his mistress, Carla, and his wife, Luisa.. In fact, Guido has always associated his mother with guilt feelings. This can be seen through incest taboo and his fear of regression. This constitutes a negative reinforcement against the transfer of Guido’s feminine side to another level. Guido’s wife, Luisa, personifies his spiritual stage of anima. However, his wife is too much similar to his mother, which is dramatically expressed in the end of this dream.#p#分页标题#e#
Childhood, Root of Being Anima
Jung defined the anima as being the unconscious feminine component of men. And many modern Jungian supporters believe that every person has both an anima and an animus. Jung declared that the anima and animus play as guides to the unconscious unified self.
Examining chronologically, 8 ½ (Otto e Mezzo, 1963) reveals the stages of the anima that Jung said corresponds to the psychological development of man. In the film, some of the anima figures are presented by way of dreams and reverie. And in the film, Federico Fellini uses flashback about exquisite tender memories about childhood to reveal Guido’s subconscious source of desires.
In the film, while dining at a nightclub, Guido is asked by a magician to participate in an act. In the process of participation, the word “anima” reminds him of his childhood. Then scenes of his grandmother and aunts bathing him and tucking him into bed in the evening appear. These early pleasures give Guido the approach toward life in general. In his adult life, no matter in reality or fantasies, Guido hopes all women dedicate their lives to him and always could be tame to him. In fact, in a later sexual fantasy, Guido imagines that all women have become his concubine and he is their master. The palace is the farmhouse in his childhood. Women are giving him a bath, just like childhood’s memories.
The subsequent scene is Guido, as a boy and his friends became involved in an episode with a simple-minded woman, Saraghina. Saraghina was paid to dance outside her isolated hut on a nearby beach. Then the town priests came and boys were punished. However, Guido was in particular. He was sent back to school with a sigh read “SHAME” pinned to his shirt.
In this film, Saraghina is the lecherous side of the first stage of anima. Saraghina’s size and unkempt appearance has awed Guido the first time he saw her. Guido even feels exciting for a feeling that is derived from both positive experiences with other women who took care of him as a small child and his freshly rising sexuality. Saraghina is almost like a force from nature and becomes the projection of his primitive anima. The morality represented by the Church and his mother contravenes an essential part of Guido’s nature, which cause his trouble with the morality. Saraghina is linked to the principle life urges of Guido’s anima. Saraghina can be regarded as symbolizing the endless dilemma of nature versus culture.
Conclusion
Carl Jung’s Analytical Psychology was completely demonstrated in Federico Fellini’s films. Though Federico Fellini was not the most profound filmmaker in the history of filmmaking, he was undoubtedly the most fascinating one. Sometimes his films haven’t seized the key points, but they are dazzle and can make up the shortcoming in contents simply through the beauty of light and color.#p#分页标题#e#
8 ½ (Otto e Mezzo, 1963) is a film about an individual’s state of mind. (Boyer, D, 20) In 1963, it confused and dazzled audiences by non-standard switch among the past and the present and fantasies. Meanwhile, it also provided the filmmaking history with the most fanciful, absurd and sometimes erotic flare.
Works Cited
Alpert, Hollis, “Fellini: A Life”, New York, Atheneum, 1986:28-44
Bondanella, Peter, “Italian Cinema”, New York, New York: Continuum Publishing Company,
1990:58-62
Boyer, D, “The two hundred days of 81/2”, New York: The Macmillan Company, 1964:20
Conti, I. F, “The evolution of creative symbols in the work of Fellini”, University of California, Berkeley, 1975:124-126
Enzo Peri & Federico Fellini, “Federico Fellini: An Interview”, Film Quarterly 15, Issue 1 (1961): 30-33
Fellini, Federico, “Early screenplays: Variety lights, The white sheik” New York: Grossman Publishers, 1971:66
Federico Fellini, Peter E. Bondanella & Manuela Gieri, “La Strada”, New Jersey: Rutgers” The State University, 1987:224-231
Frank Burke & Marguerite R. Waller, “Federico Fellini: contemporary perspectives”, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2002:17
Isabella Conti & William A. McCormack, “Federico Fellini: Artist in Search of Self”, Biography 7, Issue 4 (1984): 292-308.
Jung, Carl, “The Undiscovered Self: With Symbols and the Interpretation of Dreams”, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. 1990:104-108
Mark Hayes, “Psychoanalysis & the Films of Federico Fellini”, New York: Pace University, 2005:45
Murray, Edward. “Fellini, The Artist”. New York, New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Company. 1985:23
Peter Bondanella, “The Cinema of Federico Fellini” New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1992:12-15
Peter Bondanella, “The Films of Federico Fellini” London: Cambridge University Press, 2002:56-63
