Psychoanalysis and film spectatorship

Abstract

This paper interrogates selected cinematic and stylistic techniques with a view to establishing why film audience would enjoy watching a film featuring violence and instances of intense human suffering, which elicit pain, when they avoid painful situations in real life. The study is based on the hypothesis that though the fractured, chaotic, and violent aspects of crime would appear to be diametrically opposed to the entertainment functions of films, stylistic presentation of violence would cause the audience to enjoy watching films with criminal activities which they would otherwise shun in reality. The research is guided by the theory of Semiotics and Psychoanalysis and employs a qualitative research design. The findings of this research explain how the devices and techniques function to make the audience feel pleasure in response to tragedies of crime and objects of distress. The study draws a conclusion that cinematic techniques and stylistic devices transform the unpleasant emotional responses the audience may have into pleasurable ones through psychologically engaging the audiences’ mental schema.