These three aspects of the conscious are popular themes to play upon in T.V. shows. Generally the three main protagonists of a show have one of the three parts of the mind as their prominent trait Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl are three caretakers for Steven in Steven Universe. Garnet is the ego, she is calm and collected, she chooses sides with both Pearl and Amythest, just like the Ego, she is not totally without emotion but is not all instinct. Amethyst is the Id, she is out of control and causes trouble for Steven sometimes in their adventures. Pearl is the Superego, she is very strict, she scolds Amethyst and sets the rules and expectations for the group, just as the Superego sets the rules for the person based off of what is socially acceptable for the person to do. These three show the various types of defense mechanisms that the mind does based off of what it automatically reverts to. Amethyst shows a lot of anger built up towards Pearl and then takes it out on others, which is displacement. Garnet is very methodical and especially when she is exposed to conflict in the show, this is called intellectualization if it is not a conscious decision and is thought suppression if it is a conscious effort. Pearl being the Superego, is very passive aggressive and uses guilt as defense mechanisms. As much as Freud was off of his rocker on a lot of his ideas, some of his most successful works and ideas have lasted through the times in culture.
Thursday, October 1, 2015
Freudian Trio in Pop Culture
Sigmund Freud is known as the father of Psychoanalysis and rightfully so. With his, quirks such as his obsession with sex and cocaine aside, he did a lot to further our understanding of the mind, whether it be what he directly discovered or finding out certain things that he discovered turned out to be false. Freud discovered that there are three parts of the mind, the Id, Ego and Superego who all are in constant conflict with the other. The Id, or as I personally enjoy calling it, the lizard part of the brain, this contains the most primal instincts for all animals to survive, the need to get food, reproduce, the fight or flight response as well as the subconscious urge to avoid pain and be drawn to pleasure. The Superego is sort of like the parent to the Ego and Id, it strives for perfection and is a sense of extreme morality in the mind and is not as impulsive as the Id. The Ego is the moderator between the two, it is a partially conscious part of the mind tries to find a medium to satisfy the Id and Superego. His idea of these three aspects of the mind can be seen very commonly in popular culture.
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Will, I applaud your attempts to analyze the psychological aspects of “Steven Universe”, given your experiences so far with the show. (There is going to be a whole lot more of psychological stuff in the later episodes, just you wait!) I really appreciate the layers of character design in “Steven Universe”, especially how the show’s writers are able to create such complex characters and still can have the show be a fun, children’s show. Your analysis is solid, but there are of course further discussions to be made about the deeper mental issues of some of the characters (like Pearl, oh my stars especially Pearl), but I will leave this as such without spoiling too much of this deep and psychologically complex show.
ReplyDeleteI'm curious as to why the id, ego, and superego are used in television characters. Yes, it provides contrast and conflict between characters, but it seems as if it would create very one dimensional characters. This seems to me that it would be more damaging to the characters and show as a whole than beneficial.
ReplyDeleteNot only did you show a great understanding of the freudian psycology we learned in class, but you applied it very well to a solid culture reference. Although I have never seen the show "Steven Universe" I was able to get a really good idea of these three very important charaters in the story. Im sure there is countless examples of these three character types in recent culture. While reading this, all I could think was how the id, ego, and super ego could be connected to my favorite franchise- Harry Potter. I think in some ways, ron is id, harry is ego , and hermione is the super ego. Ron is very instictive like the id; especially in the last book with his experience with the diluminator. He also has very pronounced fears like spiders. Hermione is the super ego in that she holds very high ethics and morals. Especially in the begining when she was reluctant to break the rules. Finally Harry, like the ego, mediates between the two extremes and always attempts to minimize conflict.Just some thoughts...
ReplyDeleteI never thought about that, but Steven Universe really is the perfect example of the relation between the Id, Ego and Superego! It's really intuitive of you to spot that and I applaud your great understanding and explanation of Freudian psychology. I thought one of the most interesting points you made was that, even though Freud was strange and creepy, his discoveries are still the basis of psychology today. No matter how off-kilter Freud might have been, his work was extremely important in understanding the human mind.
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