Foucault Theme Of Sexuality

The themes of sexuality, power, repression, knowledge and the mergence of religion and science have been thoroughly addressed, presented and exchanged between the movie Augustine and the writings of Foucault in the History of Sexuality. This notion presented by Foucault that sexuality is almost everything and anything is strongly conveyed through the movie. Throughout the movie, we can almost see that sexual desire is the good and the bad, the trap and the escape and last but not least, it is the problem and the solution. Having read between the lines that the sexual relationship between Dr. Charcot and his wife is quite anemic, it seemed as if his search towards knowing the truth behind sexuality is what substitutes what he is missing in terms

In other word, Dr. Charcot was able to exert power vis-a-vis his female patient only because he had more knowledge than her. The shift in powers starting materializing once Augustine was able to fully grasp and understand her sexuality and sexual desires. Augustine 's final incident of paralysis, when an arm she used to behead a hen remains bent to her chest is followed by her first menstrual period. The aftermath, while equivocal, is marked by blood, a foreshadowing of her completeness. At this point, her infatuation with Charcot ends. Augustine had inveigled him into noticing her, and used his knowledge, with great self-awareness, in the service of her individuation. Note that throughout her period of exploration, she seemed powerless and needy. However, once she was able to free her desires and in turn create a discourse of knowledge around them, she lost her position as a needy and repressed patient and in some incidence actually became the character with the position of power. In fact, the argument may be extended up to a level whereby the force of feminine sexuality is what deprives a man from his ‘inherent’ position of authority. Looking back at the incident of the hen, it is worth noting the position it was left in (neither dead nor alive) was a symbol of Augustine’s condition. The difference however, is that the pain Augustine is

The first being that the reactions were nothing but an attempt by to hide their own sexual desires, a desire that has been identified as a taboo for the whole society. Had they let go of the sexuality within them, we may have seen another face of their personality that could have been extremely similar to that of the males in the room. However, given the situation in which they were put and the way in which they had to act (which was shaped by the discourse of misunderstanding feminine sexuality), they hand nothing but to present a fake reaction of discomfort and disturbance. By using the same framework of analysis on the aroused reaction of the male guests, one could say that their so-called ‘second’ personality appeared. The situation, in which they have been put, was able to bring to the surface the animalistic sexual side of them that has been correspondingly alive right beside their prestigious masculine