Film Studies - Freudian Psychoanalytic Theory of Personality - Applied to a film

FREUD in BATMAN THE DARK NIGHT TRILOGY

Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory of personality argues that human behavior is the result of the interactions among three component parts of the mind: the id, ego, and superego. This theory, known as Freud’s structural theory of personality, places great emphasis on the role of unconscious psychological conflicts in shaping behavior and personality. The id, the most primitive of the three structures, is concerned with instant gratification of basic physical needs and urges. The superego is concerned with social rules and morals—similar to what many people call their ” conscience ” or their “moral compass". In contrast to the instinctual id and the moral superego, the ego is the rational, pragmatic part of our personality.

Take Batman The Dark Knight In the Film the superego can be represented by both Harvey Dent and Alfred but in this scene in particular it can be seen as Commissioner Gordon.
Harvey is put into a position of power because of a societal need. He is clean cut and strives for perfection. His striving for absolute perfection while trying to completely suppress the id will ultimately lead him to madness and evil.

The Id by The Joker who is satisfying his need for fun, as Alfred put it in The Dark Knight, ''Well, because he thought it was good sport. Because some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn'' and Two Face who is a great example of the id and superego in one person with no ego present. this represented by the coin he carries there is only 2 sides

The Ego can be represented by Batman/Bruce Wayne as he teeters between chaos and law & order and seeks to find a balance between the two when fighting crime.Batman is stuck between the desires of the id and the cautions of the superego. Id – Wants Gotham to kill Batman. Superego – Wants Gotham to realize that Batman is the protector of the city he like the ego is split between chaos and law. Split between the Joker and the GCPD.

The clip opens with the room in shadow, we get a mid shot with Gordon in the view of the shot and the joker not in shot, gordon has half his face in shadow in a chiaroscuro manner, suggesting that he is like the ego, split between wanting to hurt the joker and complying with the law to see him to justice, with shot jumps to a shot of the joker nearly submersed in shadow rambling on, with his makeup he has a smile painted on  his face, showing the fact that he is satisfied with his plan and as Freud states The id, the most primitive of the three structures, is concerned with instant gratification, he's got what he wanted and didn't care as to how. we then get shot revere shot where we see the Commissioner as the superego, this use of camera to show the both as they talk represents the battle between the id and superego that the ego has.  After this exchange between the two Gordon leaves to watch from the side, thats when The Batman takes over, the room floods with light and instantly he slams the jokers head on the table, all of this scene so far is midst with very little camera movement, with this slam we see Bruce Wayne's Id take over that is what batman is, a representation of Bruce Waynes Id as he has no regards to the law, yet there is still a struggle, during the confrontation between the joker and batman we see batman become more rational until the joker mentions someone he cares about, throughout this moment we get the same shot reverse shot that we got when Joker was talking to Gordon, showing the ego becoming more like the id, even the joker says, ''you have all theses rules and you will think they will save you'' talking about the jokers disregard for rules such as the way of the id but also this battle the batman has between societies rules and his own need for justice to be dealt how he wants it to be, he talks about breaking rules and how the best way to live in this world is without rules, as batman fights with the joker Gordon rushes in to stop him yet Batman put a chair to the door to stop him, with this we can see the Superego present in Gordon, how he try's to control the ego to stop him from going towards the id, but also with the way he gave himself omnipresence in that situation by watching from behind a sheet of one way glass.

so as an example of where both the characters and the camera and lighting shows this idea of the self that freud came up with The Dark Knight is a perfect example and looks at this idea over it's trilogy